A Little Girl Present

One of the things I love most about making what I give is that I feel like it’s very real and true to ponder my friend and then to form for this friend something that costs my time and feeling and effort. My daughter has caught this way of thinking from me as she tends to catch almost all my ways of thinking. My husband laughs when we finish each others’ sentences or know exactly what the other is thinking. It’s too hard to surprise each other because we’re always a step ahead of the other when plotting a gift. Anyway, when she wanted to make something for her friends’ birthday she enlisted me though she is always careful to do much of the thinking and as much of the work as she can, so that she feels like, “it’s really from me.”

This particular friend loves our cats and doesn’t have one of her own and is delightfully imaginative with stuffed animals and dolls and such. I thought one of the cats I crochet would be fun. So Drew stuffed animal parts and donated the flower button while I crocheted. She thought of a doll blanket and pillow and I supplied a vintage embroidered linen placemat and a matching napkin for the fabric. These have been sitting in my scrap fabric bin for a while waiting for the right inspiration to strike. She took another scrap of fabric and made flower petals out of them that we appliqued onto each. It was a very simple and quick project but very cute also.

To make the pillow we cut out the center of the cloth napkin and folded it in half (right sides together.) Drew used my sewing machine to sew up the remaining 3 sides of the pillow, leaving a hole for turning and stuffing. Then she turned it inside out. We appliqued the flower petals on, stuffed it, and sewed up the little hole. The place mat was easier still. We only had to applique matching flower petals in place.

There’s something wonderful about a heartfelt gift and I almost think it can bless the giver more to give than the receiver to receive.