Elise is 8

{Taken at 3:30am Friday night.}

Elise turned 8 on Saturday.  What an exciting day for her.  On the simple side, there was no huge party to host or plan for, but a lot of love was exchanged that day.  Friday night I swooped the kids off to bed a little earlier than usual so I could finish her quilt.  I still had a little machine quilting to finish up and binding to sew on.  Hours later, it was complete around 3am.  Just so happened to be right around the time she was born eight years ago.  How synchronous was that!







She really loved her quilt.  I was so pleased with how it turned out.  It's a pattern that madebyrae published on her blog several years ago using Heather Ross' Far Far Away II fabric line.  It was one of those jaw dropping moments I had when I first eyed it and started making plans right away to make one for Elise, just turns out it took me awhile to get it completed.





So this morning I took it upon myself to take some photos of it on her bed where I think it looks lovely.  I'm sure as soon as she's home from school, it will be pulled off and carried around from room to room as it has been all weekend, it makes such a lovely warm companion.

Now she's got a quilt of her own.  She's such a special, sweet little girl.  Happy Birthday Elise!

sewing again

There is something special about a stack of fat quarters.   The potential; the soft loveliness.  The whole process of washing and ironing before any length is cut.  This is a special set I've been collecting for sometime, they are getting harder and harder to come by.   They are from Heather Ross' Far Far Away II collection.  The hardest to find is my favorite, the blue owl and the moon.  Totally makes the collection in my opinion.  Then there is the gray sleeping beauty, the green Rapunzel.  Hopefully, our little soon to be 8 year old will love them just as much, something tells me she will not be growing out of any fairy tale stories anytime soon.

Hopefully my last minute sewing/quilting will be done in time for her birthday two short days away.  Almost done.

mad dash of sewing

Lena's bag, originally uploaded by homebirthmama.

The day before we left for our beach trip, I felt a strong urge to create something just for Lena for the trip. I ended up drawing up this pattern, made a quick "draft", then grabbed two of my favorite fat quarters and this was the outcome!! I made 4 pencil pockets on the inside for her Ferby pencils and a larger pocket for her small notebook. My favorite detail was the ladybug linen ribbon and wooden button on the front. (Click on the picture to take you to my flickr page to see a closeup of the front in my photostream!)