A sun hat and to tell or not tell?

My mother's group are having a birthday party for all our babies this week as they are all turning 1 in the next month or so. I can't believe how quickly they grow up, however it is certainly a fun journey to see your little baby grow, develop and become a person (its times like these we forget about all the challenges and struggles along the way. Challenges? What challenges?) Anyway, I stray from the point. So, for the big birthday, Mum's group are doing a present for each of the babies, like a Kris Kringle.

I was sitting there on the weekend, thinking what could I buy for the present? As this is my first child, I really don't have much experience with children so I have no idea what to get for my own daughter, let alone coming up with a gift for somebody else's. Enter the sunshine which has beamed down upon us here in Melbourne the past few days. Aha! a sunhat. So I set off to find a sunhat pattern. I couldn't go past Nicole Mallalieu design for hat patterns so jumped online to order my kids hats pattern (which has also recently been recommended to me by Mary at Perle 8's). And check out the very talented Nikki Cardigan's gorgeous hats of the same design. But sitting back twiddling my thumbs until Mr snail mail delivered my pattern didn't sit very well with me. I dragged out my trusty Ottobre Summer 2009 mag and made the sun hat ot of that.
Its a four panel hat with a brim. I was really impressed with how it turned out. Never having made a hat before, I thought they would be tricky and fiddly. But it all went together easily and worked really well. The fabric I used had rather large, sparse pattern on it so all the pieces were strategically cut out to highlight the fabric. Classic pink spots to match on the binding and on the ties (under the chin, which I added as the pattern didn't have any). I can't imagine a child's hat without some sort of under chin tie as they always seem to be pulling them off. It is fortunate my Mum's group has 8 girl and only two boy babies, so a pink hat has good odds of finding the right home.

The problem I am stuck with now is that I have put my love and effort in to create what I believe is a beautiful hat. What if the recipient (or the recipient's mother) doesn't like the hat? And do I tell that I made it myself (and avoid either being embarrassed if no one says how gorgeous it is, or equally so if they go on about how amazing I am to have made it (not that I think this, but others can often be a bit over the top in admiring something they don't think they could achieve). Or do I keep quiet, and just let what ever happens happen? And if they don't like it, can I ask for it back? Although how would you know if they don't like it (people rarely say so when given gifts). What if they hate it, but they feel compelled to put it on their baby every time we have Mum's group in the future so as not to offend me? This would be the worst. So is it just me thinking way too much about the whole gifting of handmade items, or do other people have the same worries?

At least I still have a mail package from Nicole Mallalieu to look forward to this week. And I have my handmade hat to look at, sitting on the dining table until it gets wrapped and gifted on Thursday. Until then...