happy birthday ellie!

She turned 8 today and (FINALLY - in her words) got a DS. The day has been properly celebrated with a playdate, Hawaiian pizza, and ice cream cake. The cake included an oreo crust, chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, whippped cream, m&m's, mini chocolate chips, and a small chocolate chip cookie on top. The only thing that might have made it more to her liking would be if someone sprinkled colored sugar on top.

In even more exciting news and serving as definitive proof to me that she's getting older -

Ellie made her first quilt over the weekend!

She chose the fabrics in her favorite colors - blue and pink. All of them feature kittens in the print. I cut them to size for her (I'm fine with her using my machine, but the rotary cutter in her hands scares the daylights out of me). She did all the piecing and made the decisions about fabric placement. I also layered the "quilt sandwich" for her, but she machine quilted it. She sewed the binding as well, with help from me turning the corners. This is the first craft project that she's actually completed. I'm crossing my fingers that this lengthened attention span continues.

On Tuesday, my quilting group day, I picked her up at lunch and brought her to our group so she could show it off. I have never seen her so proud of herself and those lovely ladies showered her with praise. She ate it up.

It's properly labeled as well.

"My First Quilt, Eleanor _______, September 2009"

Sorry for the extended absence. Life just gets in the way of blogging sometimes. ; )

trixie's party - goodie bags

Each girl headed home with one of these:

The Beatrix Potter fabric is new and was purchased with this in mind. It's a very basic, lined tote pattern (sew up all the sides, then box the corners). I lined it because the quilting fabric isn't terribly sturdy on its own for a tote. A basic(cheap) muslin was used for that. The cotton webbing is from the garage sale. I have oodles of it in my stash. The tag is from the Peter Rabbit Party Book and was supposed to be a placecard. (I label all the gift bags so any prizes won during the party can be collected in them. No lost treats or tears that way.)

Inside each bag was a Peter Rabbit coloring or activity book. I bought 12 of these on clearance when I was still teaching. I could never bring myself to use them. They're so old the pages have yellowed a bit. Hopefully, the girls didn't notice or care. (Trish, my hoarding/collecting paid off on this one.) School supply sales gave me an inexpensive way to include a set of colored pencils, a sharpener and a box of crayons with the books. We used little bags of Jelly Bellys (from Costco) for game prizes and those were collected in their bags as the party was going on.

It was a great afternoon for both Trixie and me. I've got this one out of my system, now it's time to start planning Ellie's bash (her birthday is in two weeks). She's made it clear that she doesn't want a home party. I'll let it pass. Last year I got to do a fun Halloween party for her.

*I know today is usually "Thrifty Thursday". When I figured up the cost of this party, it turned out to be one of the cheapest parties we've ever had because we used so much of what I had on hand, so I think this post qualifies. Of course, if I were to include the cost of the Beatrix Potter collection I've amassed over the years, well, not so thrifty then.

trixie's party - more games

After some running around outside, the party moved indoors.

Tom Kitten's Button Hunt was next. This game was also adapted from the Peter Rabbit Party Book. I hid enough buttons in the living room for each child to find 2 or 3. Once found, they came to me for a ribbon to make a necklace. I used shank buttons for this because they were easiest to string on the ribbon quickly. Buttons with very large holes would also work.

Next up was a version of "Who Am I?" using the masks from the book instead of a card with a name held to your forehead. I put a mask on a guest while their eyes were closed. The other girls then gave clues as to what kind of animal she was. (Not even my kids would have known the actual names of each character. Peter Rabbit - yes. Johnny Town Mouse - doubtful.)

We had two other games ready to go, but ran out of time. Animal Noises would have the guests start by making the sound or using a word associated with their animal. The first child would say their sound, the next child says their sound and repeats the one before them, etc.

The other was a version of musical chairs. Instead of chairs, I had planned to put the play veggies on the ground (one less veggie than number of guests) and have the kids pick one up when the music stopped. (I'm a little relieved we didn't need this one. This game always seems to turn into a free-for-all or someone ends up crying.)

A little peek at the memory match game the girls played before everyone had arrived.

Tomorrow - goodie bags. And then I swear I'm done.

trixie's party - the games

How to keep the girls busy for two hours?

First, you need a brother who's game for dressing up as Mr. MacGregor. Then you can play what we called Peter's Veggie Chase. I hid play veggies all over the garden. The girls were the bunnies and had to find them and bring them to a basket in Trixie's tent without Mr. MacGregor catching them. (He was instructed to make sure they all got away so we wouldn't have tears over the big boy scaring them.) Glenn just ran in circles yelling for the "wee beasties" to get out of his garden. The girls screamed and ran willy nilly until all the veggies had been found.

This one was adapted from the Peter Rabbit birthday book. Jeremy Fisher's fishing game is basically a relay race. We drew paths of lily pads in chalk leading to a fishbowl with cut outs of 18 fish inside (double the number of guests we had). The teams had to hop on the lillies to the bowl, grab a fish and hop back before the next team member took a turn. Each girl went twice (to make the game last a little longer). The first team finished won the race. We actually played this one a few times mixing up the teams in between.

The old stand by, Pin the Tail, got used too. You can guarantee whatever theme my kid picks, the main character is going to be drawn on a poster missing a body part so the kids can slap it back on while blindfolded. (We've played pin the # on Thomas the Tank Engine, Pin the tail on the Black Cat for a Halloween party - you get the idea.) I discovered I was out of cotton balls for the tails late the night before the party. Only in a crafter's house do you have a choice of 4 different kinds of batting/stuffing to use instead. I went with polyfil. It was the cheapest, whitest, and looked the fluffiest. It's glued on an oval of cardstock so it could be taped on easily.

Here's a round of Jemima Puddleduck's Chase, otherwise known as Duck, Duck, Goose. A few girls sat this one out and chose to play in the sandbox.

I'll finish up with the games tomorrow.

trixie's party - decor

A host of characters was lined up on the entertainment center to greet our little guests.

There were baskets of my Beatrix Potter book collection in the living room. Ellie deemed herself the designated reader to entertain the first arrivals. Glenn played a Beatrix Potter memory match game with the girls as well while we waited for all to arrive.

These three were in the dining room window waiting for the treats to be served. I stitched them from kits about 15 years ago.

All of the Peter Rabbit china I've collected over the years came in handy. I wanted the party to have a tea party feel. We served "rabbit food" - berries, grapes, carrots and other veggies. The girls drank apple juice "tea" poured from my Peter Rabbit teapot. And, of course, there was cake.

White napkins covered all the chair seats. I was willing to risk my china and silver to the little ones. Berry stained and chocolate covered hands struck fear in my heart though when I imagined them touching the fabric on the chairs. White linens can be bleached, chairs cannot.

The centerpiece is a book, Scenes from The Tales of Peter Rabbit, that ties open into a carousel scene. The other paper decorations including the garland below are from Peter Rabbit's Party Book. I've waited to cut into this book for years... I also have some extra character paper masks somewhere in the house that I wanted to hang on the walls. I say somewhere because when it was time to put them up, I couldn't find them. I'm sure they'll turn up as I put all the other items away.

Tomorrow - games.

the kids - trixie's party

Look who had a little party with her friends yesterday.

I have been waiting for this moment for a long time. The child I saddled with the name Beatrix was getting her Peter Rabbit birthday party. The universe must have approved because on August 29th, it was in the low 60's mid-day with a cool breeze, allowing her to wear the perfect sweatshirt that had been handed down to us by Carol's children.

You'll have to indulge me over the next few days as I blog my fantasy party. In the meantime, some cute pictures of the birthday girl with her (costco bought) cake.

Auntie Norma gave us those Peter Rabbit candle holders when Glenn was born. They get used every single year. There are only 6, so the other two kids have outgrown them. Two more years for the Trixster.

"I wish my mom would develop an obsession with The Backyardigans for next year."

chris' birthday

This

+

=

for a dad who's turned

The CD recorder was purchased as a Christmas gift for Chris. We have an orange crate full of his old albums and no working turntable to play them (never mind that he didn't play them even when we had a working turntable). I had a feeling he wouldn't take it out of the box for some time which worked out great for me. With a birthday just a month after the holidays, I'm often short on ideas for gifts by then. The kids and I got it out and I sat recording his old Joe Jackson lps for a few hours. The kids did the artwork based on the name of the album and viola! Birthday presents for dad. I later found that I'd overlooked Beat Crazy when I went through the crate. Guess what he's getting for Valentine's Day.

countdown to halloween quilt

Will someone please tell me what happened to October? Between doing costumes for the show Glenn is involved in, Halloween costumes for the girls, two birthday/Halloween parties, preparing models for the next round of classes at the shop, sewing for the shop's open house... Uncle!

I'm still squeezing in time to sew things I want to make, in addition to what I'm supposed to make, but I can't seem to find a good time to check other blogs I like to follow or even keep up with e-mail. Even sewing has become a last minute type of activity around here. I'd cut out the pieces for this quilt in early September, hoping it would be ready by the beginning of October. Hah. It's almost funny to think how optimistic I was when cutting all those little squares.

The pattern is from Simple Fabric Folding for Halloween by Liz Aneloski (C&T Publishing). I've adjusted the pattern to include 30 pockets instead of the 25 she included. Thirty just makes more sense to me with there being 31 days in the month.

The finished size is about 16X36. The spiderweb is a tight machine satin stitch in metallic silver thread. I even used a piece of fabric from the garage sale to back the whole thing. This is part of my effort to keep her unused stash from becoming my unused stash.

The orange squares above are actually folded pieces of fabric with eyelets at the points. The points hang loose from the quilt so you can do this:

How cute is that? Obviously, this didn't get done in time for a Halloween countdown. Instead, I used it at Trixie's spooky birthday party last Thursday for game prizes.

Need proof this was last minute? Look carefully at the top. Isn't everyone using binder clips to hang their quilts these days?

spooky party games

Party time again!

Our version of bobbing for apples(without the nasty slobbering in a bucket of water).

Wrap the Mummy

Give each pair of kids a roll of toilet paper and let them go. We didn't really have any rules of how you won. I just gave everyone some candy for their bag after they were done laughing.

Pin the Tail on the Black Cat

Ellie drew the cat and cut out the tails for this one. All the tails were remarkably close to hind end of the cat. I think I had a bunch of cheaters on my hands.

The start of the scavenger hunt. They had a blast with this one running all over the yards looking for the hidden clues. The last one led them to a bag filled with the flashlight prizes.

We also had a dress up relay race. The kids were in two teams- each having a bin of dress ups they had to run to, grab one item, put it on, and return to their line and tag the next person. First team to empty their bin won. The boys who wound up putting on the hula skirts and floaty scarves got the most giggles. No pictures of that one because I didn't think to ask other parents if I could post their kids' faces.

Now I need to get ready for Trixie's dress up party this week. Far more low key - just three little friends coming over for a little make believe fun, hot pumpkin and pin the tail on the black cat. If I'm feeling ambitious, I'll cut their little sandwiches with the Halloween cookie cutters.

ellie's invitations

Ellie decided that she wanted a "Spooky Halloween Birthday Party" this year even if it meant waiting a month after her actual birthday to have it.

Invitations were sent out.

The paper is brown kraft stuff that I bought at Paper Source in Chicago years ago. The stamps I used were sent to me by Carol and are from the Martha Stewart line at Michael's. The paper is held together by a spider ring and the candy was from Target.

Both were popped into a small (size 1) bag that had been stamped and was sewn shut with a zig zag stitch at it's widest and longest setting. (Yes, this meant hand delivery.) The bags are from a restaurant supply store. You'll want to pick something you'll use a lot because they're sold in packs of 250 or 500. I've had them so long now I can't remember how many I started with.

I sewed favor bags that'll do double duty as trick-or-treat bags on the big day. Ellie wrote out her friends' names after I stamped the tags. (The cat stamp is an old one from Stampin' Up.)

Inside we put a pencil, notepad and pencil topper stamp. The kids each got a mini pumpkin when they were out after playing hot pumpkin (same as hot potato, but with mini gourds). The skeleton was a chenille stem craft we all did at the beginning of the party while waiting for everyone to arrive. Flashlights were the prize at the end of a scavenger hunt. She's eaten the candy she got as prizes for other games.

Tomorrow, pictures of some of the games.