Thanksgiving Craft

I have been working on finishing up some unfinished projects.  I thought I better hurry and get this one done before we hit Thanksgiving.  I started it last year, but only got about halfway.  I found the directions at this blog.   I love hand-sewing.  I think it is so relaxing.  I am always on the lookout for a fun hand-sewing project and this one fit the bill.  I also love working with wool felt.  I love that Joann's has started  carrying some wool blend felt.  It feels so nice and soft, nothing like the acrylic stuff.   

A Home for the Mermaids

We got mini Barbie mermaids in the happy meals at McDonalds yesterday.  Paige was so excited.  On the way home I mentioned that I thought I had some fabric we could use to make a sea for the mermaids.  I shouldn't have mentioned it because of course to a 3 year old that means it has to be done immediately.  After lots of asking, I finally got around to it this morning after Brynne went down for her nap.  We used a bunch of leftover felt scraps and the "beach" is some leftover Warm and Natural batting.  Trying to come up with stuff that mermaids use is rather difficult.  When I first suggested that we make some "beach towels" that could also be pockets to store the mermaids in, I was informed that mermaids don't use beach towels.  I finally convinced her that they sometimes need them to dry their hair.  You can't really see it, but I sewed a ribbon on the back so that I can roll the whole thing up and tie it for storage and carrying around.  By the way, I have about had it with the rain!  I am smack in the middle of an outdoor spray painting project and the rain is really causing me problems. 

Sun Hat Re-fashion

This sun hat was Blake's when he was a baby.  He hardly ever wore it and it is a Gap one, so it is still in perfect shape.  We have a beach trip coming up and Brynne is the first child I have who is really fair-skinned.  I know she is going to be a real problem to keep from getting sun-burned.  This hat fits her perfectly and will be great for our trip, but nothing makes me more crazy than when people call my girls boys.  They don't have tons of hair, but I swear people are crazy when it comes to clothes and babies.  I took Brynne out to do errands with me the other day and she happened to have on jeans and a gray hooded jacket.  The jacket was a swing style jacket with pleats and big girly buttons and the fabric actually has some glittery sparkles in it, but I cannot tell you how many people complimented me on what a darling little boy I had.  Seriously, I was ready to scream by the end of my shopping trip.  Anyway, I decided if Brynne is going to be living in this hat on our trip, I needed to girl it up a bit, so here is the new and improved girl sun hat:

What do you think?  Will this keep her from being mistaken for a boy?  I just cut a little strip of some fabric I had in my stash.  I set my sewing machine to the largest length stitch and sewed a straight line along the edge of the fabric strip.  I pulled the top thread on one end to make it ruffle (I am attempting to learn how to make ruffles, they are pretty easy, but pulling the string to gather them is pretty time consuming).  Then I twisted it into a flower shape and hand sewed it together.  I added a button center and some twisted green gingham ribbon for leaves.  The whole project took me about half an hour.