Interlude...

That's what it felt like, the brief two week period between trips last month. During that time, we threw Mr. Munchkin an awesome birthday party at the Halifax Citadel. The fella in charge of the party dressed all the boys up in kilts, handed them wooden muskets and marched them around the parade grounds. AND encouraged them to swarm random tourists wandering through the park. Best part was that the tourists either giggled, roared back enthusiastically at the boys or took pictures of them.



I mean, really...isn't it every boy's dream to be encouraged to run rampage through a fort with cannons? We were lucky enough to be at the fort during Canada's Parks Day, so there was the added bonus of an artillery display. Lots and lots of cannons going off at all times. And men in kilts.



While the birthday was pretty simple to put together, I couldn't help myself and needed to craft a little something...just to take the edge off.



There were two toddler girls at the party - Doodle and Miss E. And they needed loot bags too, right? Since I knew that Alison would be the kind of gal to appreciate something handmade, I whipped up these two crayon/notepad pouches for the wee girls. Made from scraps from the linen napkins, they came together rather quickly. I've since absconded with the one that held Miss E's stuff. It's the perfect size for a catch-all in my purse. She hasn't noticed yet. Shhhhh.

The other crafting that I did during the sweet sweet downtime was to make something for the flight to California. I don't know about you, but I'm willing to do anything it takes to amuse two kids on a cross-continent trip...to spare my sanity and that of my fellow travellers. From this cute tutorial, I made Miss E a travelling dollhouse.


I think that my seam allowances were off, but otherwise...this was a very gratifying crafty experience. If I were to make another one, I think that I'd use less obnoxious hair elastics for the fasteners. But otherwise, GREAT tutorial.



Lots of applique (yes, I know the thread on the door is loose - these pics were taken AFTER the trip, so the house has gone through a lot of lovin' already...)



She loved it. And I loved the peace and quiet on the plane. I even got some knitting done! Miracles of miracles. Next up, California!