Any thoughts?

I'm still working on finishing up my brother's wedding gifts. I wanted to knit them an afghan, more specifically a red afghan. Red is my sister-in-laws favorite color and I thought they could use it to cuddle with. (my brother cuddle? hehe). But I could not find any yarn in red that would work. So, I decided to knit a couple of little things in red. Kinda of a way for her to feel more at home in a previous bachelor-only home. I gave them a washcloths in red already, but forgot to take pictures. (used Reynolds Saucy - which is awesome for washcloths).
The next item I'm working on is the Mitered-Square Rug (pdf-file) from Interweave Knits:

Here is square #1 blocking. My issues so far: 1. Somehow the top corner just doesn't align well with the rest of the square. It sticks out. It is not as obvious in the picture and blocking helped a little. (but not to the point where I'm satisfied). 2. I wanted to pick colors that went with red and kinda fit what I think are still the colors in their house. Now I'm wondering if they look as great together as I thought?
I'd love any input or ideas on this. It is quick to knit (square took 1 hour), so once I get past these issues, it is possible to finish this before we leave to visit the newlyweds next week.

While running to Target to buy my boys plain white shirts for some funky tie-dyeing today, I stopped at a garage sale and found this:

It looks like it is handcarved, yet has no markings. The owner said it used to be her mothers (who had really loved it and had it for years). I love how it rocks and shows the simple joy of motherhood. Anybody seen one like this before?