Julie and Cambria's Birthday Pillowcases

Well, after a chat with Jessica, I discovered that Cambria is using a pillow now, so I have changed my mind and am going back to making the pillowcases for the two year old grandchildren.

So... here we go! It's going to be a busy year since the quads all turn two this year. Since I did some for Whitney earlier at her siblings' request, I only need to make her birthday and Thanksgiving ones to complete her set, which means I will just be making three per holiday.

I can't wait - I love this tradition!

Today I sewed Julie and Cambria's birthday pillowcases. I used fabric with cupcakes on it, and if you look closely, you can see the Very Hungry Caterpillar nibbling on a few!

And thus begins the "sewing year"!

Whitney's Halloween Pillowcase

I am going to begin sewing pillowcases for the grandkids when they are three instead of two, but since Whitney has older siblings who noticed she did not get one when theirs arrived (when I began this tradition), I started making her one along with theirs last Christmas. Here's her Halloween one.

After this, she just needs her Thanksgiving and birthday pillowcases, and she has a complete set!

Braden's Birthday Pillowcase

I am wrapping up the first round of grandchild holiday pillowcases with Braden's Birthday pillowcase.

Whitney has most of the other pillowcases, but I still need to do Halloween, Birthday, and maybe Thanksgiving (have to double check that) for her.

 I will begin the quads' pillowcases either this Christmas or Valentine's Day.

Addie's Birthday Pillowcase

Addie asked that her birthday pillowcase be made out of The Very Hungry Caterpillar fabric.

If you look closely, you can see the caterpillar nibbling a cupcake or two!

American Girl Doll Dresses for Addie

Addie's sixth birthday is coming up and she will be spending it with us. Since we gave her an American Girl Doll last Christmas, I decided to sew some clothes for the doll as my gift to her.

She loves Disney princesses, so I got a pattern that Ashley recommended.

It was NOT an easy pattern to make, and I did not like how some parts were constructed. (There are several ways to put in a sleeve, for example, and depending on the pattern you might be told to do it one way when you prefer another.)

Kyle said that Addie's favorite princess is Cinderella, but there was no Cinderella pattern. She also like purple, so I made a princess dress out of purple satin with sparkly underskirt.

I also bought a Simplicity 18" doll pattern - its directions were MUCH easier!

Just because it was simpler did not mean I did a shoddy job on it - I even matched the plaid at the seams!

Corinne's Birthday Pillowcase

I forgot to take a picture of Corinne's birthday pillowcase! Luckily, I still have another yard of the fabric.

Corinne's birthday pillowcase, April, 2015.

Ian Opens His Quiet Book

This is the "big moment" for me - the time when a child or grandchild opens their quiet book and sees the pages for the very first time. So much time, effort, thought, and love go into the book, and I hopehopehope my gift is liked...

Last Sunday Ian opened his with help from his mom and dad.

What is this? He reaches into the bag...

...and pulls out the pillow that is made from leftover cover fabric. (I always make a pillow.)

Awwww! It's so soft!

Then Ian grabs the book and draws it out of the bag.

Curt pulls his son onto his lap and they begin to look at each page.

At this point I am holding my breath, hoping the family will like my gift.

Ian absolutely LOVED the stoplight.

He figured out right away how to pull off the lights. Mom and Dad show him how to reattach them. (Velcro makes it easy for little fingers.)

Ian also liked the turtle and pulled its head waaaaay out. It's attached with elastic and quite stretchy.

Curt exclaimed over the Caps for Sale page, just as I'd hoped he would.

Opening the tipi by using the zipper.

Looking at the five monsters on the counting page. (I thought they were pretty cute, but I had a hard time finding five different ones!)

The look on Curt's face makes all that time and work worthwhile.

Pulling the jack o' lantern's other face pieces out of the pumpkin.

The shoelaces for the football's lacing arrived the day after Ian opened his book.

I love this dinosaur page. Since I designed it myself, I was pretty anxious to see if Ian and crew liked it.

They did! And they opened his mouth immediately to discover what the dino had been nibbling.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle stickers!! Curt loves the Ninja Turtles, and I thought the stickers would be something quiet that Ian could play with in church.

Success!! They like it!