A Transatlantic Project

Hello, gentle readers.  I would like to introduce you to my sister.

Her name is Sonja and she is standing inside a mosquito net.  She and her husband moved to Africa a little more than a year ago now and if you don't want to catch tropical diseases you need to sleep under a mosquito net.  She is also pregnant in this picture ("No way," you say and I jealously say "Yes, she is one of THOSE people who don't show until the day before the baby comes"), and this particular mosquito net was purchased for the then future baby.   She sent out this photo because she thought it would be fun to create matching polka dot and triangular banner themed curtains and decor to spruce up her baby's nursery.  Our mother volunteered for the curtains and I got to make the decorations.  It was kinda like an intercontinental baby shower!

Before I was able to work on my assignment, Mom did the fabric shopping - doing her best to match colors and patterns to emailed photos.  I got the leftovers to use for my part in the project.  Sonja wanted me to get 4" and 6" embroidery hoops and using fabric and felt make coordinating pieces to hang on wall.  For several evenings I had fun cutting and pinning and arranging.  Several emailed photos went back and forth accompanied by questions:

"Do you like this one?"  

"What do you have in mind instead?"

"Too busy?"

"Is this one better?"

"What about this?"

Eventually we were both happy with the rough drafts and I replaced the pins with good strong fabric adhesive.  I also glued the fabric to the back of the hoops, just so it couldn't work loose, and then trimmed the extra fabric so the hoops would hang nice and flat on the wall.

Then my mom packed everything up in her suitcase and flew to Africa to meet the new baby.  The curtains and mosquito net and embroidery hoops were hung and the nursery is just the cutest thing.

Thanks, Sonja, for letting me have a little part in welcoming your baby girl into the world.  This was one of the "fun-est" projects I've done in a while.