for ruth, officially!

The only bad thing about going to Graham's gran's birthday party was that it meant I couldn't go to this little cutie pie's christening :( This is my youngest niece, Ruth, as she looked three months ago which, for her, is half a lifetime ago! I was a bit sad not to be able to go to her christening so I decided to make her a special present, and this is what I made.

By day, it's Little Red Riding Hood and her cat (yes, she has a cat, he just doesn't always get the credit he deserves!) in the forest but then, when you switch off the lights...

... the birds fly off to their nests, the fire dies down, the stars come out and Little Red Riding Hood gets under her blanket while her cat snuggles down on top of it.

The nighttime scene is made from glow in the dark embroidery thread which was so exciting to use but very hard to photograph! I first started planning this little scene when I saw Emily's fab Little Prince glow in the dark embroidery back in March. I got some glow in the dark thread straight away but spent months thinking and doodling and doing other things and forgetting all about it now and again until the design became clear in my mind. This is definitely the best way for me to come up with ideas but I do wish my brain would work through it all a bit faster. Maybe I need to sleep more? Ha!

I wonder what Ruth looks like now. I do wish my sister didn't live so far away :(

Update: I phoned my sister after posting this and demanded she email me some recent photos! So now I do know what Ruth looks like now (super cute and smiley!) and I got to catch up with my family and hear all about the christening. The embroidery, by the way, was very gratefully received and my sister is off to buy some glow in the dark thread :)