TEA TIME

I am an Activity Days leader for a group of eleven year old girls in our neighborhood. It's a churchie thing. It's loads of fun to see these girls each month and talk and craft and eat. I'll post a few of these every so often.

One time it was Tea Time. We talked about some fine things that have gotten lost in the hustle through the years. Sipping tea and writing letters and dropping them in the box knowing that it will make someone smile to get something lovely and real in their mail.

We also made wire hearts, wrapped with yarn for our craft. Anytime I can bust out the teacups and craft with these girlies, I call it a success.

COMPLETED COZIES

Oh... it only took me TWO YEARS to complete these chenille lap quilts. But I'm happy now that I spent the time and effort and I can say, I did it!

I wanted something for my two girls that was soft and cozy that would go at the foot of their beds. I had first seen these and fell in love (the original quilt is long since sold and not on this page). I thought it would be so easy to find vintage chenille bedspreads and just cut them up... I was wrong. Etsy offered a variety of shops that sold pieces of chenille. But they weren't cheap. The price to purchase a quilt was actually quite affordable after planning out how much fabric I'd need to buy.

BUT... I wanted it to be a gift that I made instead of purchased so I took some time to plan out the colors and patterns, and ordered the chenille from here. I have to say the owner of this shop helped me quite a bit. She was really sweet to understand my desire to make these myself and helped me pinpoint the colors I wanted. I purchased twelve different patterned chenille pieces in a variety of sizes and colors, then cut them down to 6" squares. There are 6 rows of 9 = 54 squares. I got the fringe from a vintage bedspread I found at an estate sale.

Next I talked to lots of quilting friends and family for advice. The prep, purchasing and planning took me six months... the percrastination took me over a year. The actual sewing time took me a couple of weeks. I just didn't trust myself, but once I started in I quickly learned how to piece together the squares and put it all together. I'm happy to report that the kids were pleased on Christmas morning. All worth it.

PLUSHIE OWLS

I made a couple of plushies for my girls this Christmas. They are on a bit of an owl kick, particularly snowy owls. 

I used felt for the faces, beak, and eyes, and white minkie for the backing and wing backs. And the feathers are a combination of felt and wool. I also used a bit of patterned quilting fabric for the front background and wing fronts. I wanted to make them similar but a bit different so the feathers and patterned dot fabric have slight differences. I also made a little tag coming off the side.

These aren't hard, but they take some time because I hand stitch the feathers. But before I do that, I pin them all in a row and use a machine to stitch them all securely. They turned out pretty cute and the girls sleep with them which is worth all of the effort.