Samurai Shower, follow up

I know it's been quiet over here. Like, cricket quiet. And I'm sorry. If it's any comfort, I have thought of you every day, fondly and guiltily, all at once. I cannot decide if I've been productive or not, but I know that I have been busy. At least, my hands have been.

This past Sunday was my sister's baby shower that I had mentioned in the last post. I thought I'd share with you some of what I got together for the party decorations and favors. I won't go into tons of details, but I had a great time brainstorming all the ways I could make a cohesive presentation for a samurai baby shower. Paper lanterns and parasols with cherry blossoms, branches with cherry blossom accents, and a parasol for folks to sign their well-wishes on for the wee little warrior that we're welcoming (yay! alliteration!).

The only things that I feel I need to explain are some details: the favors were fans, origami, and mini paper lanterns that folks could decorate if they wanted to. (I never brought out the paint, but there were colored markers all around.) Each favor had a tag on it that had one of the core principles of bushido, or the samurai code of honor, with my niece's name on the other side. 

We sisters are not the best at running showers with the typical shower games of diapers with candy bars or what-do-you-know-about-so-and-so or what-flavor-baby-food-is-this? We just don't really coordinate folks all that well, and I just don't like those games. But we did have prizes. I like an excuse to give things to folks. So we just drew names. And I gave away parasols with the bushido principles painted on them. Even if my Japanese calligraphy skills are comparable to a first grader's. Either way, on the sunny, hot day that we had the party, these proved to be quite useful.

All in all, I think that the project turned out pretty well, though I could think of a number of areas in which I would have liked to have done better. The best part, though, is doing these kinds of things for other folks (unlike sewing for other folks, I've decided, which just feels tedious) and getting to see how much they like it.

Also, as a plug, this last photo is of the cupcakes my sister, Sturdy Mama Knits, made for the party. I'm hoping she'll also post on her blog the completed gifts that she's made for our niece. Super cute!!!

I have been sewing, though nothing to completion, as I keep on hitting snags that just deflate my sails. But I'm still hoping to complete some pieces for the Summer Essentials Sew-Along before the fall comes around. What I have noticed while procrastinating is just how many clothes I actually own, too, so perhaps this is a good time to reassess my needs and my refashioning options.  Stay tuned!