Bunny love

That's Princess Fancy Muffinpants, as drawn by Mimi. As I'm SURE you could tell!

Blue Ribbon Bunny from Peppercam on Vimeo.

Local Adventure: Arboretum

When I heard the Arboretum was displaying fairy gardens on their maple syrup breakfast weekend, I just knew it was worth the trek down there!

And it was!

Look at the girls, they are feeling very grown up with their own table. Brent and I felt like we were on a date.



Mr. Pancake! OMG OMG OOOOMMMMMGGGGG



Mr. Pancakes says to Bella, "Your mom can use that picture to embarrass you with boyfriends in the future." Bella does not understand how that picture would ever be embarrassing....? That's my girl.



The pancakes were delicious and the coffee is top notch. We linger.

But our excitement to see the fairy gardens, built by professional fairy gardeners, is too much to resist.



Then we brave the chilly chilly day to see how maple syrup is made. We start out here with this lady who demonstrates tapping. We get to see all the tubing set up in their maplery.



Then we head down to the cooker area where they have run out of complimentary maple popcorn. D'oh! We sit down and make our own spire instead. Making your own spire involves an alder branch and unspeakable abuse to steel knitting needles.

Then we hike up to their nature center area. There is a little house that the girls immediately turn into an imaginary food booth at the State Fair. They make me so proud!



There is a stump you can practice pounding your spire into.



With a big hammer!!!



Mimi liked the taste testing. Never gave a final decision.



There is a green house area where we were happy to warm up and the girls were happy to "water" the plants with squirt bottles.



With all that excitement and photo opps, fairies and pancakes, not to mention MISTER Pancake, it was definitely worth the trip!

Bedtime

Bedtime, With Dancing! from Peppercam on Vimeo.

The Hippo Song (Lyrics) by Mimi
I am a Hippo
I love being in the pool
So I waddle around in the pool
And I sleep
And I move slowly while I sleep
Doo doo doo doo doo doo

Bella's Birthday Quilt

OK Well I admit I was a bit late finishing this quilt for Bella's actual birthday. But look, she is excited all the same!



I made a twin size since all of her other quilts are crib size. She needed a nice big cozy quilt.



I knew she liked the fabric since she had been coveting the stack of it in my sewing room. I bound it in purple and also quilted it with variegated purple aurifil because that's her favorite color (for the moment).



Her favorite part is that I quilted "Bella" in cursive along all four sides. I'm not sure why this was such a huge deal, but it was! So I'll go with it!



This is the biggest quilt I've ever quilted on my machine, and it was really no problem. I watched a YouTube video where the woman was like, don't roll it up, just bunch it and have it lay on the front of your body, and that was totally life changing. No more quilt roll management! So liberating! It was actually the most trouble to baste it.



Quilt label.



Action shot. This is in the morning before school. She's in there somewhere!



Fabric: Amy Butler, Gypsy Caravan
Pattern: April Rosenthal Windspinner (Twin size)

Birthday: Bella number 7

Our little Bella, turning seven years old!



There are two surprising things about this picture. First, Bella lost her wiggly front tooth at school! On her birthday! Oh yes she did!! And second, that is a bakery cake, as requested. Oh yes she did.

Bella's presents include American Girl loot and a quilt that is really almost nearly quite finished.



I can't remember why Mimi looks like that in this picture. But I'm going to guess it is because IT IS NOT HER BIRTHDAY.

We love birthday parties around here! We had a lot of fun planning a My Little Pony party for a bunch of little friends. 

Here is Mimi, excited to be at the big girl table!

We served cupcakes and ice cream. I even remembered to pre-scoop the ice cream into muffin papers, a fairly brilliant idea that I never think of the night before.



The house is decorated with ponies ponies ponies everywhere.

The cupcakes have cutie marks on them. Here is a printable for you in case you also want some pony bottom tattoos on your cupcakes! Cutie Marks for Cupcakes Printable



And of course my little Brony was a wonderful dad in every way, and even dressed the part.



We did coloring, bingo, a craft where we made parasprites, and--the kids' favorite--a pony scavenger hunt. We printed out a bunch of ponies, and the kids had to find them hidden all over the house. The kids loved this game and we ended up re-hiding the ponies several times! Here is the scavenger hunt, my gift to you. I hope you find it as entertaining as we do: Pony Scavenger Hunt Printable

The party was followed by the absolute highlight of a seven-year-old's entire existence. A SLEEPOVER! Cousin CC stayed after the party and we made pancakes for dinner, found the ponies about a hundred more times, watched a movie with popcorn, had a pillow fight, and eventually fell asleep. It was everything Bella dreamed it would be. Which is exactly how your seventh birthday should end.



Happy Birthday to my Beautiful Bella!

A gift for a special baby

This present just came together. I had a vision about the gray yarn and the red buttons--it just had to be. Especially the red buttons. My vision was very specific about those. And then I was at Crafty Planet and the fabric was just there, waiting for me. Gnome. Houses. Easiest fabric decision I ever made.



I originally cut out pale green flannel for the lining, but I quickly corrected that with white minky dot.

This is just the sweetest little pattern. I hope it fits the babe someday! Right now she is teensy. But they do grow quick you know.




Sleep sack: Hushabye Baby by Favorite Things
Fabric: Lecien Woodland, lined with white minky dot
Cardigan pattern: February Baby Sweater, by Elizabeth Zimmermann
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk DK
Ravelry Project Page

Halloween

Trick-YAR-Treat!



Cutest little pink pirate you ever saw! She is Izzy, from Jake and the Neverland Pirates. She was going to be a princess up until the last minute. What are mommys for but to sew a pirate costume the night before Halloween?



 It's my pleasure, little matey.

Just don't forget about your mama when you come home with all your bootie. Mama likes Twix.

And then there's my beautiful Bella!



She is Merida from Brave. We had a lot of fun sewing her costume together. I wasn't using a pattern, which means she had to try it on constantly. At one point there was some weirdness going on under the arms and when she asked about it I told her to never mind about the pit flaps. Which sent her into the giggles for hours. PITFLAPS! Funniest word ever!

Here she is with the polar fleece cloak. Because trick-or-treating in Minnesota needs to involve lots and lots of layers. (this turned out to not be enough while trick-or-treating, and our lovely friend Jerimy kindly ran back to our house to get her parka).



Bella even let me DYE HER HAIR!!! A fantasy of mine! I thought it turned out so cute.

Didn't Bella do a great job on this pumpkin?



Here's the porch, all ready for some ACTION!! Even Klaus has his witch hat on.



They're here!!



The girls made it around the neighborhood for almost an hour before they could no longer resist a warm house and a chance to pick through their candy.

Happy Halloween everyone!

 

State Fair Playhouse: A Masterpiece in Felt

I do hate to toot my own horn. BUT.... this is probably the greatest thing ever sewed by human hands.

A State Fair Playhouse.



OH YES I DID!!!



A Fairchild poke through! The Space Tower really goes up and down! Are you freaking out yet?!



The entrance is Gate 5. With a little ticket booth to put your laminated State Fair tickets in.

What, you don't have laminated State Fair tickets? Well guess what, I do!

Look who else is nutty like me? Bella!



The food booth is the girls' favorite part.



That's them on the Giant Slide. They can move themselves around because they have velcro. KACHOW!



Here's Mimi, ready to take my order!

How about some mini donuts?



Or maybe a cone of Sweet Martha's?



I even made a double wonky one.



All part of my plan to have the girls love the Fair as much as I do.

I think it's working!!