The Gifts

The Girl's birthday festivities stretched over two days, from her "actual" birthday celebration with family, to the Big Present...a girls' night out, dinner and a play.  Just the two of us. Couldn't have been better.  I have to say, the Girl's got some culture, and definitely knows how to have a good time.

 
Plus, she looks really cute.  And was in absolute raptures about the whole evening.  Love.

At Intermission, between dainty jaunts up and down the aisle, impersonating Cinderella (the play we went to see), she says to me:  "I need to be in plays."  Say I:  "I can see that."  Says she:  "Can you get me in one?"  Say I:  "Well, offhand, I don't know of any directors, but we'll see what we can do."

I suppose I'd best be looking for a children's theatre group. 

And on the handmade gifting front, I managed to get a couple of things done:

The mittens:

A little on the large side, they're the No Swatch, No Gauge pattern, Ravelry notes available here.  But, well, kids do tend to grow, don't they?

The skirt:

Based on the Lazy Days pattern, on Oliver+S.  I adapted it a little, since I did the bottom in fabric, rather than ribbon, and added some perfect buttons, to funk things up a bit.  My Girl does like a funky ensemble.  Check out those buttons!

Love.

One of my other absolute favorites, but not handmade, were these babies:

I spotted the boots back in September, and loved them so much that I paid full price...an act I try to avoid at all costs.  They're fleece-lined too!  I'm a bit gutted that the toes are already scuffing though.  Ah, well.

Kind of a black and red thing going this year.  I like it.  As does my Girl.

I've got a recipe coming soon, have a lovely day!

Gifting Handmade

Devin was recently invited to a birthday party for her wee friend, and when I asked what she'd like to give her, she decided:  "I'm going to sew her a stuffed kitty."  Right.  Well, I figure if my six year old is gifting handmade things, I'd probably better rise to the challenge myself.  Let's get to work.

 

I think this gal may turn out to be quite the seamstress.  Already she's showing a good deal of patience with a project (far beyond what I am capable of), and quite an aptitude for designing bits and bobs to sew.  I love that.  I wish I had that gift.  But I'll settle for watching her, and seeing where the creative spirit takes her.

So, one kitty coming up. Designed, hand sewn, and accessorized, all by Miss Devin.  (I did help sew on the beaded eyes, but the rest is a Devin original.)

 

She's so cool.  I dig this girl of mine.

For the other birthday gift, I opted for the Lazy Days skirt, a free pattern available from oliver + s.  It's a super simple, my kind of sewing, straight lines only, no way to mess it up, sort of pattern.  And it turned out pretty cute.

The fabric is from the Oddesea line, by Moda.  And I just so happen to have enough left over to make my gal a skirt too. Perhaps once she outgrows a few of the several I've already sewn for her.  Just to keep it practical, you know.

 

And since we were on a roll here, and I hadn't messed anything up for a change, I got inspired to finish a project that's been sitting in the to-do basket for months.  The Mister had a pair of pajama bottoms that were out of commission, and I love the beachy stripes, therefore couldn't get rid of them.  So, new pj's for the boy!

With some sound technical advice from Mom, I managed a pretty easy remake.  Not bad, not bad at all.

Great for lounging, on a sunny morning...

Or for doing that sweet kickboxing move you've been working on.

You know how it goes.

Have a lovely rest of the weekend.