Farm Sensory Playscape

I don't own one of your typical water tables to create sensory playscapes for my daughter but I DO own (thanks to her godmother) a water park! (You'll see in a moment)

Having sat outside all winter it had gotten a bit dirty so the other day I had my husband pull it out (you never know, there could be spiders back there) and the two of us cleaned it up.

Filled with this wonderful idea of a miniature sensory world for my little lamb I headed off to the store where I bought bags of beans

and some pop corn kernels.

Knowing that this was going to end in a HUGE mess I set out the charm quilt her great-granny made for her and set out the now clean water park on top.

We also have a little portable farm box toy that was purchased for our newest addition so I made sure to include that was well.

I set up a nice farm scape of beans in the table

and then began adding animal toys.

Around this time my husband came out to peek at my progress.

Remembering the woodland theme of our sons nursery I grabbed a few more toys and set them out on the farm mat

and one off to the side.

I was ready for the morning!

Making Mama Cloth

Around the time I chose to begin using mama cloth, or reusable cloth menstrual pads - I got a refund from an Etsyian that left me with enough money to buy some from . . . more Etsyians. Knowing I planned to have at least two more children I also made sure to buy a couple of post-partum pads. Along with the many things I felt I didn't have enough of to be fully prepared for the new baby was post-partum pads. Only this time I didn't have a sizable refund hanging out in my Paypal account. I was going to have to make them myself.

Find a free pattern for these that made great sense wasn't as easy as I'd hoped for.

I found a template via this pin and this page.

Had the hubs print out the pattern and then I cut out a template.

I pulled out some flannel, most of which was in 1/4 yard cuts, folded it over so that I shouldn't be cutting in the center of the fabric and would also end up with 4 layers.

Then placed the template on top of the fabric making sure to position the template in a way that would allow me to still use even less of the fabric

 and cut them to match the template.

When I revisited the source site from which I'd gotten my template I realized that the directions weren't as detailed as I felt I was going to need.

I made sure to take a good look at the picture of that source posters finished pads but still was feeling I'd need more guidance.

Then I remembered that a week earlier I'd printed out this pattern, that I'd found on Pintrest, at grandma's house.

As it turned out I really needed two templates. One that included the wings and one for the center piece.

With a bit of trial and error I figured out what I felt was the best way for me to do this.

I'd already cut the portions with the wings. I still needed to cut the centers

and the PUL layer.

Once that was done I was ready to get sewing.

Sew your winged pieces together with right sides facing

 - make sure to leave a gap someplace that you can flip the piece inside out.

Once you've flipped the piece inside out, top stitch all along the edges and close up the hole you left by folding under the pieces and top stitching over that as well.

I felt that to get the better result out of how you made the center was a matter of layering.

I got my uppermost layer ready first.

Fold it over

and cut a slit in the center so that you will be able to flip the entire piece around in a few minutes.

Now the layering can begin:

PUL,

the fabric you intend to have showing,

and the fabric for your base.

Top stitch all around the edges of this stack.

As always I like to stitch as close to the edge as I dare.

Then pull the layers with the PUL and the fabric you intended to have showing through the hole you cut in what will be your base layer.

This is what the part you will have showing should look like.

This is what the bottom of that same piece should look like.

Now center this piece onto your winged piece and zig zag stitch it into place.

The above photo was try number three.

This is try number two.

And try number one.

You can see that with a little practice you can learn a lot and make some noticeable improvements.

All  you really have left to do is to add your snaps and then go wash these before you use them!

Book Sling

The rooms in our house aren't as spacious as I sometimes wish the were so there's a need for creative uses of space. My son was going to need a place for his books and I wasn't seeing a lot of room for your standard options.

We just keep the books in my daughters room on top of her closet.

With the top and inside of his closet spoken for early on I was going to need to get creative.

I'd seen book slings on Pinterest and with a bare spot on one of his walls beckoning to me I felt the solution to my problem-to-be was obvious.

Because I had a woodland/farm type theme in his room I really wanted to keep to that. I found a gnome fabric I loved but at $38 before shipping for 2 yards I just couldn't swing it.

I stumbled upon this fabric at Outback Toys and it seemed perfect . . . until I kept searching the site and saw this

a brown haired boy like my brown haired boy? Yes please!

I ordered 2 yards but they only had one and were no longer going to be carrying that fabric. I ended up with the original fabric I'd found and liked on the site. That's the kind of "lose" I can handle.

During the first two weeks of my recovery from my C-section I had helpers staying with me. So during week two I went to Lowes with my husband to buy the hardware I would need to make this.

We had to ask where we could find the dowels.

I didn't see any dowels that I thought were thick or long enough so having seen pins where people used curtain rods we went to that aisle.

To make the sling I folded the fabric with the right sides together and sewed along the long side that wasn't connected. Then I sewed the entire way along one of short sides and a portion of the way of the remaining  short side making sure to leave a hole large enough for me to pull everything through.

Once you've pulled the entire piece through the hole and have the right side now on the outside, fold over the little bit that isn't yet sewn and top stitch all the way around.

Now you're ready to add the "pockets" to fit the curtain rods into. I took the curtain rod and folded over a piece of the fabric large enough to leave just a bit of extra space. Sew this into place all the way down one long side.

Set  this all aside for a moment.

Unwrap the curtain rods - ours had shrunk wrapped plastic on them.

Fix the curtain brackets onto the wall.

Slip your sling onto the curtain rods.

Place your curtain rods into the double brackets you've mounted onto the wall.

Et voila - you have yourself a hanging bookshelf and the same amount of floor space you had before. Or, you will - right now we don't because we're having bracket issues. The rods won't/aren't fitting the brackets we bought for them.

Now where is that receipt? . . . .

Must Dash For Girls

After watching me work on her brothers Must Dash quilt I watched my little lamb spend the next few days running around holding my mustache template up to her face and talking about mustaches.

It seemed only fair to make her one too.

This pattern is too too much fun!

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.

Fully Quilted I-Spy Book

My I-Spy quilt craziness and obsession with quiet books has collided.

My husband and I had a double date approaching fast and I wanted something that might help keep my little girl appropriately occupied while we were out.

I have a couple other books partially put together that I'm hoping to have done very soon.

Make sure to leave a comment to let me know if you're interested in my posting a tutorial.

Plastic Wrap Alternative - DIY Cotton Beesewax Wraps

Plastic is everywhere and it's so daunting that most people seem to decide, "What's the use?" and not bother trying. For a lot of people plastic wrap is an item receiving every day use in their household. How can you kick the habit of using something that has become so integral? By using beesewax cotton wraps.

I learned about this source post from My Healthy Green Family for todays craft while I was perusing the My Plastic Free Life Facebook fan page.

Although I can happily say that we do not use much plastic wrap in our house I can't say that we don't have a regular use for it. How can that be? I've never really bought it so there's never any in the house, but my husband tends to be a lot of leftovers in the fridge completely uncovered. By creating a plastic wrap alternative to provide a man that I sometimes have a hard time getting to put things in our recycled plastic containers I stand a better chance of not finding a bowl of baby cereal/food all dried out on the top shelf of our refrigerator.

I started off with some fabrics that this seemed like a good job for.

The directions say to pre-heat your oven to 185F, but I had to cope with 200F.

Place pre cut fabric on cookie sheet.

Sprinkle evenly and lightly with grated beeswax.  You don’t need a lot!

Place in preheated oven.  Watch carefully!  This should take 5 minutes or less.

As soon as the beeswax is just melted, remove from oven.

Spread wax evenly with paintbrush to cover over any spots that are not yet coated.

The directions say to hang on makeshift clothes line with clothes pegs, to dry. That wasn't really much of an option for me so I laid them out dry on some foil.

They ended up pretty stiff. The author says that once cooled, you can use these wraps. I felt a bit compelled to wash mine before use to see if that loosened them up a bit.

The results after washing were not positive. The wax was piecy, uneven, and cracked. I actually considered throwing what I had left away! But that would go against my feelings about needless waste. I'll have to find another use for this fail.