Saturday, November 24, 2012

Happy Birthday, Little Turkey!

Happy Birthday to our upwardly mobile (that means "climbs on the table"), goofy, curly-haired determined little helper. We are all thankful to God for Malachi's first year!
  • Plays the kazoo happily, or unhappily: it's kind of funny to hear him cry into a kazoo. Sometimes accompanies himself with a rattle.
  • Loves guacamole, pickles, peas, squash, popcorn. Whatever everyone else is eating. 
  • Says Ma (mom) Da (Dad),  dih (this, or what's this), dat (that, or what's that) and num-num-num.
  • Enjoys animals, both real and in books.
  • 7 teeth in front and 1 molar trying to come through, ouch!
  • In his spare time he cooks imaginary soups, plays the foot pedals on the organ (or the keyboards if he gets a chance), and researches topics such as "Sheep in a Jeep" in his personal library.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Sprout Snap Diaper Cover Tutorial

Although there are plenty of diapers around our house now to last from one wash until the next, I've been sewing a few new covers and donating or selling the old ones that didn't fit as well or were becoming a bit worn. It's kind of satisfying to accomplish something concrete, and besides the snap pliers is a lot of fun! Tobias picked out the monster fabric for this particular one.

I like diaper covers with flaps on the top and bottom to hold the absorbent insert in place. Helps a little when trying to dress a wiggler.

I found this tutorial that is very similar to what I did, but my snap placement and leg binding was different, so I thought I would post a mini-tutorial explaining how I sewed them.

  • I printed the Sprout Snap pattern and marked where I wanted the inner flaps to come down to (see the little notches outside the thick black line?).
  • I cut out the pattern from the monster PUL fabric, and the inner flaps from plain white PUL (it's cheaper). In between the marked notches, I added about 1/3 inch beyond the seam allowance; the extra fabric is to fold over and create the casing for the leg elastic.
  • Right sides together, I sewed the white flaps to the top and bottom of the main monster piece.
  • Put in back elastic and casing.
  • Applied snaps to wings and front (there is a reinforcing layer of scrap PUL so that each snap is placed through 2 layers of fabric).
  • Tacked in leg elastic, then folded over the "extra" allowance and sewed it into a casing. The elastic must be stretched quite tightly or the legs will gap open.
  • Finished off by topstitching around the front and back. 


Monday, November 05, 2012

Sneaky Swap

Heather's One Month of Less posts motivated me to take on a few projects to simplify and organize our sometimes-cluttered house.

One idea that was successful was a puzzle trade. I chose 2 less-favorite puzzles, posted them on a local baby buy/sell/swap board (like Craigslist) with the message that I wanted to trade them for puzzles of similar quality and age level. Someone took me up on it, we sent pictures of the puzzles to each other, then met in the Winco parking lot to exchange, and I hid the "new" puzzles away for birthday or Christmas. Something new, without making our pile of puzzles too big for its' home on top of the organ.

Shhhh...don't tell Malachi, he will probably be opening these for a gift in the next few months!