Tuesday, October 12, 2010

late night (and early morning) presents



The kids were invited to a birthday party for one of Aubie's friends and her little brother this past Saturday. Birthday parties always mean the same for me--staying up late the night before the party to finish a present. Always. I actually had my inspiration early on for once. I knew pretty much what I wanted the little boy's shirt to look like, and had a grand plan to make a something for the sister as well. Well, the the idea I had for the girl did not work out at all, because I tried using a hoodie, but the jersey was just too thick for applique (at very early in the morning, anyway).

So what to do? I went to Michael's Saturday morning--pushing it, I know, but God is good! Michael's had the perfect gift (on clearance!!!) for this little girl who owns chickens--a foam barn kit! It was so cute. But I felt bad that I hadn't made her something as well. So I made a felt bag and appliqued one of the calico chickens from this adorable vintage fabric (I used it for the straps) onto the bag. When she saw the bag, she was so excited about the chicken! I'm so glad I decided to make her something as well.

Since their mom is about to have a new baby, I thought the little boy needed a symbol of his upcoming status. The big brother shirt was a technique I've been meaning to try for some time, but just now had a need to do it. I used both freezer paper stencil (for the word "brother") and applique (for the word "BIG"). I used too big of a satin stitch for "BIG"--a mistake that could have been dealt with had I made this 2 or 3 nights before. Oh well. It didn't turn out too bad for my first attempt at mixing the two though, I guess. I thought it looked really interesting, so I'm definitely looking forward to using both styles together again.