Must Dash Quilt

Nearing the end of my second trimester and entirely through my third trimester of my pregnancy I became worried and obsessed with finishing my sons nursery before my due date. This was something I didn't manage to accomplish to my satisfaction.

My pal Sweety Darlin remarked at one point that my son would never notice, know, or care that his nursery was finished. Right as she was, I remained a woman possessed. Now that he's here I've calmed way down and very few of the unfinished nursery items bother me.

Two weeks into happily co-sleeping with our newest addition I realized that I actually had months until it mattered how finished it was.

Once his umbilical cord came off I was happy that now tummy time could begin. I'd already seen this quilt on Pinterest but now I had that "my-son-must-have-this" feeling. So I set to work.

I had my husband print out the template from the source post and bring it home.

Began digging through my fabric to see what I thought might best suit this project.

Hit up WalMart and checked their fat quarters, took a picture of the ones I was considering, texting them to a friend and asking her opinion.

Going to JoAnns after I was once again unable to get someone to help me at the WalMart fabric counter. Get more fabric. Take pictures. Load them to instagram.

I had my husband cut fat quarters off of the half-yards I'd bought at JoAnns.

Then I cut the 10" blocks off as instructed.

Create a mustache template using some leftover cardboard. Cut myself with my rotary cutter. Bleed on the paper print out. Post the whole shenanigan to Instagram. Soldier on like a boss.

Cut the mustaches.

Cut out some mustache shaped fusible webbing. This I didn't do as well as I'd hoped so I ended up fusing the webbing to the mustache and then cutting off the excess.

No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get the mustaches with the fusible webbing on the backs to fuse to my blocks.

I was able to cut all my template, the mustaches, the webbing, and sew the mustaches onto the blocks all in the same day.

Now to begin laying out blocks and figure out the most appealing configuration for the blocks.

Sew them together.

I chose to get more of this adorable mustache fabric from JoAnns to use on the back of the quilt. I hope to have this finished soon.

Meanwhile I'll still making other quilt tops.

Drawer Liners

Despite how much I was able to accomplish via Craigslist in preparation for our son there was still so much we needed and we didn't have the money to buy much of anything.

While lamenting to my mother-in-law about having the worst time finding a desirably dresser for the baby as well as my husband she mentioned she had a dresser out in one of her sheds. Free is pretty much always the right price so my husband and I went out and looked at it.

Getting the dresser to our house from my in-laws house was a minor battle but finally, the dresser was here.

It had a little mold inside the drawers from being exposed to the moisture outside. At her suggestion we sprayed the drawers with some watered down bleach to clean then and then left them to sit and dry.

Adding something to the drawer to protect from any possible yuckies leftover was something I felt compelled to do.

First, I pulled out a bit of wrapping paper I had. This was some limited edition, retro printed wrapping paper I had to order from England. I bought rolls of it around a decade ago. You really don't get very much paper in a roll, just a couple of sheets. I sat the sheets out with some items to weight the edges before I began.

Then, I did my best to measure the inside of the drawer.

I carefully cut the wrapping paper on my cutting mat using my rotary cutter and a ruler.

Before you get down to any gluing set the piece you've cut inside the drawer to make sure it fits.

Using some cheap brushes

I brushed a coat of Modge Podge (yes you can make your own but at 9 months pregnant and already making so many things I needed a break) over the area I intended to paper.

Now carefully set your wrapping paper down over the "modge podged" area. I thought that pressing out wrinkles and air would be easy but it wasn't. Once it begins sticking it's not really easy to press out. You're better off just carefully pulling up what you can and attempting to lay it back down.

Like I said there really isn't a lot of this wrapping paper so after I did the bottom of the drawer I only had enough left to do the back or front of the drawer. I figured when you pull out a drawer you rarely see the front I'd do the back.

I still kind of wanted something to be done to the sides as well.

I was really going to need more wrapping paper and something that would allow me to be able to continue lining this drawer with the same paper I preferred to use.

The wrapping paper was buried in our cavernous shed. I did my best to look one day but got nowhere. Then I sent my husband in to look where I thought it might be, I have no idea how far he got but he didn't come back with any wrapping paper. A few days later, feeling full of determination I decided to dig as far as I could handle despite the freezing weather, my being dressed inappropriately for said weather, and being 9 months pregnant. The wrapping paper ended up being on the opposite side of the shed than I remember it initially being put in, but it was, of course, all the way in the back. I cleared a pathway that usually I would be able to fit into to get to the paper but wasn't able to get in. I tried using a shovel to knock down the paper and bring it closer - this too failed. Finally, I went next door and borrowed my neighbors slender daughter and she was kind enough to get it out for me and put it into my house while I put things back into the shed.

I was back at work within the half hour.

Finished measuring, cutting, and modge podging your paper into drawers and allow them a fair amount of time to properly dry.

Here's what it all looked like when I had only one drawer left to line.

Once everything has been lined you're ready to add the contact paper to help protect the paper from ware and tear.

Then you're free to just go fill up those dresser drawers! 

And Baby Makes Four (Five If You Count Our Dog)

It was a post like this that started Small Fries.

Baby Ironhide has finally joined us here on the outside.

Welcome to the world son. Mommy, daddy, your big sister, and I'm sure even the dog - love you very much.

Diaper Rash Cream

Full of parental paranoia and worry I decided to also make some diaper cream. If you cloth diaper do not apply this to your childs' bottom and then put them into the cloth diaper. The oils will keep the cloth from doing its absorbent job and void any warranty your diaper may still have. Use a diaper liner to protect the diaper. Then you have a layer between baby booty, oil, and the cloth of your diaper.

To make it I took a little bit of coconut oil,

Put it into a bowl and did my best to stir it until it was "whipped" in texture,

then I added a bit of my baby powder. Mix the two together until you get a reasonable texture.

Store in an airtight container.

Diaper cream, made at home, chemical and talc-free!

Pintesting - Talc-Free Baby Powder

Little Lamb's diaper rash was still lingering and I couldtn' have that so it was time to make some baby powder.

Today's pintest comes via this pin and the information found here.

I got all my stuff together but when I looked at the ingredients list again it looked like I had the option of cornstarch OR arrowroot powder and I'm a bit stingy with my arrowroot powder.

½ cup corn starch
1 tablespoon dried ground chamomile
1 tablespoon dried ground lavender
¼ cup finely ground oats

I put all of the ingredients into my food processor and pulsed until I felt that my chamomile and lavender should have been sufficiently ground.

Then I got out an old baby food jar. As well as a hammer and nail.

Hammer holes into the top of the baby food lid.

Put the mix in the jar.

And that's it! The mix smelled heavenly.

I put the remainder of my baby powder in another jar. I saw no sense it puncturing the top of another jar - this one was going to do the job just fine.

Remember Those Reusable Baby Wipes?

I did the solution for this pin the same day that I did it for yesterdays. So the mix is the same.

Once I had the solution together I turned the wipes on their side and poured the solution over it.

I also poured it over the top.

Flipping the container over and waiting didn't do much to get the solution to saturate the rest of the wipes. I tried rearranging the wetter ones closer to the ones that were bone dry.

The wipes had a difficult time staying moist. When my husband tried to use them he said they were pretty much dry. The next day he was asking me to buy some wipes because she seemed to be developing a rash.

Making Baby Wipes Out of (Recycled) Paper Napkins

We are out of baby wipes and I'd already decided that once we were out of store bought baby wipes we wouldn't be buying any more.

Permanent lifestyle changes work out best by introducing them gradually. After dealing with three days off poop and cloth diaper fails I wasn't feeling ready to jump into the deep end of cloth wipes. I decided to start a little smaller to begin my habit.

I sent the hubs into a Kroger that regularly seems not to have the natural items I want with the instructions to buy recycled paper towels or none at all. He brought me these.

I hoped I could make them work. The nice thing about them was that after you take some out the bag comes with 2 pull ties to re-close the bag.

 I put 1 teaspoon of Doctor Bonners mild baby soap

 5 drops of tea tree oil

 and then filled this glass of water most of the way.

Stirred gently.

I put a handfull of the napkins into the now empty wipes container and poured a bit over the nappkins. It did not seem to be seeping in at all - just ruining the top napkins.

I flipped them over and added some more. More of the same disappointing result so I took the ones I just poured on top of, grabbed about half of the stack of napkins, and put the wet ones in the center. Then I shook the container. Turning the container over wasn't an option because the little lamb had stolen the top.

I waited 5 - 10 minutes and then went back in and checked on them. There didn't seem to be much change. I decided to leave them as is and then just try them as soon as they were needed.

My husband was the first to try these out He needed them the next morning and I'd call it a fail - he said the napkin ripped (shocker).

Pintesting - Teething Gel

As you know we're doing everything we can to run a chemical-free house-hold. With a new addition on his way in I didn't want anything other than a super trustworthy teething gel in my mommy arsenal for him.

Today's pintest comes to us via this pin and the info found here. 

Get all of your things together so you can avoid running all over your house while you're working.

Add your food grade cocoa butter and coconut oil to a pan or small pot and let it melt. 

It will melt quickly.

Once it has add your essential oils and put them into whatever container you planned on storing it in.
WARNING: this recipe makes 4 ounces!!!! That's A LOT of teething gel. I put mine in a 4 ounce container for the night and then reheated it and split it into smaller containers in the morning.

A pinspired Post - Cloth Baby Wipes

I mentioned in the recent past that a couple of my friends (a couple has now grown to a few) are also pregnant. They've chosen to go the rout of cloth diapering and in addition to that they plan to use cloth baby wipes. The image of mountains of dirty diapers in landfills isn't unknown to those who consider themselves even remotely green. But what about those chemically treated and bleached baby wipes? They're doing the same thing I assure you.

Pintrest is full of the pins picturing cloth wipes but when you click them you rarely seem to get a very detailed description of how to make your own. I'm going to do my best to help you with that.

Today's post was inspired by this specific pin and the info found here.

Buying fabric can be so exciting for me. Having an excuse to do so only makes the experience that much sweeter. I picked up these fabrics for baby wipes.

I'm going to tell you two ways to go about this:

Place an actual baby wipe on top of some uncut fabric (I bought 1/2 yards). Cut out one piece that was the size you now want and then get to work.

I cut two long strips.

Then placed one on top of the other and began cutting the strips intended to become baby wipes. I used the first piece I cut as my template to cut the rest of the pieces.

Another way to go about all of this is to first lay out your piece of fabric.

Fold it over.

It's really your call if you want right side touching right side or wrong side touching wrong side.

Then place your template onto the fabric.

Then cut your strips following the line of your chosen measuring instrument.

I now had three strips, two I intended to use for cloth wipes and one of excess fabric.

Once you have all of your pieces cut the fun part can really begin.

On to the sewing machine!

Place two sheets of your fabric together backside touching backside. Your print should be on the top and the bottom. You should not see the plain white back.

Then use whatever stitch you most prefer to sew the two pieces together.

 This is a great time to test out different stitches on your machine.

Et viola you have a baby wipe.

In case you're wondering how my wipes looked after a trip through the washing machine with their un-serged edges.

I just snipped off the loose edges and put them into a baby wipes container.

Now to make some wipe solution. But that's another blog post ;p