other birthdays . . .

I think I may have mentioned that my folks and my youngest sister and her family spent some time with us earlier in the month. My sister and her crew were very brave, and pitched their tents for the visit! She, her husband, and their two youngest slept in the big tent, and her two oldest (12 & 10) slept in the smaller tent. Which, by the way, they pitched completely on their own. I was so impressed!

Sawyer's birthday also happens to be Ali's birthday, the oldest of my sister's children. She had a pretty monumental birthday . . . twelve . . . and had to celebrate it on the road (they traveled here from Texas). So I thought she should have something special for her birthday! When I happened upon this tutorial for making a petal pillow from Cluck Cluck Sew, I knew it was the perfect gift for my darling niece.

I did take a little liberty with the felt colors (since when did I make something that I didn't put my own twist into), but I loved the multi-color look . . .

And I think Ali loved it too!

It was fun and easy to make (although I'll admit it took me a little longer than the 30 minutes she talks about in the tutorial) and made the ideal gift for a nearly teen birthday girl!

Speaking of which, our family celebrates another today . . . my nephew Ben! Ben is the one for whom I made the Boy Scout quilt!

He'd probably kill me if he knew I'd posted this, but since I'm fairly certain he doesn't read my blog, I think I'm safe. Besides, I knew him when he was tiny. Happy birthday, Ben!

:)