Getting Cozy

Summer tick-tick-ticks away! I'm trying to beef up my reading this summer and I finished all of the Chronicles of Narnia. That's 7 books so far! I know they were written for children, so this isn't much of an accomplishment. They were delightful and even better than I remembered as a kid. I don't know what I'll read next, but I was about halfway through Middlesex before I misplaced it.

I did a belated birthday project this morning for my niece:


This is a water bottle cozy from a pattern in Mr. Funky's Super Crochet Wonderful. I made a different one last spring for my daughter. She loves it and it was a big hit at school. The pattern says to use Sugar and Cream cotton and that's what I used for the other version. This one is Red Heart Acrylic and I think it''ll be more stain resistant and durable than the cotton one.
The back closes with buttons:


Next week is my daughter's 8th birthday and I am really excited about her gift. I'm probably more excited than she'll be about it. She is getting the Hello Kitty Sewing Machine. She's done a little bit of sewing on my machine, but this one is supposed to be a good one for beginners, and well.. it's Hello Kitty! I got her a bunch of nice notions and a good pair of Fiskars scissors. I forgot to bring my coupons to JoAnns so I paid too much for her stuff, but I think learners should have good tools to start with. I have idyllic dreams of us sitting at the table sewing projects together. This will probably not actually happen, but not for lack of supplies! She wants a craft themed birthday party which I have not even begun to plan.