Handmade Baby Quilts: Gifts of Laughter

When you think about all the pleasures homemade baby quilts bring to the new little babies in your life, bet you didn’t think about laughter.

Sure, you expect all the handmade baby quilts for sale to be soft and warm, and you know the one you select will brighten up the nursery.  But if you choose that homemade baby quilt wisely, the quilt you give will brighten the face of the baby and his parents as well.

Smiles Are What It’s All About

We all know that infancy is not always sunshine and lollipops, what with diaper changes, spit-up episodes and those unexplained bouts of crying that make parent and child so unhappy. Mom and Dad are thrilled when their baby smiles, and will try almost anything to make that happen. You know the routine_ silly faces, strange noises, goofy physical displays. Sometimes those actions will produce that precious smile, sometimes not.

Baby Quilts Can Have Smile-ability

Could it be there’s a rich source of joy and laughter in that baby quilt the dear little one is already clutching right in her crib?

It could be, if the quilter has put humor in her unique designs of baby quilts for girls and boys. That quilter has taken the time to hunt for soft cotton flannels with whimsical monkeys, droll giraffes, adorable fish. The little cars, trucks and trains she chooses have been rendered in the cutest possible ways.   She’s not only going for eye appeal when she assembles her fabrics. Her other purpose is to sew smile-makers into that design.

Creative parents will seize on the giggle power of such designs and create stories that enthrall and amuse their little ones.  Maybe they give names to the circus clowns cavorting across the quilt as they concoct happy tales of the big top for their child. Now the baby goes to sleep with Tiny and Bozo and Slats.  Or she naps with the mischievous ladybug sisters who live with their folks in the back yard.

 The wee ones don’t talk yet, so that smile is all there is to signal comfort, well-being and happiness. Hearts sink when they frown. Spirits soar when they smile.

Happiness is Healthy

Good humor might also promote good health. Research is revealing  that laughter is therapeutic. Starting with Norman Cousins, a magazine editor who, in the mid 1970s, claimed he relieved serious arthritic pain with Vitamin C and Marx Brothers movies, evidence continues to mount on the healthy effect of laughing.

Baby Quilts Have Bundles of Benefits

Your baby quilt gift will provide so many more benefits to the newborn than quickly-outgrown outfits or equipment. It will be warm and soft to snuggle with. It will be a familiar companion in unfamiliar places.  It will be easy to maintain for years  with washer and dryer cleaning.  As a cherished keepsake, it will continue to comfort a new generation of dear little babies. And then there’s that special  good-cheer bonus that some handmade baby quilts provide. Those baby quilts can coax a smile of delight and a precious giggle from the dearest little baby in the house. What’s the value of a baby’s laugh? Priceless!