Just over a week ago, Jason approached me with an idea. He wanted to start a new family birthday tradition. ---The week before your birthday, would be an appreciation week. During that week, our family would write notes, make little gifts, be extra nice to the birthday person (including not fighting with them), do their chores, etc. --Abree overheard Jason and got really excited. She thought it was a grand idea, with her birthday coming up next. I too, thought it was a great idea..... and not just because, my birthday is right around the corner. :)
The next day, at my "Positive Parenting" class (taught by Carleen Tanner), we talked about TRADITIONS. Jason's new idea fit right in with what we learned that day.
Sister Tanner feels that celebrating birthdays, should only be second to, celebrating Christmas. Celebrating birthdays gives us an opportunity to focus on the individual, who is an important part of the family group. I totally agree. I LOVE birthdays! Some of the things she's used over the years are; birthday balloon wreath, quilted birthday banners, birthday pillowcases, special dinner plate, birthday survey and a birthday chair cover.
I liked the idea of making a birthday chair cover.... doable and simple. It would also serve as a visual reminder to appreciate the birthday person, during their week. With Abree's birthday fast approaching, I got to work on it right away.
I printed out letters and a cupcake, traced them to Wonder Under, ironed them to fabric, and then cut them out.
Next, I made a slip cover out of pillowcase we had and ironed the letters and cupcake to it.
Then I sewed around everything, with these results.I'm very new at applique. My stitching around the letters has room for improvement...although it's hard to see in the photo, it is quite uneven and funny looking in places.
I'm happy to report, I finished it before Abree's birthday and it works quite nicely. Happy BIRTHday to our new Birthday chair cover and new tradition!
