Handmade birthday

Yesterday my sweet little Owen turned four.

I really wanted to make a something special birthday gift to give him, inspired, as usual, by soulemama, whose little girl also turned four this month and received a handmade quilt from her mama. Since a quilt was a bit ambitious for my skills and the little time I had to sew, I settled for something quicker and smaller.

I actually give the credit for this idea to Jeff, who thought it up during an evening brainstorming session with me four nights before the actual birthday.

You see, our Owen is a lover of all things Thomas the Train, which, at first I hated, and now I love because during the past two years of his collecting, I have seen the genius in this wooden train set that began in 1945 as a series of stories written by Rev. Awdry for his grandson, Christopher.

Anyone familiar with Thomas will know that all the useful engines rest at night in a sort of roundhouse called Tidmouth Shed. Jeff's idea was to construct a version of Tidmouth shed in which Owen's engines could rest for the night.

Here is the plastic version that is for sale:

And here is my version:

The best thing about sewing this little project is that Owen helped me choose the fabric and then promptly forgot about it, which made the opening of the birthday gift that much more fun when he saw his fabric choice sewn into something which hopefully will turn out to be, as Sir Topham Hatt would say"very useful indeed."