I am LOVING my sewing machine. When I first got it, I was only planning on using it to quilt. In fact, it didn’t even occur to me that I could do other things, nor did I really have the desire. Well, the very first thing I made was an apron, with the help of my mother-in-law. So that got me thinking about other things that I could do. When my sister came in town I made her some curtains and then when my mother-in-law was in town again, we made that really cool bench for Cameron. (Look at my facebook page for pictures of the bench.) I realized that I hadn’t gotten brave enough to try new things on my own. I kept waiting for my mother-in-law to help me.
Well, a few months ago I saw a picture on my friend Lindsay’s blog of a really cute birthday banner that she got for her little girl. She had ordered it from Pottery Barn Kids. I told her how cute it was and she told me that it cost around $35, but unfortunately they didn’t make them anymore. The more I looked at it, the more confident I became that I could make it myself. About a week ago I finally went and bought all of the supplies (for only $17) and I’m pretty pleased with the results!
Here's the original from Pottery Barn Kids. (You can get your kids name embroidered underneath "birthday")
Here is my replica!
I am in the process if stitching around the letters and the cake. Once I am finished with that I will add the rick rack and maybe a few decorations on the cake. One thing I also did differently was double the canvas and each year on Cameron’s birthday I am going to have him put his hand print on the back. Eventually (many years down the road) I will take the canvases apart and make a keepsake quilt using the piece with all of his hand prints from over the years. We’ll see if I’m still blogging then for all of you to see it! 
