shhh…. a birthday gift for my nephew…

when my sister was younger, she was well-known for her love of the game “memory.”  you know, the one with little cardboard squares in pairs that you’d lay out and each person would take a turn flipping two tiles over, hoping to make a match?  she was known to beat adults at this game–and they weren’t just letting her win.  one time, an adult teased her that brussel sprouts were brain food (they even look like tiny green brains!) and would help her become a memory whiz.  sure enough, that night after she’d eaten brussel sprouts, she skunked all of us.  so when i saw the memory game project in alicia paulson’s stitched in time book, i knew what i was making for my nephew’s next birthday.

i don’t think he’s quite old enough yet to understand the game, but the little squares with photos are still super cute and are a nice way to help him remember all of us relatives who live far away and don’t see him every day.  i even included the cats!  i’d bought the fabric awhile back, but didn’t end up using it for the project i’d originally come up with and i think it’s perfect for this.  a small scale print, fun, masculine, and plenty of leftovers for future additions to the set.  this was my first time using printable fabric sheets and i’m pretty pleased with the way they turned out.  i cheated a little and squeezed more photos on the page than she indicated in her instructions (i’m way too cheap to waste that much scrap!), but i think they turned out all right despite my miserly ways.

i also designed the simple drawstring bag at the top of the post for the tiles to be stored in.  in all, a very satisfying, fast, and super-cute project.