Brenna’s Camilla

I’ve had these pictures on flickr for a week at least and still haven’t gotten around to posting them. Remember my Christmas sweater and skirt ambitions? Well, I did get Brenna’s done. I was weaving in the yarn tails late Christmas Eve and she wore them to church on Christmas day.

She’s also worn her sweater a lot since. I’d say on average 2 times a week. It is super cute and comfy.

I could have made it one fan repeat shorter, but oh well.

Isn’t she looking so grown up. She only has half an inch to catch up to me in height and her hands and feet are just slightly bigger than mine. She’ll be 12 in May. Yikes!

Love her, and love that she loves her mama made sweater.

Eva’s is done too, so stay tuned…

the loft bed

Welcome to Brenna’s room! 11 year old girl heaven complete with a (recently shingled) dollhouse, a non-pink quilt, and lots of dragon pictures and keep-out signs on the door.

Yep, I’m finally posting about Brenna’s new bed. I’ve referenced it several times– that it was in the plans, that it was in the works, that it was in her room… The thing is, I have been blessed with a daughter with the same room-keeping-tidy skills as I have (next to none) and so getting good pictures of her new bed in her room has been a little tricky. We accomplished the mission today– and I learned that I’m not fun when I just nag and point out every last little thing on the carpet. (Note to self– I really need to work on that and cut her some slack. She knows just as well as I do that I’m just as messy as she is. The thing is, there isn’t anyone living here to boss me around. I just need to remember that no matter who you are it’s not fun to be bossed around.)

Anyway, we got the free plans for this bed from Ana White. Her website is a pretty amazing and extensive resource for building your own furniture. The plans we used are right here. Barry did about 99% of the work with a little help from Brenna reading over the cut list, holding pieces steady as he drilled, and sanding. Brenna picked the paint color and the two of us did most of the priming and painting.

You can see that the end near the ladder is missing the bottom brace to keep the legs square because the original plan was to build the big book case, but once we got it up in her room and were figuring out exactly how furniture needed to be arranged we realized that it would be either the book case or the doll house, we couldn’t fit both. Quite naturally, the doll house won. It is plenty sturdy and stable as it is– and so convenient to wheel the doll house table in and out the open legs.

She already had a desk, so we didn’t need to build one. It fits just perfectly under her bed and she loves to hang out there and draw, sort sea shells, read, type… Her desk has actually gotten a lot more use. I think it must be that everything seems more fun when it’s in a fort.

We made a couple of pillow cases that match her quilt and some cute throw pillows. I was having fun making yo-yos from scraps, so there’s the rectangular pillow with lots of yo-yos and the round one (which I made using this pattern from Cluck-Cluck Sew) with little yo-yos in the center.

Now here’s how she really made her bed–

with all her loves– her baby blanket, the monster Jonah designed and helped make her this past Christmas, Julie (the doll I made a couple of years ago), and Buttercup (the teddy I made her a LONG time ago).

Now to get a crib and dresser and rocking chair crammed into that little room.

Did I tell you IKEA is opening here this week?

Brenna’s quilt

Remember the quilt Brenna and I were working on? It’s done! Instead of basting and free motion quilting it myself I decided to go with plan B. I sent the finished quilt top and back fabric to my mom who lives near the best quilt store I’ve ever been to. She can rent time on their long arm quilting machines and the work she does is always amazing. This one is no exception. Brenna LOVES it!

My mom even bound it too. It’s a truly 3 generation project, the 48 blocks pieced by Brenna, everything squared up and sewn together by me, and then finished to perfection by my mom. What a treasure.

Here’s a shot of the back:

The girl room is coming together. I think we can fit another one in there. During Barry’s long June the loft bed got built.

We’re getting there. About a month to go. The hot days go by so slowly, but the weeks are whizzing by.

quilt work

With the anticipation of our new little girl we’ve been scheming how we’re going to rearrange bedrooms, acquire the needed furniture and all that. Once she’s 4 or 5 months old Eva will get to move in with Brenna. Right now Brenna has a full size bed, a dresser, and a desk in her room with absolutely no room to add a crib, and the crib is still being used by our climbing monkey of a two year old. The solution I’ve dreamed up is that we’ll make a twin over full bunk bed for Hunter and Ian and a twin size loft bed for Brenna. That way we won’t have to buy any new mattresses.

To get ready for a new bed we naturally decided that some quilt making was in order. Brenna and I browsed simple quilt patterns and fabric together and I gave her full creative license. The only stipulation I made was that whatever pattern she chose needed to be simple enough that she could sew the blocks with minimal help from me. She chose the Juice Boxes pattern from Cluck Cluck Sew and a smattering of fabrics from Amy Butler’s Soul Blossoms collection. I modified the pattern just a bit. Since it was for 6 inch squares she would have needed to make 150 or so of them– so we enlarged it to 12 inch squares. 48 of those were much more doable. I did the cutting, she did all the sewing of the blocks, I did most of the pressing, and then I trued them up. It took a couple of months, but the blocks are done!

I’ve actually got the top all pieced together and the back made too. I was hoping to have it done for her birthday on Monday (11 years!!), but I don’t think getting it basted and quilted by then is very realistic seeing that I do have to do school, clothe, and feed people. We’ve got a good start, though! And great memories of collaboration will be harbored in the finished product forever.

Sign up to my mailing list to keep in-the-know on local events and online classes!

Category Archives: Brenna

Brenna’s Camilla

the loft bed

Brenna’s quilt

quilt work