My Little Owl : :

This was the scene last Friday after school when my little girl came home to find that her owl costume was finally finished!



Since I have been so busy packing and not feeling well, when it was announced that our local Trick or Treating would be postponed several days because of Hurricane Sandy, I decided to take advantage of those extra days. I was thrilled and relieved when the costume started coming together just as I had planned! And even more, that she LOVES it!!



My daughter picked out all the colors that make up her costume. We used a little of my new Floressence Trellis Tulip in a very bright pink for the bodice and lots of Pure Elements, felt, and fabric scraps for all those colorful feathers. My owl wings are similar to these that I've seen on Prudent Baby and a few other blogs, but I didn't follow a specific tutorial. I used one of my daughter's dresses to measure the length from thumb to thumb, used brown felt for the wing structure, and planned for them to tie on with the dress, rather than around the neck. The owl headband is made the same way I make my Birthday Crowns, which she wanted instead of a mask so she could get her face painted.



Here's a blurry, but good look at the back, with her brothers -- an Army Ranger and a very happy Gothic character!

I wasn't sure I could compete with last year's Little Red costume, which was so fun for me to make! But having her input and for this one turn out just as she wanted, was even better! I am a little bummed that I didn't get as great of pictures as last year, but the weather went from being dark and rainy, to really cold. I'm certain I'll see lots more of this costume throughout the year, so that's alright.



It's packed away now with her other dress-up play things, or I would have taken a few more photos to share this morning. Right now we are waiting to hear when we can officially close and begin to move into our first home. We had thought that would be this week and weekend, but that's not going to happen. Hopefully it will be soon before the snow comes!! Wish us luck and have a great Monday!
♥ Maureen

p.s. I'll add a few extra photos to my flickr, for those of you who might be interested in making something similar yourself!

Celebrate Color { Voting! }: :

Today marks the end of the Celebrate Color event hosted by Rachel of Stitched in Color, along with Emma Lamb, Mollie of Wild Olive, and Shannon of LuvintheMommyhood. As promised it was packed full of color and crafting inspiration, tutorials, and of course, contests and prizes during these past three months. I loved it for many reasons, but mostly for bringing fiber artists of all kinds, be it embroidery, crochet, knitting, quilting, home decor, and clothing all together to share and inspire each other.

I was thrilled when Rachel asked me to put together a little tutorial for a project geared towards little helping hands. As a family, we spent a weekend back in late September, just as the leaves here were turning, putting this Felt Leaf Garland Tutorial together to share here and as a guest post for Celebrate Color.



Throughout September, October, and November I made sure to have at least one item to enter. Carefully choosing what would fit the theme of celebrating with projects in full color.

In September, I chose to add both my Simple Children's Scarf (tutorial here) and my Fall Fox Pillow. I was overjoyed to learn that my Innocent Crush Fox had been chosen as a finalists and ended up winning second place in the Home Decor category that month!



In October, I entered two different items in the Wearable category. Which I truly couldn't believe myself. I am not a garment sewists at all! My only explanation would be that after Rachel's Bloggers Pillow Party, I just felt like I needed to do more than to keep making pillows. I entered my Fall Owl Tote, which I love using, and of course, My Little Red Riding Hood costume. Little Red made the finials in October, and again I took home second!! I let my daughter, Haila pick out her own flannels as our prize for some new pj's!



Now here we are at the end of November, the third final month of what turned out to be such a wonderful event to follow and join in. This month I entered my new Half Dresden Pillows in the Home Dec category and My Little Apron in the Wearables. To my complete shock and amazement, my apron was chosen as a finalist again this month!!!



I am feeling a bit of blissful deja vu, as I was a three time finalists in the Pillow Party, as well. I can not tell you how much this means to me!!! You can all vote for your favorites in all four categories until midnight tonight. Truly, I feel like I have already won!!

Thank you Rachel, Emma, Mollie, and Shannon, for creating such a wonderful event and for all the hard work and time you put into organizing the fun! And, Thank You for voting, friends! ~ Maureen

My Little Red : :

I finished up Haila's Little Red Riding Hood costume last night, so we had to celebrate with a quick photo-shoot in the yard.

















Boy was it difficult to choose what photos to share! I realize there are alot, sorry! And even more here, not to mention a hundred more I didn't share. I have to say, we are both pretty thrilled with this costume!

I made the hood out of a faux velvet material that was already lined with satin on the inside, that I picked up on super sale at the nearest Joann. I traced one of Haila's poncho sweaters for the shape, adding some addition length. For the dress, just a simple patchwork, full apron style dress with some Denise Schmidt and a few prints from Pink Castle Fabrics. I included a little Dresden detail to the bib, since I have a bit of an obsession with Dresden's at the moment. : )

Oh, does it feel good to cross this costume off my to-do list! And, many thanks to all my Facebook friends for giving the photo I shared last night so much love. It made my night!!!

I just entered this costume of ours in the fabric wearables category of Celebrate Color. Wish me luck!!!