Proof...

That I have actually been sewing...just not blogging...oops!  I am part of a Facebook group that is attempting to sew 1 hr. a day/7 hrs. a week for our kids...I don't always meet the goal, but it's helping me stay on track. :)  Here's what I've been up to...well, I'll have to link to the FB pictures as Blogger is messed up right now!

Here, here, here, and here, oh, and here :) And I would upload a picture of THE shoe, but Blogger is mean!

Sewing challenge...

...just to let you know I have made one itty-bitty shoe :), although not quite managing the "one a week" yet!  I am hoping I'll have a chance this weekend to cut out several projects so that they are ready whenever I get a minute to sew! 

Home again :)

Last Wednesday we headed out for a last camping trip before we started school for the year...it was great!  It was also nice because we went the week after the public schools started back, so we had the cream of the crop to choose from for camp sites. :)  One of the benefits of home-schooling...  We had the river just down some steps with a great spot for the kids to fish and swim.  We had Grandma along with the cousins and Aunt Dandi, we had a blast!  I think that one of the best family activities you can do is to go camping!  You work together setting up camp, then you play together enjoying the outdoors, cook together, sing together, and eat together!  Your husband gets up during the night to take the kids to the bathroom, sees skunks around the campsite, so you decide that you are NOT going to the bathroom during the night, no matter what! ;)  That would be one way to ruin a camping trip...  You get to see deer, pet deer, black squirrels, brown squirrels, skunks, armadillos, frogs, what fun!  You get to ride bikes, climb mountains (big hills in my opinion lol), swim the river, tube the river, swing off rope swings....lots to do together, we love it!  I don't get outside much at home, so camping for me is wonderful!  I miss being able to walk around the neighbourhood at night (due to lots of dogs on the loose) like we do a lot in Australia, also riding bikes is hard due to the same reason!  Although we have now invested in bottle clips for our bikes, and have started carrying wasp/hornet spray!  Not only does it kill wasps (which we found out the hard way that our son is allergic to...) it can also blind dogs or attackers from 20 feet away apparently, so maybe we can get out and about more now.

More mail!

Lookee!!!  See what I got?  Ain't it purty?   Here's some diaper fabric (PUL)...

And some oh-so-cute flannel/flannelette material!!!  I purchased it from Stephanie at IttybittyFabric on etsy.  I absolutely L-O-V-E-D it when I saw it!  :)  Not sure what I'll make from it, but am leaning towards maybe a little nightie/pj pant set for Ellie maybe?  Any ideas?  It is just sooooo stinkin' cute!

I absolutely loved doing business with Stephanie, she was so sweet and a lot of fun.  AND she's a mom to 9 kids!  So check her fabric store out, and while you're at it she also sells cloth diapers here, and here which is actually how I "found" her.  :)  Her diapers are so cute, and her prices are awesome.  So if you need any cloth diapers, and don't want to sew your own, send her your business....she's great to work with :)  If you go to her Facebook page, you can check out her fabrics.  I never liked minky till I saw hers...LOL...one day....

Back to School Soon!

Although all the public schools started back today, ours is scheduled to start back next Monday...I am looking forward to it.  Last year was hard....REALLY hard.  I changed curriculum with one daughter, and hated it.  Had issues with children that kept recurring, and having to be dealt with.  Was pregnant with baby #5... But if I am totally honest...I was sloppy, very sloppy.  I didn't keep a close tab like I should have, and we all paid for it, with much frustration, and many problems.  So this year, the goal is to knuckle down and make it an awesome year!  Please remind me of this daily...LOL ;)

I have changed my daughter's curriculum BACK to where we were, and where I should have stayed, and not strayed from...ACE school of tomorrow.  I will be homeschooling FOUR children this year.  Pray for me...  "Squirt" who just turned 4 is going to be doing Preschool, Jekkie (7) will be in first grade, Jorge (8) will be be in 4th, and Iddy (10) will be in 5th.  Crazy, huh?  I am going to be using Horizons Preschool with Squirt.  We have never used it before, but don't like ACE's preschool, as it is just WAY too much colouring.  My kids like to colour...but.... :)  I like what I see so far, and if needs be we can just do a light day with him.  I think though that it will be easier to have him occupied and learning, than pulling out toys all over the place, and creating yet MORE housework!  ...like I already don't have enough of that!

Ellie will be working on her colours, shapes, and learning the alphabet.  JUST KIDDING!!!!  I think I'll wait till she's 7 months old, at least.  Besides, don't they have to be potty-trained to go to preschool?  But hey, with cloth diapers, she have that down by 10 months right?  ;)

And last but not least, my dear, darling, awesome husband has finally, FINALLY agreed to let us have his office for a schoolroom!   Can I please have a round of applause for him?  YAY!!!!  In return, he gets the china cabinet/bookshelf for all his stuff.  (and a few reserved spots in the office are still his)  I am really hoping to try and cut down on the mess/housework, by having it contained in a room out of the way.  We always ended up in the living/lounge room, as I'm a wimp, and like a comfy seat which is not provided at the table...so school stuff would end up from one end of the house to the other. 

Also...must try to STOP MULTI-TASKING!!!!  Although moms are famous for it, I am starting to feel that I multitask so much, yet nothing is really done WELL.  I want to try to focus on SCHOOL, when the kids are schooling, HOUSEWORK before and after school...and try to do ONE thing well, at a time.  If it doesn't work, we'll just revert back.  :)

How about y'all?

A fitted diaper...

...is one that doesn't have the water-proof layer, and has to be used with a PUL cover.  I wanted to just make a quickie to practice making them.  This one is serged/overlocked instead of turning/topstitching.   It was easy enough.  I just used a navy t-shirt, and an old t-dress of Jek's for the outside, and a washcloth/flannel for the soaker pad inside.  It's not the cutest ;), but it is very trim.  It would be a NB/SM size.

And I figured out she can also wear it inside out...LOL

 

New Goal...

I have decided that I would like to try and see if I can start and complete a new creative project every week...Want to join in?  It doesn't matter if it's sewing, art, cross-stitch, embroidery, or whatever...I just find that if I don't "just do it", I never "find" the time.  I'd like to try for around an hour a day.  It just feels good to create/sew/make something. :)  Speaking of, I've already made 2 diapers this week...so I'm in the clear!  I've also cut out the fabric for a pair of soft shoes for Elli!  They are just out of scrap fabric, just a trial run to see if they fit and if I like the pattern, before I use good stuff.  I also want to start teaching the girls embroidery stitches.  What project do you want to make?

And yet another...

Just finished this afternoon :)

She'll be on all fours soon :)

See what I got in the mail?

Lots of FOE!!!  I LOVE all the colours :)  So much fun to get packages in the mail!  FOE starts out flat, like the monkey one, but you have to wash/dry it before you use it as it will shrink.  Some of these doubled over when washed, but they are all 1 inch wide.  Some I will use on diapers, but I also will use it for clothing...like around the edge of hoodies, sleeves, baby necklines etc.

Oh, and here's the other diaper cover I made...only I made the mistake of washing it with some pre-folds which made the FOE get fuzzy.  The foe seems to have faded in the last wash too...hope my new stuff holds it's colours...they are so bright and cheerful!  This cover looks sooooo cute on Elli...my favourite out of the two. 

Diaper covers/wraps

Sorry it's been so long here's a quick peek at a couple of waterproof covers I made...these you just pop an insert in...you don't have to use a full-blown diaper...good for the diaper bag as you can re-use the cover if it didn't get "dirty".  Sorry, only have pictures of one, I'll have to post the rest after I take some :)  this is a Small, and Elli is now growing out of it already!  Not going to last her much longer  :)  This one has FOE around the legs.  (fold over elastic = FOE)

Diaper Sewing Recommended Video Links!

I found these videos HIGHLY HELPFUL with sewing my diapers!

First watch this one....

And then this one...

Very well done!

Cloth Diaper #1

Finally, I am getting around to blogging! I actually finished this diaper just a couple of days after my last post. :) First I cut out the fabric, then applied a strip of Ooga Booga Poly Knit for cuteness ;) The Violet Fabric is PUL which is waterproof. I used polyester thread, seeing as they say cotton will cause wicking/leaking, I decided to take "their" word for it...!


Then I applied my snaps, without thinking, even into the seam allowance...*sigh*...had to remove the one on the left. first mistake.... ;)Then I applied the elastic using the method you can see below, only stitching the ends, which apparently gives it longer life...you can also see that I reinforced the snaps with scrap PUL
Same for the waist, only I used two pieces here so I could have a pocket opening here, as I don't like welt pocket openings...(BG diapers have welts...too fiddly to keep them closed, and insert off baby's skin)Here it is finished...you can how you switch from a narrow topstitch to wide around the elastic creating a casing.On da baby...compared to a Bumgenius all-in-one XS diaperand here it is with it unsnapped to grow a size...
And here, to compare...BG XS, mine (sm setting), and a BG one size pocket diaper (sm setting)Now, I don't recommend using Poly knits for cutifying your diapers...lesson learned...they snag terribly!! and get runs in them...stick with cotton knits...besides cottons are so much nicer anyway ;0 And really, I think I like Plain ol' colours better, anyway...try matching cute little Ooga Booga print with all your little girlie dresses...LOL talk about clashing!

I have also made 2 diaper covers, similar to the FLIP system...more on those in another post!

Sewing Cloth Diapers...

...when you have 5 kids is a little slow...Day #1...Cut out Pattern...Day #2 Decide on different Pattern...print pattern, cut it out, make adjustments while mentally hoping that the adjustments will work....cut out fabric...pull out hair...quickly put everything away while you remember that Prayer meeting is at YOUR house tonight...must do housework, and whip everything back into place...realise the days of sitting down and concentrating on a project are long gone, and that you're not going to get anywhere fast!

P.S. Will try to post pics here and there...but not today! The above housework is still screaming my name....

Cloth Diapering...

Although I am mom to 5 kids, I must confess....I had never, NEVER, used a cloth diaper before on any of my kids before this baby...and really didn't think I would like it. Well, I decided this time around, I was going to try it...as I was feeling just a teeny-weeny bit guilty about chucking all those diapers in the trash...if it really does take 500 years to decompose, or whatever it is "they" say. Now for anyone reading this...I AM NOT A GREENIE! and I do not care if you use disposables, and I too will still use them on occasion, like tomorrow, seeing as my washing machine just died! I used disposables the first month or so...just saying! Anyway, I LOVE IT! It is too fun...(remind me of this when I get to the whole "bigger baby" issues!) I bought "modern" cloth diapers, namely BumGenius 3.0's from DiaperDaisy who btw had great customer service, and I highly recommend! I got them on a rare sale... I also purchased a FLIP hybrid diaper, which has since become my favourite. No STUFFING! Just pop an insert in the cover, snap it on the baby and go! However, it has given me an itch to make my own...soooooo stay tuned for my adventure of sewing cloth diapers. Number one priority...THEY MUST BE CUTE, oh, and not leak, they must fit, etc...and all that boring stuff.

I'm Back!

You all thought I had fallen off the face of the earth didn't you? ;) Well, I decided that I should probably jump back on, and update y'all a little! For those who may not know, although I don't know who wouldn't...we had a baby girl!!!! Woohoo! She is sooooo sweet and we are all enjoying her immensely! She was born on February the 20th, and is growing like crazy! The kids think she is the best... Honestly, the best gift you can give your kids, is another kid! LOL And the more you have, the easier it gets...OK, except for going places without your husband! That, I must admit, is a little more time consuming! Oh, and shopping with a newborn who "feeds on demand" can make shopping in the local craft store a little bit interesting....think...feed baby while trying to look like you are doing nothing as you casually flip through the pattern catalog books...or try multi-tasking aka. hold and feed baby while pushing stroller, while browsing, while trying to look innocent...rofl I love being a mom though...they are so much fun! (course, we have our, ahem, "moments" just like everyone else where I am periodically bald...)