where I join the Princess and the Pea parade

I've spent the better part of the summer waffling between projects to make for two little sisters' birthday gifts. My complete inability to decide now means that one girl's gift is overdue by 3 months and the other's by a few weeks. (In my defense, I did have a baby in there somewhere, but still. Three months, people!)

Then I came across this great book by the talented Lauren Child and these two sets. What modern, fabric and fairy tale loving girl wouldn't be inspired? Plus, we're already huge fans of Ms. Child's work around here. And I've been obsessing over this fabric (so perfect for Audrey)since it came out, so the story's been on my mind. I couldn't resist this project.

A few hours of stash raiding and totally, shamelessly copying someone else's clever idea produced this:

I made the mattresses pretty thin, with just one layer of lofty batting. I know how I feel when space-consuming toys come into my home, so I didn't want to make the set too large. There are twelve mattresses made from various calico prints. The bottom mattress has a little gathered pocket to hold the pea. 'Cause I know if it were my kids', that pea would disappear in about 7 minutes flat.

For the pea, I crocheted a small ball out of wool felt, then lightly felted it by hand. I can't find the pattern I used, but this tutorial would work just great, too, I'm sure. You might need to use a size smaller hook for a bit tighter gauge to get results like mine. For the felty look, I rolled it in my hands under VERY hot water for several minutes then plunged into cold water. Squeeze it out and let it dry. Done.

I also threw in two simple, sweet nightgowns to fit the dolls that I made for the girls last year, so they can be used as Princesses. (Hopefully these make up for the fact that I sent a joint gift this year...)