New hobby or momentary lapse of sanity?

If you've been following along, you know that our family moved from Chicago to Sweden about one and a half years ago and will soon be moving to Norway.  So in my quest to make this move as fun and exciting as possible for our two daughters, I thought I would let them select new comforters, pillows, etc. for their bedrooms in our new house.  A simple (and relatively inexpensive) trip to Ikea probably could have sufficed.  Fortunately (or unfortunately) I mentioned this idea to my dear friend Hanne, who is a very talented painter, who also knits, sews and excels at pretty much everything creative (http://hannerimmensuniversconebane.blogspot.se/).  She suggested that I (with her help, of course) MAKE duvet covers, pillows, etc. for the girls rather than simply buying them.  Are you serious??  Perhaps she caught me at a weak moment because I actually thought that this sounded like a fun project.  Those of you who know me well probably are wondering if I have been abducted by aliens!

To the fabric store...and beyond!

For whatever reason, I got totally on board with this idea and started by letting the girls pick out a favorite pattern from the fabric store's catalog.  Then Hanne took me shopping and helped me pick out coordinating patterns and a whole cart full of stuff.  I just had to trust her because I was completely overwhelmed by this place and had no idea what to buy.  She did warn me in advance that making these things yourself would NOT be less expensive, but that they would be quite special.  She was certainly right about the first part!

What have I done??

Just a quick side note...AFTER I bought yards and yards of adorable fabric, my dear friend informed me that I had to wash, hang dry and IRON all of it before we got started (to say I'm not a big fan of ironing is an understatement, so it's a good thing she did not tell me about that beforehand).  Anyway, after all the materials were prepared, the two of us spent a few days making duvet covers and pillows for the girls' rooms.

LOVE the owls!

Clearly I had some help with the details!

For the youngest daughter's room

After phase one was completed, I put all of the new stuff on the girls' beds....and they were thrilled!  I have to admit that I was pretty excited about it, too.  It had been many MANY years since I had gotten anywhere near a sewing machine (and I don't think replacing an occasional button counts as "sewing").    Today was the day we finished up by making a few more pillows and adding some special touches (of course, none of these were my ideas...I just followed the instructions given to me).

Look what I can do!

So now I wonder...is this the beginning of a new hobby?  Will I start sewing curtains and table clothes and random things for our new house in Norway?  Only time will tell.  I will say that I am really happy that I took on this project...and I hope my girls are prepared to use all these beautiful things for a VERY long time (wouldn't they look great in a dorm room??).  Many thanks to Hanne....I could not (and would not) have done this without her!