Finished!

After what seems like a very long month (and a half?) of work on this, I'm finally finished. I originally chose a blue for the binding since the backing is a light blue, but after seeing my purchase, Matt suggested a dark green would look nice. He was very right, and I'm so glad I went back and got this new binding.

I hand sewed it. It took longer than I wanted (story of this quilt!), but it looks nicer than any other blanket I've bound, hand or machine. So, that's good.

Glad I finished it just in time for the summer heat wave! ;)

The light at the end of the sewing machine

Well, I'm almost finished with Dean's Riley Blake Wheels quilt. All I have left is the binding. It's taken pretty much all of my April crafting time. I wrote more about it here. Dean has loved the material from the beginning, so I hope he'll love the completed quilt just as much.

The "Deluxe" Baby Gift Set: Complete!

Since I had Dean, my favorite baby gift set to give is a large wrap blanket, 2 burp cloths, and a tag blanket. (Basic tutorial here, though I modified some of the measurements this time around.) These were some of my favorite and most used items that we received.

My sister-in-law is due with a baby boy a week or two before me, and since it's been 13 years since their last baby (don't worry, this baby was planned!), they're starting from scratch again. So, I decided I'd make a "deluxe" gift set. I was really excited with how this all turned out (and that I'm finished so I can now move on to my next project...hehe).

Items in the set:

• double sided large flannel wrap blanket
• single sided large flannel wrap blanket (for the hot summer months)
• hooded bath towel (tutorial here...thanks V!)
  
• tag blanket (I made this larger this time and I like it better. pre-sewn measurements are 16"X17")
  
• 2 burp cloths (gerber cloth diapers embelished. I did a horizontal stripe on the bottom rather than the vertical in my original tutorial.)
  

Ruffle Skirt: Finally Finished!

(Please don't mind my crazified hair. It got wet at the park.)

It took me long enough! I was so ready to have this skirt done a couple weeks ago. I'm trying to not start new projects until I finish projects I'm already working on. I finally decided I wanted to make some baby stuff, so I needed to get myself into gear and finish this up.

The ruffle proved to be much more of a pain than I imagined. It took me 3 nights of trial and error to finally get something to work. I almost wish I'd just kept it a regular old A-line skirt. The ruffle is supposed to be in a contrasting fabric, but the pink I bought just seemed too...bright pink...to make into the whole ruffle. So I just did a "ribbon" band of the pink fabric at the top of the ruffle to help visually differentiate it from the body of the skirt. Overall I'm happy with how it turned out, though I think it would have been better with a full contrasting ruffle. I am definitely happy to be done with it!

Dare I try it?

If you had told me 3 years ago that I'd be making my own cloth diapers, I would have thought you were crazy. CA-RAY-ZY! It was around that time (3 years ago) that I first heard of someone my age using cloth diapers for their babies. It seemed so...outdated. All I'd ever heard about cloth diapers were how crazy difficult they were to clean. Dunking them in toilets. Dangerous safety pins. Leaks. Covers. What a mess. Our mothers were so very, very happy when disposables hit the shelves.

While it did seem quite frugal on my friend's part, I honestly thought she was totally bonkers when she told me she was cloth diapering. I thought I'd never even consider it. Since then I've actually had a number of friends switch over, and I've discovered that there are TONS of cloth options. All-in-ones (no covers necessary), pocket diapers, Chinese or Indian Pre-folds with snappis, etc., etc., etc. and that diapers and the like have come a long way in ease, absorbancy, containability, and cleanability. (The pre-folds with snappis are the closest to what our parents used, and I still haven't quite gotten to the point where I can imagine using them exclusively...though I have 2-3 friends who do and love it.)

The first diaper that caught my fancy was the Bum-genius A.I.O. At $18 a diaper it would be a large initial investment, but it would even out or come up less expensive in the end. I never actually tried them because it seemed impractical to buy just one, but what if it was a bad fit for Dean or what if I totally hated cloth diapering? Plus, Matt's not supportive of the idea and swears he'll never change a cloth diaper. I believe him. He can barely handle changing a disposable and nearly gags every time.

I was going to do a cloth trial, but I chickened out of that too since a lot of the trials only give you all your money back in online store credit when you send the trial diapers back. I mean, what if I didn't like it at all??? But once Dean hit size 4, I started thinking about cloth a lot again. The diapers were getting more expensive, and he goes through about 5-8 diapers a day still! (He poops a lot! Today I'd already changed 5 poopy diapers by his nap at 12:30! Not all days are that extreme, but some definitely are.) I'm spending over $40/mo. in diapers right now, and that number's just going to go up and up with 2 kids in diapers!!

A couple months ago a friend of mine posted a tutorial (on her private blog) on how to make your own pocket diaper, using Rita's Rump Pocket pattern. Her daughter has had bad reactions to disposables and has had great success with her own homemade diapers. I kind of balked at the idea at first, but then I started warming up to it. After all, it could be pretty economical and I could at least see how I handled the cleaning part of diapering. Plus I could make as few or as many as I wanted and could go as recycled (using old sheets and towels) or as new as I wanted (cute fabrics, etc).

Rita's pattern calls to use safety pins, but two of my friends had successfully used aplix-velcro with the RRP diaper. Safety pins are a hands down NO for Dean. Most of the time it is torturous trying to change his diaper with him wiggling, fighting, twisting, and running away. So I ordered some 2-in. aplix online and it got here this week.

I finished sewing my very first cloth diaper today. It took me about 3 hours all together, but that's because I'm a little slow learning a new pattern (I'm still a novice seamstress, teaching myself everything as I go), I made some dumb mistakes that I had to correct, and I was learning new elastic skills. I imagine the time it takes to sew them will drop dramatically if I make more. I haven't yet tried it out on Dean. I did put it on over his disposable just to see if it came up high enough, and it did. We'll see if I can get up enough courage to try it out in the next couple of days. If it doesn't work or fit as well as I like, I am still open to trying commercially made cloth diapers. I made the inside out of a tight-weave cotton and the outside out of flannel. There's an opening in the front (or back, depending how you make it) to stuff a liner (pre-fold, microfiber rags, terry cloth, hemp liners) inside to absorb the pee. These do technically need a diaper cover, but my friend only uses covers when she leaves the house. I can make some out of fleece which I'll probably do this week.

I'm going to first try a microfiber rag as a liner since we have some of those lying around. Anyway, once I get up the courage to try it out, I'll let you know how it goes...

Applique Tie: Take 1

My mother-in-law got Dean a little onesie that had a tie appliqued onto it when he was younger. I loved it and was sad when he grew out of it. I think it's kind of impractical to have a baby/toddler in a real button up white shirt with a real tie. So, I decided to try my hand at making my own appliqued tie onsie.

I made a tie pattern slightly based on the original onsie, but larger. I traced that onto Heat n' Bond lite and then ironed it on the back of a nice piece of fabric. I cut that out and ironed it on the front of an 18 mo. old onsie. I used a tight zig-zag stitch to applique it on. I read on one site to avoid sewing on both the cotton and knit and to just sew to the edge of the cotton piece. I found that hard because I had no line keeping me straight. There was one edge I accidentally did on both and it's the best looking of them all. So the next one I'll use the edge of the tie as the mid point for the zig-zag stitch and see how that turns out. I think I'll make some with bow ties too.

It's not perfect, but overall I thought it turned out pretty cute.

After church we noticed Dean's new little toddler basketball standard had tipped from the wind, so Matt was filling up the base with water while Dean decided to take a sip.

BB: 20 Weeks, Maternity Skirts, and Ultrasound Results

This post is tri-fold as you can tell by the title. Oh, and I guess I'm sporting my new haircut that I got last week. I love getting my haircut. Too bad I only do it once or twice a year. (I last got it cut April 2008.)

Reminder of 20 weeks my last pregnancy:

20 weeks this time around (sporting my 2 newly made-by-me maternity skirts): Interesting. I look more pregnant in the tan shirt than I do in the white even though they're the same exact shirt (old regular small shade shirts) in different colors. Maybe it's because the blue skirt has elastic and the green doesn't...
I made the green skirt a long time ago (with a pattern) but never really wore it because a) it was a little too big and b) it was a drawstring waist and bunched up in the front at the waist. So I chopped it at the top, took it in 1 inch on the side, and added some jersey knit for a waistband. I am pleased with the results and think it will be worn a lot more as a maternity skirt.

I made the blue skirt this past week or so by drafting my own pattern (thanks to the book Sew What! Skirts) and referring occasionally to See Mommy Sew's instructions. Just a very simple, lined, A-line skirt. I like the feel of the elastic better, but 3-in. elastic is nearly impossible to find. I stole the elastic I used from an old pair of maternity pants I inherited but will never wear.

Here are some front shots of the skirts and the belly bands:

Now, onto our ultrasound results. Since we had an ultrasound at 13 weeks, we had a good idea it was probably a boy, and today that was confirmed. Yes, our second child is a boy. He was not shy one bit about it. He was extremely wiggly and kept burying himself up by my placenta sack, so we couldn't get a good 3-D picture, but overall things are looking just great. The one 3-D picture she snapped made him look like a smiling crazed zombie. We were all busting up at it.

Gift set: check

I've really been trying to finish one project before I start another project. I learned over Christmas that I really need to be interested/invested in the project to begin with, and I need to pick projects that take less than a month. My latest finished project is a baby gift set for my sister who's due in the beginning of March. The wrap blanket, tag blanket, and 2 burp rags. (I'll them in the mail tomorrow J.)

Un-paper bag #2

The first bag I ever made was for my SIL for Christmas. When I bought the material for hers, I also got some more fabrics from the Metro Green Goes Blue by Michael Miller. I thought they'd work together nicely as a bag. I finally got around to making the bag last week and finished putting on the handles tonight. I am hoping to use this as a church bag since I can't ever seem to fit everything I need in my little diaper bag. I used the un-paper bag tutorial from Purl Bee again, but I modified it slightly so I could have the chocolate vinyl bottom. (Thanks again Erin for the great big piece of of it!)

Next I think I want to try making a real diaper bag with this free pattern.

Projects completed in less than a month!

Actually, these projects only took me about 3 evenings total (a more experienced seamstress could have done it much quicker I think)! What a relief to have something turn out cute without spending an eternity on production! The bag pattern came from the purl bee's "un-paper bag" tutorial listed on my left side bar. It is my first attempt at making a bag and I was pleased with how doable it was for a beginner. I just made up my own handles since I couldn't find handles I liked (though I honestly didn't look super hard). I definitely plan on making more. I also used fusible fleece interfacing instead of the sew in that it called for. The ladies at the fabric shop talked me into it and I wasn't disappointed. Don't you love this fabric?

This is a part of a page out of a fabric book I made Dean.
I LOVE it. It's called Tiny Tots by Red Rooster.

And lastly, I thought I'd give a little update on my fall and injuries.

Here are a few more details (it's actually the email I sent Matt since he was out of town on a business trip. Luckily he is home now.):

I fainted twice on Tuesday morning when I was trying to get Dean. He woke up at 6 crying really loudly. I listened to him cry until 6:20 and put my head under the pillow for "another 10 min". At 6:45 I woke up again in a panic that I'd made him cry so long. I quickly made it to his room. He was either really quite or had fallen asleep again. While I was standing outside his door I started feeling horrible. My ears were ringing, my legs and arms were weak. I almost felt feverish. Next thing I knew Dean was crying again and I was laying on the ground outside his door (on the hard linoleum) feeling too weak to get up. I think tried to sit down before I passed out and I bruised my tailbone when I went down; it has been hurting horribly ever since.

I laid there a little longer trying to get some strength. I didn't know if I could even lift Dean if I got to him. My body was totally covered in sweat at this point. I got up and got in his room, but I must have fainted again and ended up on the floor. I just laid there a min. trying to reassure a howling Dean. I finally got up enough strength to get him out of bed and us into the chair for him to eat. My butt hurt so badly in the chair and my body was still sweating profusely. I felt totally nauseous and disoriented, so I tried to move us down to the floor to nurse him lying down but that was a total failure. So I got us back up in the chair and reclined it as far back as it could go.

I made it through that feeding and let him run around and play in his room about 1/2 hour while I laid on the bed in his room. I started feeling better and I was able to feed him breakfast and play with him after that. My butt continued to feel worse, however.

I ended up calling my doctor and the advice nurse, after hearing all my symptoms and medical history, decided it was most likely fluid in my inner ear. I went into the doctor the next day as well to make sure nothing was terribly wrong. They said everything looks fine and I should just ice, heat and ice. I did that last night, and today my pain has been cut in half! I still hurt, but I'm not grimacing in pain at ever step and bend. I have hope for driving home in a week.

My back, however started hurting today. After piano lessons I came into Matt and asked him if there was a bruise or anything. This is what he saw:

I must have caught my back on something as I went down. It looks worse in person I think. My rear must have hurt too badly yesterday to notice the pain in my back.

So there are the embarrassing details.

Ta da!!: A skirt fit for a...Tree!

Sheesh. I am done! I have to admit the work I did today was a little sloppy. I had no patience for the stupid bias binding (never done it before and I pretty much just said screw it by the end), and I was so ready to move on to other projects. I figure if I ever figure out how to do bias binding I can come back and redo the little circle better.

It's the first log cabin I've ever done. I got the original idea from Crazy Mom Quilt's Tutorial and I went back to look at her instructions often. I kinda made up the size as I went since I wanted it a little smaller than hers. I put hours and hours (20? 30?) on the hand quilting this past week. I was so done with hand stitching by the end that I machine stitched the binding.

The tree looks much better dressed. Don't you think?

Up to my eyeballs

I just can't get it together! I seem to be currently buried under crafts. I usually don't craft during the day, but I've put off most cleaning and clutter control until I get some of my projects done! It is the first night I am going to bed with a messy kitchen in months.

That tree skirt I started? Yeah, I decided to HAND QUILT it! For 1, I don't have a darning foot yet. For 2, I have never actually machine quilted anything and I didn't want to screw it up. I have been stitching during nearly every nap and every evening this past week. I just have the boarders of 3 sides left. The worst is over, so hopefully I'll finish it this weekend and move on!!

Those cloth ornaments I wanted to make? I think they'll have to wait a year.

But the lights are up. It's our first year to have lights on our house. I love them. They're the multi-colored icicle lights. And our tree is up, it's just sparsely decorated. Our stockings are hung by the chimney with care. And it's only 21 days until Saint Nick is here...
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Dean is in one of my favorite stages yet (though he has had a cold this past week). My new favorite word: Uh oh. Throws the noodles on the floor? "Uh oh." Can't find his favorite blanket that he now carries around the house? "Uh oh." It's often enunciated so well with his little mouth shaping the "o". I love it. The video doesn't do it justice, but it's been awhile since I updated on the little guy.


One thing I haven't yet gotten used to? His running away from me in stores! He is now comfortable to move amongst many people outside of my visual range. ACK! I am seriously considering getting him a little harness for busy places. Oh, and he likes to cross our street. I keep trying to hit home that he can't go in the street without holding my hand, but he fights me on that one! He's an independent little man sometimes.

Redmption and Consumption

I had a good feeling about Thanksgiving this year. The past few years something has gone awry and marred my perfect Thanksgiving spread. Last year I accidentally used kosher salt (and too much of it at that! NEVER MEASURE SALT OVER THE PIE FILLING!) in my pumpkin pie. I ate it, but Matt said it was too salty and inedible. The year before that I had a major migraine while cooking my pies and I forgot that my crust recipe made 2 crusts, but my pie filling only made 1 pie. It tasted good, but they were only half the size they were supposed to be!

This year I was bound and determined redeem myself and get that darned pumpkin pie right (especially since I pride myself on my pie skills, and it's supposed to be one of the EASIEST pies to make, and I have done it successfully before). My pecan pies have turned out fine for me every year, but this year I wanted to try a black bottom pecan pie with a layer of chocolate on the bottom.

Both pies were a success! The chocolate/pecan was a good combo, but I think Matt and I both prefer it without. I also have to admit that I had a nice sized serving of each pie and didn't feel one bit bad about it! It was nice after being on sugar block for 3 weeks!



Our friends Erin and Christian came over. She brought some stellar homemade rolls, cranberry sauce, a lemon meringue pie, and a vegetarian lasagna for Christian.

Matt brined and took care of the turkey and the gravy (if I had to do be in charge of the bird, we'd just not have turkey!! Preparing a whole bird is just too much for this ex-vegetarian to handle!). We've had problems in the past with the drippings burning, so this year we sprang for a good roasting pan. It worked! No burning drippings. No smoke. We didn't have to add broth to the bottom of the pan to keep it under control. It was great.

I made the aforementioned pies, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and dressing. I've made a different dressing recipe every year for the last 5 years and I think this one was one of my favorites. I need to write down what I did some time soon so I don't forget it! I got general amounts from this recipe, but kinda just winged the seasonings and added two eggs. Doesn't Matt's plate just look like the perfect Thanksgiving plate?!

Dean especially loved Erin's rolls and cranberry sauce! While he ate some, he wasn't so sure about the dressing, green beans or mashed potatoes.


Right after dinner it was Dean's bedtime (such great timing!) so I took about 10 min. and put him down. After that the 4 adults played Rockband for a couple hours. It was a lot of fun.

Also, here's a glimpse at the current project that is consuming my time: a patchwork Christmas tree skirt. I have been working on the blocks the last couple weeks, but I just finished the top tonight. Now I just have to sandwich and quilt it (I am going to attempt to free motion machine quilt...I might be crazy!!!!!), cut out the opening for the tree, and bind it. I got the idea from Crazy Mom Quilts' tutorial. We have a small tree so I reduced the size a bit. It's coming together nicer than I thought it would...
I should also mention that Matt's vacation time this week has been consumed by upgrading our light fixtures. We now have all matching lights. All of the ugly brassy-gold fixtures were tossed out and replaced by nice brushed nickle fixtures. Not only that, we also have all new brushed nickle door handles through out the entire house. Yay! I love upgrading.

The Countdown Can Commence

The pattern book: 12 days of Christmas: Art to Heart by Nancy Halverson
The dark border fabric: metro green goes blue by Michael Miller
The other fabrics: Sorry, didn't look!

Finally! Last night I finished my countdown to Christmas quilt hangings. It ended up being a much bigger production and money drain than I'd ever have imagined. It was fun, and I'm very glad I did it, but I am ready to move on to a new project!



If I were to sell this set, I'd honestly charge $200+ for it. That would break down to:

• $10 per quilt block (Matt says that wouldn't be enough for all the hours I put in)
• $24 for the stupid metal hanger that I ended up buying (I figured after all the time I put into it, it needed to be properly displayed! I tried to jimmy rig something, but it just didn't do it justice.)
• $20 for the book (it has tons of patterns in it I love, though, so I imagine I'll be using it for more Christmas projects down the road.)
• $30 or more for fabric. It's expensive to get good fabric, but I am beginning to be converted for "heirloom" projects. It's so much better quality and beautiful, vibrant prints I just can't resist any more.

I learned a couple things on this project.

• When leaving a hole to turn it right side out, don't leave it on a corner! Start and end in the middle of a straight edge.
  
• When you're working with 1/4 in. seam (something I never do!) it's nearly impossible to do the hidden stitch for the end closing.
  
• You have to be much more precise in sewing when you're working with a real patchwork pattern!
• Fabric selection can be extremely difficult and timely process.
• A good, large cutting mat is essential. I had a small one, but I wanted one that would measure up to a yard for proper squaring. I ended up getting one at Michael's with a half-off coupon.
• If you're not an expert at blanket stitching by eyeballing, start on a straight line, not a curve. I started on zero and I seriously almost want to take it out and redo it. But I won't. My stitching improved greatly from the first block (zero) to the last block (santa).

Oh what a beautiful morning!

There was a little song my mom often sang that went:

Oh what a beautiful morning,
Oh what a beautiful day.
I've got a wonderful feeling
Everything's going my way.

And that's how I feel right about now. I didn't wake up until 7:15! That means I slept through Matt's alarm going off at least 4 times. That NEVER happens! I don't know how long Dean had been awake (he's still been working on the time change and will usually wake up between 5:45-6:30. I just don't go in to him until 6:30 at the earliest.) because he was sitting up awake in his crib just hanging out!

He was not fussy at all this morning.
He had a good nursing session (20 min. after we finished nursing I was getting dressed into exercise clothes. When he saw the boobs he just had to have another "ink"! I had to laugh. Guess it's about time to wean when he can ask for it...)
He ate his 1/2 of a banana and piece of corn bread for breakfast like a champ.
We finally got the tires on the jogging stroller aired up.
We went jogging (without jackets) on this Bea-U-tiful morning of 67*.
He didn't complain once while we were out.
He played well when we got home.
He went down for his nap effortlessly.

Who knows what the rest of the day holds, but the outlook is good.

Also, I am nearly done with my count down to Christmas quilt hangings and I can't wait to post the final product. I have more projects I'm itching to start. Like fabric Christmas tree ornaments (so Dean can take them off the tree without me worrying about anything breaking), and a vintage fabric gift. I also need to make cards sometime, but I just haven't been in a paper mode recently.

Oh, and I'm going to try a new way of making a tag blanket. Instead of using two flannel pieces and batting, I'm going to use a flannel panel and fleece. That will eliminate the need for batting and "tie stitches". I'll tell you how it goes.

Baby Gifts Tutorial

These were three of my favorite (and most used) presents I received when I had Dean. I just looked at the gifts given to me and tried to figure out a way to recreate them myself. I don't have any "patterns". I can't even tell you if it's the "right" way to do these. I've made 3 sets of these now, and they seem to work fine the way I'm doing them. Hopefully the directions are easy enough to follow. I almost hate to call this a tutorial because it's just cutting and sewing (somewhat) straight lines...

For a matching blanket, 2 burp rags, and a tag blanket you will need total:
2 pieces of coordinating flannel fabric each 1 1/2 yards (Here are some combos in my stash)

2 new pre-fold cloth diapers (can just get these from any mega mart. While Gerber cloth diapers aren't good for diapers, they're just fine for burp rags.)
4-5 types of ribbon, different widths and colors to match the fabric
Small piece of low loft batting (about the size of a notebook or a little larger)
Safety pins or straight pins

Handy but not essential items:
Rotary cutter
Self-Healing cutting mat

Big enough to wrap baby Blanket

1. Cut the two pieces of fabric to 1 1/4 yards.
2. Pin front side of fabric together.
3. Sew all sides together with a straight stitch leaving a small opening on the last side. I usually use 5/8 in. seam because I never can get the 2 fabrics exactly the same size. That allows for some errors in cutting. I'm sure you can use a smaller seam size, though.
4. Flip right side out and hand stitch the opening closed with a slip stitch.
5. Iron the seams flat and do a decorative stitch for a "binding". (I use a squiggle stitch because it's more forgiving than some if you're not even with your pedal and not a super straight seamstress.)
   

You're done! Because there's no batting you don't have to tie or anything.

Matching Burp Rags
Take two cloth diapers. Cut two rectangles of the left over fabric a little wider and slightly shorter than the middle padded strip of the diapers. Pin onto the diaper. Sew with a tight zig zag stitch and essentially applique the fabric on.

Tag blanket
Cut the remaining coordinating fabric into rectangles a little larger than a note book
Cut the various sized and patterned ribbons into 3 inch strips. (I used about 4 ribbon pieces of 5-6 types of ribbon. How close you want them and how big your square is will affect the exact number.)
Cut a piece of low-loft batting slightly smaller than the fabric.

On the patterned side of one of the fabrics, evenly space the pre-cut ribbons. Fold them in half and safety pin them to the right side of the fabric. The edge of the ribbon will be on the edge or the fabric. (You can use straight pins, but they're a big pain when you have to flip it right side out. Trust me.)

Place the coordinating piece of fabric on top of the ribbon pinned fabric, right side in.

Pin the batting on top. (I didn't have a full piece of batting this last time I made it, so I sewed some scraps I had together...)

Sew a straight stitch around the perimeter, leaving an opening on the last side to flip right side out. I almost always have to hand sew 1 ribbon when I slip stitch it closed.

Unpin all the safety pins. Do the same stitch as the blanket to make the binding.

Because this has batting, it needs some sort of "tie." I put my zig zag setting on the smallest and tightest stitch for this. I just do little "beads" of as short front and reverse stitch, stitching randomly spaced around the blanket.

Tie together all cutesy like and you have a nice gift for a baby shower!