An American Girl's Birthday Party

After much delay, we finally got around to hosting Gracie's birthday party. She wanted to take her friends to see Kit Kittredge: An American Girl and then go to EastSide to make our own pizzas. Of course I had to come up with just the right party favor, and there's nothing at the Amercian Girl store that I could afford to give 10 little girls!

My mother had already seen the movie with my niece, so she was a fabulous resource for ideas. The mystery in the movie revolves around a box that Kit's mother hides under the floorboard with her money and some jewelry in it. Mom was able, with the help of a friend (thanks Sharon!), to round up a cigar box for each girl. We decided to add a strand of faux pearls from JoAnn's, Etc.; a ring pop, candy necklace, and some candy (mini boxes of Dots and Tootsie Rolls), all from Dollar Tree. But there was something missing, something to make it unique and special and just from us.

So I decided to make a quilt.

I'm chalking it up to the insomnia I've been suffering lately while my DH has been traveling to be with his dad. Sheer exhaustion made me do it! While he was gone again (this time to bring his parents back home, thank God!) I had no one reminding me of the time or urging me to come to bed. Not only have I made tremendous progress on my Kaleidoscope Dreams, as you can see in the sidebar, but I made ten little cheater cloth quilts for the girls who came to the party.

Of course, they each had to be quilted slightly differently. Heaven forbid the dolls be together with their quilts at a slumber party and get mixed up! (But then, that was before I made the personalized labels for each one. I've gone completely 'round the bend, I tell you.) This actually turned out to be a fun exercise - it was like auditioning different quilting designs on a mini quilt. I found creative ways to change familiar quilting patterns in ways I will definitely use again.

The labels were super easy. I just made 2 little circles with the label info on them and raw-edge appliqued them down. I overlapped them slightly so that the label is reminiscent of the number 8. Fun, yeah? I made you a little slide show so you could see how it turned out. I am so happy with them, and the girls oohed and aahed over them.


The absolute best moment, though, was when we came from the movie to the pizzeria and DH was there waiting for us. He had been fibbing all day about how much progress they had made on the trip home. Gracie was so excited to see him. It had only been a few days, but signalled the end of a long stretch of road. Now his dad is out of the hospital and his parents are home from the longest they've ever gone without seeing the grandkids. The party was a roaring success. My husband is back where he belongs, beside me, under our quilt.

Maybe now I will be able to sleep. At last.