Supergirl is my granddaughter and my best buddy. She is almost 8 and I’ve been watching her while her mom’s at work since she was 2 months old. During the school year, I get her Monday afternoons and before school the rest of the week. Summer break is almost here, so I’ll get her full time during the week.

She calls me Mimi. A few weeks ago, while taking her to school, she said, “Mimi, you’re lucky.” I asked her why and she said, “This summer, you get to play with me every day.” I replied, “Yes, I am very lucky!”

She is the penultimate in height in her second-grade class and loves Lego’s, Tae Kwon Do, and running. At my house, she’s been surrounded by dolls since day one and she’s not impressed. However, we enjoy doing doll-related projects together and she shares my love for fairies.

In 2011, we planted a fairy garden. The photo on the left shows it just after we planted it. The photo on the right shows it today, after a brutal winter. So that is one project we’ll play at this summer.

Over the years, I have purchased numerous kit projects with good intentions. Most of them remain in their original, unopened packages. When Supergirl needed something to do on an icy day earlier this year, we checked out my kit stash and decided to make a fairy. I’d show a picture of our fairy, but she has obviously flown away for a bit. I’ll check with Supergirl and get a photo when the fairy returns; they are such transient creatures. In the mean time, here is a pictures of a similar fairy from the book I’ll discuss in a minute.

Shortly after we finished the fairy, I got my March issue of The Embroiderer’s Guild of America (EGA) magazine, Needle Arts. The cover photo blew me away. When reading the article inside, the artist’s work seemed very familiar. I checked out her website and found that she was the creator of our fairy kit.

The artist is Salley Mavor and she creates art from wool felt and found objects. Check out her website here. Her creativity and skill are awe inspiring.

She no longer sells fairy kits, but I discovered her beautiful book, Felt Wee Folk, which has complete instructions. I ordered one right away. There’s even a section in it for, “Projects for Children”, with simplified instructions for kids. The book is available on her Etsy shop.

Supergirl has decided that we need a “whole town” of fairies, so our summer plans are set. She particularly likes the tiny, 1 1/2″ baby fairies.

While searching online for Salley’s recommended sources for wool felt, I found an Organic Wee Folk Sewing Basket at A Child’s Dream. It had everything we’ll needed, even acorn caps, packed in a beautiful basket. It was quite pricy, but I felt that it was worth it to get everything in one place so we could just create.

We couldn’t get started just yet, though, because mean, old Mimi insisted that Supergirl finish the sewing project we had been working on. It’s a bear that fits in an Altoid’s tin. Last year, we made one from a pattern in the October, 2012 issue of Handmade Living magazine and I made one in a sugar-free Altoid’s mini tin. They have been well loved and needed friends.  Supergirl has labelled the big tin, “mom or dad”, and the tiny one, “baby”.

I am happy to report that she finished the blue bear last Monday, so now we just have to find an empty tin and make his bedding. We will be moving on to fairies soon.

In the meantime, Supergirl has been busy organizing our fairy supplies and labeling them.

I’ll keep you up to date on our fairy adventures.