Princess Play Mat

Today I am sharing a project my sister made for my sweet niece Marley's 3rd birthday.  She has made play mats for each of her older three boys- a city, a zoo, and a farm.

Marley's is a Princess Play Mat.

My sister draws the outlines on muslin with pencil and then colors it in with Sharpies.  I love this project because it is so interactive and it can be packed up in a bag with a few select toys and taken to ballgames and parks really easily. 

 

Here are some of the fun activities Marley can have her princesses do:

1. Jump off the dock or go down the slide to swim in the moat.

2. Have a fancy dinner in the banquet hall.

3. Dance in the grand ballroom of the castle.

4. Take a nap or have a slumber party.

5. Paddle the rowboat around the moat.

6. Read a book or have a Bible study.

7. Arts and crafts time- painting and coloring!

8. Workout- lift some weights or do yoga.

9. Swing on a tree swing.

10. Swim and play in the pool.

11. Jump on the trampoline.

12. Ride a wild dragon.

13. Play hopscotch with their friends.

Doesn't she do such a good job! So fun!

Some details:

Rapunzel jumping on the trampoline.

Snow White is hungry!

The topstitch around the edge.

  The Backing.

I will be linking up with some of these parties!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Have a great day!

Fabric Covered Orbs

Last Christmas time I saw this post about fabric wrapped ornaments on Under The Table and Dreaming. I thought it would be a great project to help decorate up my lving room.

I got a bunch of styrofoam balls that were my Grandmother's over Thanksgiving and I used the leftover fabric from my Roman Shades as a starting off point for color inspiration. I really like how they turned out. I think they kind of look like round Easter Eggs :).

I love the way they look in my chicken wire basket I got at Hobby Lobby!

It was a pretty easy project that didn't take very long (once I started)!  I used my rotary cutter to cut the strips instead of tearing them. I also used 4 different size of styrofoam balls.

Here is the lengths I cut for each size ball

4" ball- 12 1/2" strips (3/4"-1" wide)

3" ball- 10 1/4" strips (3/4"-1" wide)

2" ball- 8 1/4" strips (3/4" wide)

1 1/2" ball- 6 1/2" strips (3/4" wide)

Place the first piece down with straight pins.

Then cover up each set of straight pins until no styrofoam is showing.

I will be linking up with some of These Parties!

Thanks for stopping by!

A Finish for the New Year

But, not a cross stitch finish- I completed a dress and bloomers for my niece's first birthday. I used some fabric I already had (think I had planned to make a dress for me out of it at some point). I love the way it turned out and I can't wait for the summer when she can wear it!

This is the front of the dress and the bloomers. And below is the back of the dress with a tie in the back.
This week I FINALLY got the birth announcement in the mail. It had been framed and sitting on the table in bubble wrap for too long!

I have been sick this week and it made it hard to get much done around the house, I did get some work on the quilt done last night, but the hand stitching doesn't give me quite as much satisfaction as seeing progress on a cross stitch project or sewing project. I will keep working on the quilt today, but I think I may do some scrap booking as well! I have the whole day free.. hubby is hunting!

Well, I better go get some oatmeal and eggs for breakfast! Happy stitching and thanks for visiting my blog.

Review of Goals, and July, July, Ju-lyyyyyy

It is the last day of June, so I am going to review my goals from this month.

June Goals-
1. Finish Mirabilia Angel (hopefully this week).- Done! Pictures are posted on older posts.
2. July Ornament- Stitch and finish off.- Done! Pictures are posted on older posts
3.Work on Under the Friendship Tree.- Worked on it. I made good progress and I finished the girl on the left. It is turning out really cute!

4. If I get to it- Hunting Companions.- Worked on it. I only got a small amount done though, I plan to work on this over the weekend when I need a "portable" craft.

5. The main thing I started this month is a quilt. I am very excited about it. I started this on Sunday and I have been working on it every day. It is going to be a 60" X 60" lap quilt. It has 8 different fabrics which are shown below. I love all of the fabrics and am excited to see them all together. My progress so far is- Made the pattern, bought and washed fabric, and cut all of the pieces for two of the colors.


My pattern is shown below. I made it up by seeing one I liked on etsy.com and making my own pattern. I hope it turns out well.
This is my first quilt, so if anyone has any tips or advice just let me know! I am sure I will be posting progress as I go.


Goals for July-
1. Work on quilt- get all pieces cut and 1/2 of quilt pieced together
2. Work on pepper embroidery on towels
3. August Calendar ornament

On another note, we have started harvesting from our garden. We have gotten a couple batches of green beans and we have tons of tomatoes that are getting close- We are planning to can this year so I am getting pretty excited.

Saturday Saturday

Today I feel like I made some progress. I didn't actually stitch much, but I went to Hobby Lobby and got some materials to work on the perpetual calendar that I am stitching. I also started on the April Erica Michaels pattern and ran a race. Got some blue and tan Monaco fabric at Hob Lob too. I hope to post my progress on Under the Friendship tree tomorrow!