Small, yes, as in quick and little, but so essential. Today we made a doll quilt to go with our new vintage doll crib (I, I mean she had to have it). She’s so proud of the quilt, and can’t stop tucking her dollies in with it…and untucking them, putting diapers on them, feeding them, tucking them in again. If I squeeze and kiss her enough, maybe she’ll never grow up…will always be running around the house naked, begging for popsicles, swaddling a diapered pig, and telling me she can’t wait to be a grown up so she can “hammer nails and have breasts”. These days are so precious it hurts.
I let Nora choose her favorite charm pack and lay it out just how she wanted…must say, we were so on the same wave length. The Heather Bailey she picked was just perfect- so pretty and subtle.
I love that this project was so quick that she was actually able to sit on my lap and help me guide the fabric and pull out pins for the entire quilt top…which is saying a lot for a 3yo’s attention span! Then I put her down for nap and quilted it with simple modern seam echos and Xs. When she woke up to find it finished, you’d think Santa had left his sleigh. Mission accomplished: quality time spent together, and she’s in love with a handmade item that she helped make.
We also made matching dresses/skirts this week, out of a bit of Anna Maria Horner’s Square Dance we had left at the shop. Oh how I love this pair. I used Anna’s Museum Tunic free tutorial for mine (so fast! 2 episodes of Law & Order!), and her’s was just a classic gathered skirt, turned over and stitched at the top and bottom with elastic threaded through the top casing.
When she saw me wearing mine yesterday, and that we matched, it was so cute. She had this major epiphany, like a little light bulb going off in her head…with huge eyes she exclaimed “Hey wait a minute!! Mine is that fabric, and yours is that fabric…we MATCH!” Priceless. She wants to wear it every day, and I’m tempted to let her. Afterall, can’t punish the girl for having good taste!
And this is Lil Bella. Yes, you may be noticing a pattern here- almost all of our friends are named Lil Bella. This one happens to be a tattered lawn ornament that I randomly purchased 8 years ago as a whimsical accent amongst some exotic plants I had displayed above my kitchen cabinets (don’t ask- must have been in a previous decorating life!). Remarkably, it’s still hanging around, and seems to participate in all of our photo shoots, riding around in strollers and wagons, getting dropped on the cement and drug by her eyes. Lil Bella’s a trooper, that’s for sure.
Oh, and the Feeling Fussy Fabric Swap is going so well! We have some awesome quilters signed up from all over the country- Hawaii to Florida to New York and everywhere in between! I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to see what folks send in and start making with their squares! We still have spots- come join the fun!
Gotta run! Hope you all are having a fantastic week!
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