rose hip

fairy fête...

Last week, I put everything aside, including this mentioned here, to prepare a fairy birthday party for my 6-year-old Nico; while her actual birthday was on April 18th, we only found time to celebrate it with her friends this last weekend -- our weekends have been so busy of late.... I also wanted to make sure that I had enough time to prepare something special for her; she's my last to turn 6 (sniff...) and is very much into all things "make-believe"; of all my children, she is the one who most loves to dress up and role-play and, without a doubt, she is my only fashionista! It's also been a while since I last went over the top with a birthday party; I used to go bezerk preparing themed parties for my kids, but I guess too many late nights with my glue gun eventually did me in, and low-prep, out-of-house parties have become my idea of a successful party!

The party was actually a Peter Pan party, not just a fairy party. The children dressed up as fairies, pirates and fairy pirates (some didn't know which way to swing...) and looked for treasures following a Peter Pan-inspired treasure hunt I set up (now, that was fun!). I didn't spend too much time on the pirate costumes; we have a fair amount of pirate paraphernalia lying around from Halloweens past and I was, quite honestly, mostly in the mood to work on the fairy stuff, knowing that Nico and all the little girls her age would opt for the fairy getup! After a few trips to the dollar store, I made some fairy crowns using stretchy headbands as a base onto which I hot-glued fake flowers and, my absolute favorite items at dollar stores, those colorful feathery butterflies! (Where would we be without hot glue guns!) As a finishing touch, I tied lengths of assorted ribbonnerie and ricrac to the back of the crowns. I then made some quickie elasticized fairy skirts using all the metallic and shiny fabric I've been saving for a special occasion like this one. With purchased (cheap) fairy wings, thrifted shiny bangles and a sprinkling of pixie dust, the stage was set.

My photos from the actual party were disappointing due to a dirty lens (unbeknownst to me), but I did take some photos before the party of all the fairy gear I made, and Nico agreed to become a fairy again yesterday so that I could take some more pictures (not a hard sell!). Here's a sampling --

P.S. Typepad has just changed the way you insert text and photos; my photos seem aligned properly on my monitor, but if they are not on yours, can you please send me a line -- Thanks!!

something done, something begun...

...the patchwork duvet cover I mentioned in my last post is finally done -- Hooray! I first started cutting out and sewing together the squares back in the summer of 2006; back then, I decided to start a whole bunch at the same time (à la assembly line), thinking I could whip up all the duvet covers pretty quickly in this fashion... The few Amy Butler prints that I used in this design, now probably impossible to find, were all still pretty fresh off the press at that time! Of course, my plan to finish them all quickly didn't materialize, and I've been slowly finishing them one or two at a time, according to the demand I get for them.

My initial enthusiasm to make them waned after I finished the tops; sewing the squares together and machine-quilting the patchwork to a sheet of cotton (to make the top sturdier and hide the assembly seams) is the "fun part" for me. I felt a bit dispirited when faced with the prospect of making all the backings (cutting a huge piece of cotton sheeting and sewing the ricrac along the 4 edges), sewing the tops and backs together (not so bad), and finishing the openings with buttons...Ugh!... So now, when I actually finish one of these covers, I get a real feeling of having climbed a very, very high mountain!

I decided to opt for the "crumpled look" for my photos; my 12-year old daughter, Stefania, called me on it: Mom, why aren't you making it nice and flat for your photos?,  she asked. (I gather she was thinking of something more like this photo taken in Molly's shop, the store at which I sell these covers locally.) Well, the crumpled look gives a better sense of the hodgepodge of colors and pattern going on in the patchwork, I said...Oh, she said,...Uh, it also gives a better sense of what it'll look like if one is covered by it in a bed, I added, smiling...Uh-huh, she said,...And, most importantly, it is so much faster to set up for photos than trying to making it all nice and flat!, I said, somewhat triumphantly. I can only imagine how much people time and computer time must go into making those gorgeous shots we quickly flip through in decor magazines crumple- and crease-free!

With the cover all done, I started on something new -- well, sort of new... You can catch a glimpse below; hopefully, my idea will work, and I'll be able to show you the finished product in my next post.

Hint: It's something I've made before, but in a larger format...

May weekend...

at a favorite botanical garden,



in pretty dresses,



for a special occasion...

- what could be more perfect?!... I have been very busy in the last week, and when I resurface in the next few days, I will show you some of the fruit of my busyness -- See you then...