Like mother

Months before her birthday this past summer, miss M had an IDEA. She wanted to create and make a small stuffed critter for each of her birthday guests, personalising each one a bit for each friend. She drew out a rough plan:

















She wanted me to help her with the supplies and sewing. I encouraged her to use as much as possible from what I had already in my crafty stash, staying with my philosophy of using what we have on hand before acquiring (too much) more.

She did the planning of materials, pattern making, cutting, gluing, embroidery, and stuffing. I was only needed to work the machine when called upon.

We started them in about March (the party was in June), allowing ourselves to enjoy watching them being born one at a time! Careful thought was given to fabric choice (as much as possible within the supply) and expressions for each birthday friend, slowing giving personality to the stuffie. She named each one, wrote bios for each with their dates of birth, likes and dislikes. For example, Melba the bunny liked having blackberry tea and munching a scone in her garden. We took a group picture (minus Pip the sheep, unborn at photo time) before they were distributed during the party, to be discovered through scavenger hunt clues! So fun!


















During the summer miss M renewed her interest in beading. My sister started her off with a birthday beading day just with her cousin, and she made these two gorgeous bracelets!























Pleased with her new bling, this spurred her on to make beaded gifts for her friends' birthdays, using beads from my old jewellry cast-offs, and a couple of stores here and there. The first picture below also features a blue sheep miss M needle felted. He is eyeing the blue and green beaded necklace with the initial T.

















































Creating beauty. It's a wonderful thing!