Sally and Zero

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A few years ago, K was really into Nightmare Before Christmas. So, of course, she wanted to be Sally. This was a really fun costume to make. I made her a long red yarn wig, with a bit pulled back at the ears. so she could see. Her dress was pieced together, roughly following Sally's dress in the movie, but with a bit brighter colors. Her arms and legs were covered with cotton tights, dyed blue and then cut and stitched like she was sewn together. She wore her black Mary Jane's and I made her black and white striped baggy socks.

To top the whole thing off, I made her a fleece Zero to cuddle while she was out trick or treating. Basically Zero was a soft fleece blankee with a stuffed Zero head attached.

Most people just though she was an odd Raggedy Ann with a puppy blanket. Everyone thought she was the cutest lil' thing.

Hogwarts Kitties.

Have I mentioned K LOVES Harry Potter? Oh yeah. Her teacher, Ms. N. who was and is fabulous, gave her HP and the Sorcerers Stone on the first day of second grade. She had it read in a month. Chamber of Secrets took about three weeks. Prisoner of Azkaban took less than two. We made her take a break, Goblet of Fire was a bit intense for second grade, but it took her less than a week when she was ready. This past summer she read the last three. And cried like a baby, and giggled maniacally, and wept with joy. So did I.

This past summer, K wanted to make a friend of hers a HP gift. So she combined her love of kitties and her obsession with HP and made Hogwarts Kitties. She started with three little kitty finger puppets we found at Target. We made them all capes out of black and yellow fleece with a bit of red stitching and snaps. Turned out very nicely. Hermione, that's her on the left, has her book bag filled with little books, made from brown felt, green thread and fun foam, very cute. Harry, in the middle, has glasses made of pipe cleaners, a stitched on scar and Hedwig, made from white pompoms and glue. Last, but not least, Ron, on the right, has Pig, hand crocheted by K. That's Pig on Ron's head,... where else. K did most of the stitching and all the designing. Her little friend Squeed with delight.

K is working on another set to sell on Etsy. Did I mention K is an entrepreneur? Oh yeah.

Day off!

K had a day off from school today. It's was a wonderful, cool, rainy day, so we decided to stay home and relax. Thinking ahead, we purchased all the materials to make K a new bag for her recorder last week, perfect timing, so we were all ready to start.

K's favorite color at the moment is green, so we used some light green peach skin we found on the remnants table, some matching green cord, and a green flower applique. K helped figure out where and how to cut, hand stitched on most of the flower, and machine stitched most of the seams. She SQUEEED when she turned it inside out and saw the finished bag.

Sew a recorder bag for a child and she will be the envy of all her friends. Teach her how to sew her own recorder bag, and she will help you use up all that material you've purchased over the years!

Just an experiment.

Just a little something I'm trying at the moment. I saw something similar in an issue of Better Homes and Gardens this summer. Haven't quite worked out the process yet, but I can tell that the starting picture makes all the difference.

What does your cat do for fun?

Have I mentioned we like Quilling?

Oh yes, we like quilling. We've made some fun cards over the years. The first was a Mermaid birthday card we made when K was in Kindergarten. She did most of the shaping and glueing and I did the rolling. It was hard to part with the finished card, but we managed with just a few sniffles. Me that is, K was fine after I scanned it.

K made this lovely aquarium card a few years ago for her art teacher. I helped with the jelly fish, but K did most everything else.

My favorite has got to be the Owl and Cat K made for her second grade teacher. Her teacher had given her the Harry Potter book on the first day of school. K read the first three that year. Hasn't been the same since.

Yup, a little paper, the right tools and a bit of patience and even a six year old can make something wonderful.