5 days, 5 gifts – Day 5

Start with Day 1 if you missed it.

Well, tis the final day in this series.  The love for handmade items is growing, and I’m glad to be apart of the movement.  This last gift was made for a person I am fond of.  Curly Cutie of course.  When I came across this item, I knew immediately it had to be done.  She would just be so cute lugging it around.  And I knew it was the perfect item to make with the fabric that was given to me at my first rummage sale.  Well actually, a gal saw a necklace I was selling and we decided to do an even exchange.

The fabric was pre-quilted with coordinating fabrics.  Cute girly colors and everything.  No, it didn’t match the black and white set  I made for her big sister gift.  I didn’t care though.  I used a tutorial over at Twelve Crafts Till Christmas for this project.  It took some tweaking since my fabric was already quilted.  Actually, it just made the project that much simpler. 

The Doll Bassinet

You can see the two sides of the fabric.  I’m thinking the inside should have really been the outside.  It is such a fun print.  But I like the dots too.

Here are a couple of pics with her baby in the bassinet.

Never mind that she doesn’t have any bottoms on.  We were doing great for her to have a shirt on in the second pic.  I don’t know what the fascination is with some kids stripping the dolls down and leaving them that way.  Guess who has not recieved a request for doll clothes?  That would be me.  Am I complaining?  That’s a “no”.

It’s so fun to watch Curly Cutie in action.  So glad I was able to make this item for her.

That’s a wrap folks!  Another peek into my beautiful handmade life.

Out of the 5 days, do you have a favorite?  I love them all so, I don’t even think I can pick a fav.  If I had to chose, I would probably go with Day 4.  I wonder what this year has in store.

5 days, 5 gifts – Day 4

Start with Day 1 if you missed it.

I have been having a little too much fun with these gifts.  Some of the simplest things can be so beautiful, especially when they are made with love.  Next up is an item made for a lovely lady that adores makeup.  Actually, this particular item was like a trial run that I think turned out pretty well.  I still may try my hand at another as there are some things I would like to fine tune.

 The makeup brush roll-up

I used this tutorial as a guide just using my own choice of fabrics.  

  The inside called for a prelaminated fabric giving it an easy wipeable surface.  I did not have access to this type of fabric at my local craft shop, so I set out to laminate my own fabric.  While in the store one day, I ran across iron-on vinyl as I was searching for another item.  I had no clue how to use it , but found the directions to be very simple.  It was a success, and I was a happy girl.

Lots of space to store all kinds and sizes of brushes.

Rolls up nice and cute.  Notice the white.  I’m telling you, just about every item I make has an element of black and/or white.  Sometimes it’s intentional and sometimes I do it without thinking.

Nice and slim, so it tucks neatly into a purse or bag.

Well, that’s it for Day 4.  Go to Day 5.

5 days, 5 gifts – Day 3

Start with Day 1 if you missed it.

Next up is a gift made for a sweet baby girl.  She has not blessed us with her arrival yet.  It was so much fun making this gift.

Peek into my workspace

All of this goodness takes place right at my dining room table.  Nothing fancy.

The makings of a baby rag quilt (back side)

The rag quilt is the second type of quilt I learned to make.  It is made of two layers of cotton flannel with a layer of soft batting sandwiched in between.

front view of rag quilt

X’s are sewn on each square to prevent the batting from shifting.  Squares can be arranged in any desired pattern.

I guess the quilt gets its’ name because of the rag effect on the outside of the squares.  This effect is achieved by sewing sides of the squares together, but leaving the seams visible.  When the quilt is washed the fabric frays.

Coordinating set of 2 burp cloths and 4 cloth wipes

I absolutely adore these burpcloths and wipes.  The burpcloths are backed with white Chenille.  I think Chenille is my go to fabric for  backing these babies.  It is so soft and absorbant.  They are nice and long, easily covering shoulders and protecting clothes.  Provides great protection from baby fluids.  Makes it easy to keep tiny body parts clean.  The cloth wipes are a favorite too.  You can use them to wipe up just about anything.  Then, just toss them into the wash and reuse.  They are made with two layers of cotton flannel.

Quilt and accessories tied with rafia before being placed in bag

So glad mommy to be likes the set.  Hopefully she can get good use out of these items.  That baby girl is going to look so cute have tummy time on her very own handmade rag quilt.  When she is older, she’ll be able to use it with her baby dolls (with mom’s approval of course).

Check out Day 4.

5 days, 5 gifts – Day 2

Start with Day 1 if you missed it.

A couple of years ago I read a story about a woman that started a business making one simple item.  I had no clue that one day I’d make one too.  After some encouragement from a loved one, I decided to jump right in.  She said they make really nice gifts. 

Presenting the beloved Heating Pad

Can also be used as a cold pack.  This particular pad is filled with rice.  The woman I mentioned above filled hers with corn.  The outside is a damask print flannel fabric.  Staying true to my love of B & W.  Very easily heated for 1-3 min depending on microwave.  Easily chilled by placing in a plastic bag and put in the freezer.

 Pockets were created down the length of the pad for an even distribution of the rice and heat.

The heating pad was scented with lavendar essential oil for its soothing and relaxing properties.

Heating pad scented with lavendar made for a very dear friend whose favorite color is purple. I made a coordinating card to accompany the gift.

Go to Day 3.

5 days, 5 gifts – Day 1

Around this time a year ago, I embarked upon a journey that has proven to be quite interesting and fulfilling. Learning to sew. Some of you recall my very first sewing post about a quilt. That’s where it all began.

It’s kinda hard to believe all that has happened in one year. Started this blog. Began learning to sew, had a water birth, decided to homeshcool, had some relationships restored, had some relationships fizzle, became more aware of areas I am prone to sin, learned how to cook some of my favorite Indian dishes, started visiting a house church. Oh, I could get carried away with this list. This is supposed to be about sewing and crafts.

To celebrate this newfound joy in being crafty, I thought it would be fun to take the next 5 days and post a gift made by me each day. Sometimes I’m asked about the kinds of handmade items I create. The next 5 days will be another peek into my beautiful handmade world.

First up……….

Betcha didn’t know I could bake. Well, I don’t really. Not anything that you would wanna write home about anyway. This cake is not edible for its contents are only to be used on a baby’s bottom. It’s a DIAPER CAKE! Why did I feel cheesy typing that? Oh, well.

Ok, so at the time I made this I had not been invited to a baby shower or anything. I just made it. Sometimes I just be making stuff. Lol. Sometimes it’s just good to create. We were born with that in us. Whether it’s an idea, a dance, an easier way to organize, underwater basketweaving, or an idea to eliminate hunger……it doesn’t matter. We are all interested in something. I feel like I now have an itty-bitty glimpse into how God felt after he looked at everything he created in the beginning. He said it was good!

I knew deep down in my heart that one day I would be able to give this cake away. Don’t you know that day came? My source informed me that the recipient loved the cake. It happened to be colors she is particularly fond of. Score. And you know how much I love black and white with a pop of color. She is a woman after my own heart.

And for details if you so desire…..

I wanted to put my own spin on a diaper cake. A modern spin of sorts.

Top tier is accented with faux flowers to conceal the diapers. Two types and sizes of ribbon were used to decorate. Cake was created with 1 package of size 1 diapers.

Middle layer was covered with a damask patterned fabric and wrapped with ribbon.

Bottom layer is similar to top, but smaller flowers were used to hide diapers. If the diapers were all white I probably would not have added the flowers. I could not have some cartoon characters clashing with my mod-ness. This was so not your traditional diaper cake. I was pleased with the results. Even more pleased to give it away.

Well, that’s it for Day 1. Go to Day 2.

Have you put your spin on anything here lately? A recipe? A song? A business practice?

Update on cloth diapers

Let me just go ahead and put it out here. We love cloth diapering! Husband enjoys it so much that I’ve only had to wash diapers about a handful of times. I respect all orders to stay out of the laundry room. By all means, have at it honey. Have your own way.

We have a rhythm that works for us now. It took some learning in the beginning as we were trying to figure out what would work best for our family. Cloth diapering is not nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. It is definitely a different experience than using disposables (which I am not against at all). It’s a good different. You just have to figure out what works for you.

During pregnancy, I started researching the topic and quickly became overwhelmed. Don’t know if you know, but cloth diapers have made a come back folks. So much so that the market is booming. People are coming out of the woodworks with their versions of cloth diapers and accessories. Rightfully so, little bums are so cute in them. Not to mention the potential to save money while decreasing your contribution to landfills.

We chose cloth diapering because I am able and willing to do it, and I love finding ways to make our money stretch. Cloth diapering can be intimidating in the beginning because you need certain products on hand before you can even get going with diapering your baby. It’s not as simple as going to the store and grabbing a big box of diapers and packs of wipes. I’m sure cloth diapering can get a lot more complicated than what we have going on, but I’m all about keeping things simple. I’ll share what has been working for us.

One thing that helped ease our transition into cloth diapering was asking for cloth diapering products at the baby shower. Yep, I incorporated this request right into the invitation. Most people were not familiar with the idea, but were able to find products at some of the major retail stores. We were given flat and prefold cloth diapers along with diaper covers, diaper pins, and detergent.

I went out and purchased a snappi as I could not imagine myself sticking my poor little baby with that diaper pin. I had to give myself time to work up to that. Now, I use them with no problems.

During my research, I came across a pattern for a fitted pocket diaper. It’s called fitted because it has elastic around the legs and sometimes the back. It’s just simple fabric with elastic added. It does require a diaper cover as it is not waterproof. I knew I had to use the pattern to make some fitteds for my baby boy. Hmmm, needed some flannel fabric. Oh yeah, I got these at the baby shower.

4 pack of flannel receiving blankets

Babies get lots of these, so I’ll just go ahead and turn this set into fitted cloth diapers. Not to mention they have cute matching t-shirts.

The process was pretty simple. Rita, the lovely creator of the pattern, made this project quite easy with her wonderful directions. It also helped to read comments from others that have tackled this project. After pre-washing and ironing the fabric I traced it onto the fabric. I knew I would have to get a little creative since my fabric squares were only 30″X30″. No way I was getting two nice diaper cuts from one blanket. I needed a cut for the inner and outer layers of the diaper.

Diaper pattern was traced onto wrong side of fabric with fabric pen

After doing a little piecing together, adding some elastic, and doing some turning and topstitching, I came out with these…….

Cloth diapers made from Rita's Rump Pocket Diaper pattern

Crazy, huh? I know. Cute and functional. Good thing I had some extra fabric once the diaper cuts were made. What good is a cloth diaper without these to match.

Burp cloths backed with Chenille fabric

and these….

Cloth wipes backed with Chenille fabric

These items come in handy for wiping up all kinds of baby fluids. I have even used the burp cloths as the absorbent stuffing for the pocket of the diaper. Although I didn’t photograph it, there is a pocket opening on the back part of the diaper that can be stuffed with whatever you want to use to catch the urine and waste. The cool thing about this particular pattern is that it grows with baby. It can fit most babies from very small through potty training. That’s a plus. We’ll have to see how the fabric holds up to constant washing/drying.

Here is how we are keeping things simple as far as the storage of these items. Gotta keep’em handy for frequent changing. Not like a disposable that can be left on for longer and baby have no clue what’s going on. With these things, they feel everything. That may or may not bother them depending on the child. I hear the result is earlier potty training because as they get older they do not want to feel wetness or waste on them.

Prefold diapers on the left, Flat diapers on the right

Added diaper covers in open space

And for my wonderful model…..

Before diaper cover was put on. Fitted is secured with one diaper pin.

And this is how we are cloth diapering. Lots more I could have said, but I probably would’ve never gotten this post up had I kept typing. I hope things continue to go well for us. I have another set of blankets I’ll be turning into cloth diapers. I seriously like these a lot, and it’s easier than folding the flats and prefolds although I don’t mind that at all.

Has anybody else considered cloth diapering these days? If you already are, how has your experience been?

The Blessing – March 7

Husband – I thank God for allowing you to see another year.  I bless you with fresh vision for the days ahead.  May you know faith in a greater way this year.

Daughter – You are gentle and kind.  Your sensitive spirit allows you to be aware of the needs of those around you.  I bless you with balance as you learn to love your neighbor as you love yourself.

Son – I bless you to grow strong and mighty in body, soul and spirit.  I thank God for His continued provision for you.

If I could only remember, at all times, how powerful words are, maybe I wouldn’t have to apologize so much for saying dumb stuff.  I mean, once it’s out there – it’s out there.  I’m so glad that life-giving words with right actions following can overcome a lot of dumb stuff. 

From the days of Abraham to the present, Jewish people have employed the principle of the blessing.  From my understanding, blessing their children was apart of their weekly worship time.  The blessing is also used at another significant time, in celebration of the passage from childhood to adulthood.  It’s a big deal, and these celebrations definitely rise to the importance of the occasion.

And again, one definition of THE BLESSING is a combination of words and actions that paints a permanent picture in a person’s soul.  To bless another is to give them honor, praise, importance, and to lift them up, encourage them, and embolden them for a better life. 

Parents and grandparents lay hands on the children and bless them.

They call their children out. 

They call them into adulthood.  Into manhood.  Into womanhood 

They don’t wait for the world to tell them that they can do whatever they are big and bad enough to do because they are 18.  Or that although they confer adulthood upon themselves they really have no ability to make sound decisions because their brains won’t even be fully developed until age 26 (or whatever age this supposedly happens). 

At 12 or 13 they are being celebrated and welcomed into adulthood, being made aware of its responsibilities and privileges (and given opportunities to walk in them). 

I wonder what would happen if we stopped viewing children as little people who don’t matter much because they’re too young and inexperienced to really understand how the world works and do anything about it.  Should we move them from being seen and not heard to being seen and heard?  On second thought, maybe not.  Quiet time is my friend.  I will institute a quiet time with the quickness when I’m in the car with Curly Cutie.  They don’t have to talk all the time – do they?  I mean, sometimes I can hardly get a word in edgewise.  Quiet time ensures that there is peace for all mankind in my home. 

Some may think it’s strange or downright foolish to expect 13 year olds to act like adults.  Well, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Jewish people have found great success in this world (finance, science, etc.) because THE BLESSING is passed down from generation to generation.  Fathers and mothers bless their children who then go out into the world and excel.

I wonder what would happen if young girls were celebrated the first time Aunt Flow came to town.  Which seems to be younger and younger these days.  Makes me wonder if it’s the stuff in the food we’re eating.  I don’t know.  Maybe there wouldn’t be so much shame, or maybe they would know, appreciate and value what their bodies actually have the capability of doing.  Maybe it would do no good at all and my blurb on this topic only serves as proof that I’m still a bit on edge because I was welcomed into this time of my life by a plastic bag of sanitary napkins kindly delivered through a male cousin.  Figure that one out. 

Day 67 for my family and the blessing.  My mind has already gone to thinking about how we will celebrate their transition into adulthood if it is the Lord’s will.  Someone has to come into agreement with what’s on God’s heart and what He is saying about the generations we are raising.  Here is to hoping I will clearly hear His voice and respond in faith concerning those in my home and those whose paths I cross.

For more posts on THE BLESSING.