Happy Birthday to You, and You, and You, and You

Originally this sign said Happy Birthday Triplets.  Paige made it.  When Paige's birthday came a few days later, the triplets switched out a few letters and voila.  The sign says Happy Birthday Paige.

Becca, Emily, and Libbie turned ten last Wednesday. Double digits.  The big One-Oh. T-E-N.  My babies ten???  I can't believe it!  Paige celebrated her twelfth birthday on Saturday.  One more year and she'll be joining Hailey as a teenager.  Where does the time go?  Stop it already!!! I love the celebration of a birthday, but it is such an in-your-face reminder that time passes so quickly.  Hugs all around little girlfriends.  You will ALWAYS be my sweet baby girls. 

I try to give at least one handmade-with-love-by-mom gift for birthdays.  This year I decided to make a pencil roll for stylish storage of colored pencils.

Let's just say that the learning curve on this project was a little more than I'd  budgeted for in the time department. It took four tries before I was completely satisfied with the end result.  Pencil roll number one ended up in the repurpose-it-later pile.  Stitching flat pencil pockets made the pencil roll lumpy-rumply when I put the pencils in. I'd made one like this before for a friend, but this time it wasn't workin' out!  Pencil roll number two crafted with binding and a button closure...Hmm, ok I can live with it.  Pencil roll number three made with no binding and a ribbon closure...Well, it's ok, but let's go back to pencil roll number two and modify it a bit.  Pencil roll number four (pictured)...Ahh, now that's what I'm talking about.

For those of you doing the math, you will realize that I am one pencil roll short. There were four birthdays and only three pencil rolls since the first one was an irreparable dud.  Well, here's how things played out. At 11:45 p.m. on April 1, it became apparent that I was only going to have two pencil rolls done for the triplets.  On birthday day, Emily, Becca, and Libbie opened their gifts.  Emily and Becca found lovely pencil rolls. Libbie received a small pile of fabric.  "Mine has elephants on it!" shouted Emily.  "Mine matches my notebook cover!" shouted Becca.  "Mine is....a bunch of fabric???" questioned Libbie. Yes, little Libs.  You got bunch of fabric bundled with a promise to complete a pencil roll ASAP. 

Life gets busy. No time to sew.  April 4th rolls around.  I have time to make just one pencil roll.  Do I make one for Libbie? Or do I make one for Paige?  Paige has a birthday the next day, but I promised Libbie she was in line for the next sewing project.  Oh, what a conundrum. What to do? What to do?  In the end, I decided to make one for Paige so that her birthday gifts were complete.  I think I caught sight of Libbie giving me the hey-I-was-supposed-to-be-next look but I quickly turned my head.  (Is that wrong?) Sweet thing that she is, she didn't pursue it.  I best be getting on with it, though.   A gal can only be expected to wait for so long. Down to sew I go.

XOXO,

Cassie 

Comments

[Jade]

I like your pencil roll. The covered button is a nice touch. Much better than the ties I've seen around blog-land.

[Tessy]

My daughter would love that pencil roll. I am going to have to make her one. Only problem is she will take it to school and come back home with a list to make them for all her friends.

Five daughters! Wow!! That is beautiful. I love big families.

[Thimbleanna]

What a cute story! Boy -- you've got your birthday hands full! That certainly is a dilemma -- I probably would have done what you did. Love your fabric choices!

[Nicole Falk]

i absolutely adore this!! everything you do..amazing.

[Ana]

I too am loving your work. Your perfect bias binding has me green with envy. It's something I must work on.
Happy belated birthday to your girls, and can I just say that I am also in awe that you have the time to sit down and sew. I have a 3 yearl old boy and have about 10 mintues a day LOL