This weekend, we’re taking our 11-year-old daughter off to her first sleep-away camp. I can’t believe we’re already at this point in her life, and while I know she’ll be just fine, the mom in me can’t help but be a little nervous and nostalgic. She’s excited, too, but I can also tell she’s going to miss home, even if she may not want to come right out and say it. I was trying to come up with some simple sewing projects that I could make to send her off to camp with a little something special from home, and I happened to find just the thing in Happy Home by Jennifer Paganelli from Chronicle Books.

Happy Home is a bright, colorful and cheerful sewing book full of home decor, accessories and other fun projects. There are projects for every skill level, and several nice pattern pieces that tuck into a sturdy pocket in the front cover.

The projects I have my eye on to make later this week (just in time to send off with my daughter to camp) are the laundry bag and broad brim hat. Let’s face it, laundry can be tedious at best. I’ve been trying to get my kids to be better about sorting dirty clothes and bringing them to the laundry room, and I’m thinking that having customized laundry bags for them might help my cause. For my daughter, a laundry bag is near the top of her list of things to bring to camp, and I think it could be fun for her to have something bright and cheery to hang off her bed post and remind her of home.

The broad brim hat is a perfect summer accessory. This week, we are exceeding triple digits in the Houston area. Keeping our skin shaded and protected is very important. My kids may fight me on wearing hats, but if I let them pick out fabric for a special handmade hat of their very own, they might be more willing.

I’m glad Happy Home arrived on my doorstep when it did. It’s inspired me to customize the most basic things in to something really special.