I am totally obsessed with hot air balloons. There, I said it. I think it started with the line “I’m a hot air balloon” etc. from “Happy” by Pharrell Williams (yeah, I know, it’s a cliché, but I do love that song). After that I bought this incredible dress titled “haute air balloons” from ModCloth (the people who name the items at ModCloth have the best job in the world!). I would be wearing that dress right now if I hadn’t gained a few pounds over the summer (I will start loosing them next week! I will, I will!). I even crocheted several hot air balloons, but they seem to have magically disappeared (floated away into space maybe?), so the post and pattern for those will have to wait a bit.

So, you may remember that I got a cross stitch phone cover for my birthday half a million years ago? I couldn’t decide what to embroider on it, so I waited and waited and waited and then bam! I realized that a hot air balloon would be perfect. I told you I’m obsessed.

A couple of years ago I made my son a King costume for Purim (a Jewish holiday where we dress up and eat a lot of candy – kind of like Halloween only with a “they tried to kill us, we survived, let’s eat” back story). Both kids have been using the costume for “Warrior King and Queen to protect the children from the terrible monsters” role playing, but it’s not easy when there’s only one cape & crown. My daughter has been bugging me for a while to make her a set, but I just haven’t got around to it (sound familiar?).

One day this week, we came home and she insisted I make her a crown and cape RIGHT NOW! And I said: OK! OK! I know I promised, but can I at least have a cup of coffee first?! I’m glad to say she went away for a few minutes and let me have my coffee in peace.

She chose the fabric (I’m not sure I would have gone for ALL PINK), and the whole thing was done in a couple of hours, so it could easily be a nap time project or done in one evening.

At least there are two swords, so I didn’t have to figure out how to DIY those… By the way, both swords are made of thick foam, and I recommend them very much for this kind of play – they are firm enough for fighting, but can’t really cause a serious injury (no pointy edges). They hurt when they hit you, though.