Vintage Sewing Party - Olivia turns 9

For Olivia's birthday to celebrate turning 9, we decided on the theme of sewing and it quickly morphed into a vintage sewing party, since we both have strong affections for the vintage side of life. :) It was a lot of fun and truly, the details make all the difference. Buttons tied on with twine, lace doilies around, polka dotted straws, and button shaped lollipops. We kept it small, with just 6 friends to be dropped off at our house. That was a big deal, because Olivia has never had a drop-off party before, but it it seemed to be the best way and made all of the detail work possible
We decided to have the girls make an initial embroidery hoop with felt and then embellish it with felt flowers and buttons. They turned out amazingly well. A few of our girls had never seen an embroidery hoop or held a needle while others were more knowledgeable, so it was very fun to see where they all ended up. Even Sadie-Rose joined in and stitched her initial onto her own hoop. Pretty good for a 4 year old we thought.
After sewing our hoops (and rethreading needles about 85 times) we decided to take a break and play a couple games. We played several rounds of "Button, Button, where is the Button" and then played hoop toss with the spools of serger thread and embroidery hoops. Then it was time for cake and ice cream and lemonade. After the fun of all of the sugar (they also ate button shaped chocolate lollipops) we opened presents and cards. We then came back to the table and made elastic button bracelets. While we were finishing those up, our parents arrived and it was a quick pick-out-your-pincushion-and-drop-a-lolli-in-the-bag-grab-your-hoop-and-out-the-door-marathon of 5 little girls.

 The invitations, pinked along the edges, hand written, and buttons tied on with twine. Sewn up in waxed paper enveloped and {most} hand delivered.

 The table was set out with vintage milk glass, pyrex, mason jars, and threads.

Sorry several of these look blurry. Blogger has messed them up in the loading process somehow as they look fine in my photo editing program. :(

 My grandmother, who was here visiting, did all the flower arranging which turned out lovely.

Olivia picked out the flowers at the store. She said she was going for a "pink roses/vintage/ country flowers type feel." I think she accomplished her mission with our limited choices. :) 

 Threads and embellishments ready for creative minds and small hands.

 

Our hoops with their pre-cut initials.

 

We used Olivia's great great grandmother's treadle sewing machine and table for our food display. Her great grandmother's china was used as well as a vintage cakestand we found a couple months ago. Hung on the wall and on the mannequin were vintage patterns that were her grandmother's and a few thrifted ones as well. (Again, blogger messed up the photo quality on these! Arg!)

Our 3 layer Neapolitan cake. All 3 layers made from scratch and it was sooooo yummy.  The cake flags were made from the leftover papers of her invitations and various sized skewers.

Sparkling raspberry lemonade to drink.

The party favors. Pincushions from vintage sheets and button shaped chocolate lollipops.

The front door was decorated with a paper banner and vintage sheets hearts on the door and my dress makers mannequin with vintage fabric and patterns.

It was a lovely day, everything went without a hitch, and Olivia was beyond thrilled with it which, in the end, is all that really matters. I am more than thankful that my grandmother was here visiting for O's birthday and was the most amazing help to me ever. There were one or two nights we were up until 11:30 or so, tying twine and cutting felt. I could never have done it without her. She washed all the dishes for each set of cakes (that would be 3 9" cake pans and 3 pans of cupcakes plus all the bowls and beaters and the frosting stuff too) which is a total labor of love and that's barely the tip of the iceberg.
I'm glad that we were able to have a celebration that reflected a lot of Olivia's personality and interests and celebrates the amazing young lady that she is. 9 years have sped by lightening quick and I'm sure the next 9 will as well. And though I never would have thought it possible to love her more than I did when she was born and laid in my arms for the 1st time, it is true. I love her more now and can't imagine life without her.

Four little friends

We stopped at our local produce stand the other evening, ostentensibly to just pick up a jar of local honey. But, we got side tracked by the tables full of lovely pumpkins and beautiful (if unusual) gourds. (I left my camera at home, but we are going back this weekend so I will take a few pictures of our favorites then.) Olivia's favorites are the baby pumpkins and the miniture gourds. They always have been. Something to do with all the ginormouse pumpkins and then the itty bitty ones that fit in your hand. Just her size. So, her daddy told her to pick out a few.

She fell in love with two orange pumpkins (minis) and two identical gourds (minis again.) She held them all the way home and played "family" with them all evening. In the morning I was picking up the living room, but the pumpkins were no where to be found. I didn't think much of it, figuring that she had them tucked some place "safe" and sure enough, when I made her bed later that morning, this is what I found. :)

Four little friends, lined up on her window sill, right next to her pillow.

A Fresh outlook

I decided the other day that our front door needed some decorating. And after being inspired by this wreath, I decided to make one for myself. It turned out pretty well. The picture frame is an old one that I found while cleaning out Mike's grandmother's house last fall, I found the grapevine wreath, ivy vine, and ribbon at Wal-mart (yes, the dreaded, boycotted, and banned wal-mart), the twine came from the wrapping paper box, and the old door knobs and lock plate came from my junk digging in Mike's grandfather's greenhouse (also last fall). The skeleton keys are from a house I lived in as a child. All pulled together, I think it looks pretty good. I think this could last us until it's time to put the Christmas wreath on the door. Which amazingly, will be upon us all to quickly.