Stripey love

This is one of my favourite pictures of Little miss Abner. It was taken a little over one year ago when the two of us did a mommy-daughter road trip while TDSH was away in a little place we'd never heard of called Dunedin for a job interview.

One of the many reasons I love this picture is that cute little tank top she's wearing. We both love that top. It's been a go-to in all seasons for the past couple of years. Sadly, it's getting a wee bit small these days and will soon be retired and sent to friends for their little girl to enjoy. Before passing it on, I used it as the inspiration for a new top that should fit Abner for many years to come.

I used the same knit black and white stripe fabric I used on my own stripey top a few months back and traced around the original top adding a few centimetres here and there to increase the size just a bit. The finished top is perhaps a bit too big at the moment, but that hasn't stopped Abner from wearing it several times in the past couple of weeks. She reminds me almost daily how much she likes wearing her mama-made clothes. I will keep pumping them out until she tells me to stop!

The heart (the kids call them 'love hearts' here...I don't know why) was painted on with many, many layers of iridescent purple fabric paint (chosen after much deliberation by Abner herself). I used tape to mask out the heart shape. It worked pretty well but it did bleed through in a couple of spots. Abner assures me this doesn't bother her one bit - phew! She had such a hard time waiting for all those layers of paint to dry! My little girl is many things, but patient is not always one of them (I wonder where she gets that from?!)

I still have another hunk of that stripey fabric left - just enough for another kids' project. What do you think I should make with the last bit of it?