Valentine grandchild: soft card and uke

    Valentine's Day is almost here along with Erika's 7th birthday. I like to make a soft birthday card, a 12" x 12" quilt for a grandchild; but I am more proud of the red ukulele that will excite her.  The card still needs embellishment, but posting time has passed. I will probably add beads and some gold wings from puff paint. Visual solutions are sometimes slower to arrive these days!

     I was very tempted by the Alex Toys My First Sewing Kit, but the temptation of the family ukulele orchestra won out. I found the Hilo toy ukulele at Guitar Stop in Cambridge and was pleased by the sound and the fact that it holds its tune. It is smaller than Hannah's concert ukulele and will be easier for Erika to hold. For her, I ordered the book Jiminy Kokopo's Ukulele Sing and Strum Fun Book. I just received the very thorough Ukulele for Dummies for myself. What a rich find. I am telling you this information so you will join us :*)!

Valentine finale: another soft birthday card

       On grandchildren's birthdays, I try to remember to make a soft, sewn birthday card. Erika was born on Valentine's Day. This morning I copied two photos onto printable fabric sheets; and I was thinking about the new goldfish she asked for and the present I sewed for Erika and her doll.  I cut the soft prints the same size and fused them with Wonder Under to different colors of fleece. Following some individual quilting around the edges and on appliques, I finally stitched the two fleece/photo pieces together, finishing with pinking scissors and then gold puff paint for the 5. These back-to-back images are on the soft fleece Erika loves.

         At my website among the journal quilts I have two other fabric cards: Erika's 4th and Hannah's 6th. I hope tonight at the family celebration of her birthday, Erika will be amused to be featured as a mermaid. I should add some more gold paint around, but I got spooked the card would not dry in time for dinner tonight. I smeared it once trying to take a photo, but it cleaned up with water. However, one can always use a hair dryer with acrylic paints.