Yummy felt foods

Sorry to leave y'all hanging, but now that the birthday girl has opened her present, I can show you how those tomatoes turned out and what they are for. I have been wanting to make a sandwich for a year now and found this fantastic tutorial from Tania's Myrtle & Eunice blog (tut is on her sidebar). Hers are beautiful, as is her photography. The tut is perfect, and though mine were not as lovely, they were fun to make and came out well. I just love the lettuce! Oh, and I added a burger and will eventually make some lunch meat as well since Miss E requested it.

To add to the fun, the sandwich inspired me to make s'mores. My daughter was only mildly impressed with the results, and then I realized ... d'oh! She's never HAD the real thing! My description only got her halfway to understanding, so I emailed the DH, who stopped at the store on the way home and bought supplies. After dinner, we fired the grill back up and showed her (as best as you can with a propane grill on the back patio) how real s'mores are made and ... better yet ... how they taste! She was instantly smitten and has enjoyed the felt ones much more since then!

And finally, I loved this idea I saw others making, and whipped up two, one for my daughter and one for the birthday girl: roll, cut and frost cookies! So simple and so cute; I need to have some small rolling pins and cookies cutters on hand for the next gift because these are truly fun. Both girls, mine almost 4 and the birthday girl just turned 3, knew exactly what to do and immediately had fun making their own decorated sugar cookies. What a blast! (I realize these are the plain cookies; perhaps better photos to come later on.) I boxed them up in cute bakery boxes. :)

That's probably it for the felt for awhile, but I do have a birthday cake to finish before Miss E turns FOUR. I started it a year ago and must finish it this time!

Enjoy!

Deceptively difficult!

Whoever thought that sewing up a few slices of tomato would be so challenging! I can't tell you what I'm working on, since it's a gift for a small friend (whose mom just might read this!), but the rest of the project has been pretty simple. But ... nice, perfect slices of tomato with neatly-stitched segments? Not so simple! My straight stitching is far from pretty, so I'm struggling through, and to make it more challenging, I have a 3.75-year-old who keeps bouncing up on the loveseat to see what I'm doing. Or, she asks me to thread her needle, tie a knot, trace out circles and hearts on felt ... because, in and around *my* projects, she has her own. Yesterday, she took off with the felt food making (wonder why?) and produced five sandwich cookies, a tomato slice, two blueberries, and a big strawberry donut. I think she has done great for a small fry!

Now, back to stitching and no more bitching ...

Doll clothes

I've been meaning to make doll clothes for Miss E's Bitty Baby for ... uh ... ahem ... well, let's just say a long time. The patterns are going to decay soon. Okay, so not that long, but a long time. I finally did, and they actually came out near-perfect! I am so very lousy at following patterns that this is a major accomplishment. Just a few hours of work, no swearing at all, and doll clothes that are so cute. The dress is really supposed to be a nightgown, but why would you just sleep in something so ornate?! It's a Simplicity pattern, 3517, view B.

The hat was a loose rendition of this tutorial from the purl bee, but made it reversible. It's at 80 percent of the pattern size, but I think next time, I'd make the brim much wider. It seems really skinny to me, but Miss E thought it was just perfect.

Best of all, the dress and hat coordinate with the dress I made last fall for Miss E, from one of the Portabello Pixie patterns from Sandi Henderson. That pattern just rocks -- I've made two dresses (her princess dresses, she calls them), extending the skirt length a bit to make them floor length (which won't last long at her growth rate), and also made a cute Santa shirt from it. Again, a pattern that I don't swear at and can get through in about 3.5-4.0 hours. YAY!

Just letting you know I'm here. And still making things. If you're reading me.