ninja birthday party

Little boy chose a ninja theme for his 6th birthday.

(image source)

We asked his little guests to dress in black – some even came fully dressed as ninjas. They all received red strips of knit fabric as belts and head bands. Then we started our ninja boot camp and we headed into the forest.

The boys had to pass tests, proving their ninja qualities, such as balancing…

handling delicate objects…

… making ninja moves while jumping…

… fighting with double-bladed ninja swords…

…running and afterwards sneaking silently through the forest (my fabourite part)…

…aiming (we had two games, one with water pistols and this one with nerf guns)

After passing all the test, every ninja apprentice received his own ninja sword (a red pool noodle with black “taped” handle)…

…and his own ninja mask (I bought cheap balaclavas and added a red strip of knit fabric).

I thought I’d share our birthday party with you because it was a huge success with the boys.

Enjoy planning your own ninja party!
Christine

Railfence – a scrappy baby boy quilt

A sweet baby boy was born in late june. My friend Verena and I, we made him a gift inspired by this pillow.

We chose lots of black & white prints (many from ZenChic’s new line Modern Backgrounds “Paper”) and some blue, turquoise, green and yellow scraps.

We used raw-edge-appliqué to “write” his name on the back:

Here are some of my favourite blocks: some crowns…

… newspaper advertising…

…crossword puzzles…

…and some funky glasses…

I only stitched in the ditch of those inner seams, which makes a nice pattern on that flannel star-y backing:

We used left overs from the top for a scrappy binding. My favourite is this leaf-y print from Lotta Jansdotter:

As always, I used a triple zig-zag-stitch to sew the binding down with my sewing machine:

Here is another shot, all rolled up and ready to be gifted:

So easy and so much fun to make. Now to perpare another baby quilt for my cousin that is due with her second baby in December…

Happy Quilting!
Christine

(Back) to school!

Last year I told you about the german tradition of giving “sugar cones” to first graders’ for their very first day of school.

Well, we have another first grader this year. So I made another sugar cone from fabric. He asked for a “soccer” version, which was rather difficult to make.

I really dislike most of the soccer themed fabric out there. So I made a border from this knit fabric:

I added some black and white “ball” fabric and machine stitched his class, his name and the date of his first day of school. Here’s a closeup:

And this is the cone and his school bag:

An early morning shot before we left for school:

All kids have their own school agenda that is spiral bound. By the end of the year those spirals are rather oval or bend but no longer round. So I made some quilted covers for my boys’ agendas. Soccer themed for little boy…

…and ninja themed for our new second grader…

That little ninja is completely appliquéd and one of my favourite makes ever. The design is from breezylaneembroiderydesigns.com. I just turned the embroidery  design into a raw-edge-application.

Both boys were also invited to a sleep over party, so we needed a second bag for toothbrush, etc. for the boys. (Unless I’d send them out with my pink one. Hihi.)

It is lined with coated cotton so throwing in an open tooth paste tube will not ruin it entirely (ask me how I know).

Well now, the first weeks of school are already over. We are heading into our fall break. Little boy is not very excited about school and tends to do his homework with the least effort possible but he seems to get along well enough. I’ll keep my fingers crossed (for the next couple of years, I guess…). Sigh.

Are there any “first day of school traditions” in your whereabouts?!

Happy sewing everyone!
Christine