Well I haven’t been that good at blogging the last few days, but I have a bunch of pictures to show what at least I (Gretchen) have been busy doing.
This is Silje and Knut right before one of his Monday night church league softball games. They have lost in the playoffs now, so we already miss the Monday night fun!
This is part of a baby sweater I’m working on for Knut’s cousin’s wife (who is also my good friend.) I have the front and sleeves done (not shown) and just have the back to do, put it together, and then put the fun embroidery on top. I really like how fast this has knitted together! I think I like doing baby things…they go so quickly!
Well, some of you know that we use cloth diapers in our house. (Well, except Knut and I. We’re potty trained now.) I started using cloth diapers when David was about 6 mos. old, and haven’t turned back because I really like it. Honest! We don’t use the old fashioned pins and folding, but the diapers that snap on just like disposables. I didn’t pick the kind with velcro, because I heard they are a pain to wash as they catch each other and wear out the diapers. Anyway, I have further decided that for the new baby, we would need smaller diapers. Since I don’t want to buy them again, and I have this great sewing machine, I’m making new diapers for the baby. This was the diaper pattern picture (again, sorry It’s blurry) that I chose, although there were about 3 other on the internet I almost bought. I’ve been busy researching the best fabrics to use, and have made lots of friends on a internet site called “diaper sewing divas.” Yes, there is a discussion board for moms who sew diapers on the internet.
So far I have purchased fabric for the inside of the diaper (called the soaker) and the inner part of the diaper (that’s right next to the baby’s skin.) I splurged and got a cotton/hemp terry for the soaker. I have to tell you that I didn’t feel like I was a hippie until I got fabric with a bit of hemp in it. It holds more pee than plain cotton, and is naturally antibactiral. (sorry, I can’t spell that right now.) For the inner, I was going to use flannel, as it was cheaper, but really wanted some nicer fabric. I found this fabric called suede cloth that is polyester, but actually pulls moisture away from the baby’s butt faster than anything else. It doesn’t stain, pill, etc. It’s normally $9/yd, but I found it online for $2.99/yd on sale, which was only .02 more a yrd than the flannel, so I went for it. Now I just need a little bit more cotton and my PUL fabric (the plastic stuff) and am making a special trip to Fargo this friday to pick out some fun ones. After then, I’ll be busy sewing.
This is my diaper fabric just waiting to be sewn up. I’ve started sewing the rectangles for the soakers on top.
This is my fun new tool that I got for the diapers. It’s a snap press. I haven’t assembled it yet, but I’m pretty excited to see how it works.
This is Silje and her pink poodle, who she thought should go on the computer too.
This is this morning harvest from the vegi garden. Shelling these peas, snapping the beans, and roasting, pureeing, and freezing the tomatoes will take me about 3 hours to finish. I have to do this about every other day in the summer, which I think will really pay of this winter with my full freezer!
This is one corner of Knut’s and my room that I’ve been tearing down wallpaper in all summer. This is such a tedious job and I am so sick of it…but I’m almost done! Knut promised it would get painted this month, but we’ve been watching the olympics every night so far instead of working on this. I think we might have to get a little more disciplined!
Here’s this corner basically done.
This corner hasn’t been started yet, besides pulling of some big chunks on top.
This small wall hasn’t been started yet, but it gives a good “before” picture so you can see what we’re tearing down.
Here’s something I whipped up when I was bored with my other projects. It’s just a little baby blanket for the new baby. It’s soft flannel with beige dots on one side, and soft, fuzzy, minky fabric with dots on the other side. It is so soft and cozy, I know the baby will love it! I got it done with cutting, measuring and sewing in about 2 hours last week. It shouldn’t have taken so long, but I forgot how tricky it can be sewing together a knit and woven fabric, as one stretches!
This is a baby sling I whipped up. I love my baby bjorn, but my kids didn’t like their feet being separated when they were newborns. So this was one of the many free patterns on the internet, so I’ll try it out. I only had to sew 2 straight lines and it was done…so easy to say the least. The hardest part was measuring because slings have to fit you perfectly to work, so I had to measure myself several times, and I think it might be about an inch too small. This was just some plaid fabric I had lying around, that I thought might look kind of Christmasy for our Christmas baby coming. I’ll have to see if I like using a sling or not. I didn’t buy this fabric, it was just in my stash, and I just had to sew so little, so it wasn’t that much of a time investment. So if I hate using it, I don’t think there will be too much lost!
Well, I don’t know why this turned out sideways and blurry on the computer, but this is the tied quilt that I’m making for Knut and me. I just need to finish the edges and whip up some shams and I’m done. I thought this project would take me about 2 weeks, but it’s been about 3 months, mostly because I got bored with it so many times, because I thought it would only be 2 weeks! I hope to have the edging done by the end of the week, so we can finally have it on our bed.
This is my little boy smiling for the camera.
Well, to those of you who have never seen my crafty side, there you go. I’m pretty proud I have stayed on top of these projects, and that so many of them are so close to being done, so I can get started on these diapers! I still have to make another blanket like the fuzzy one I made for our baby (one of Knut’s old roommates has a wife who is due soon) and another little sweater for my sister in law’s new baby, so the projects will keep coming!
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