Non-stop sewing!

Or at least that's what it feels like... Between sewing up 36 diapers and trying to find time to sew up all the recent store orders, it's been insane! I feel like I've done nothing but sit at the sewing machine lately. After sewing up close to 30 rat hammocks this weekend, I thought I was doing pretty well... Until I counted how many were still left to sew!

Here are some of the recent projects. All of this was just within the last week!

Diapers, diapers everywhere!

Sunday night I finished up some diapers I made for a trade with the wonderful mom who runs Biltmore Baby! She sent me some adorable fabric for the outers, as well as some hemp for the inners and organic velour to top the soaker pieces. YUM! If you've never played with it, OV is SO luscious and soft!! All the diakers have a cotton print outer, internal hemp, velour inner, and a hemp soaker topped with organic velour (except the tan inner - which is velour topped).

Six of these diapers are from the Fattycakes pattern, in size medium. The other diaper is from a pattern of my own I'm working on.

What can you accomplish in a weekend?

Apparently, a LOT! I had a very busy weekend baking, sewing, and getting ready for Christmas! I was able to sew diapers, babylegs, do a ton of baking, and still manage a toddler at the same time!

Every year, I bake cookies to give out for Christmas. Since they just don't taste the same when they're re-baked and frozen, I always bake them within a couple days of Christmas. This year, it wound up being over 40 dozen cookies when all was said and done! Snickerdoodles, chocolate chip, tiger stripe, oatmeal raisin, chocolate peppermint pinwheels, and more! YUMM! If only I'd remembered to take pics after they were all done!

I wasn't able to finish the Piggle hat I was making for my sister, but I did get her tutu made! It was a very quick, easy and inexpensive project! After cutting the tulle to the right sized strips, it took no more than 15 minutes to put the whole thing together! A very simple project, and she loved it!



Another quick and easy project was some new wintery faux-Babylegs for Kaiden. Take some knee-highs, cut off the toe, add a cuff, and presto! All in all, I don't think it took any more than 45 minutes to do all 3 pair.


Last but not least, I made Kaiden some Christmas diapers! They're from my own pattern, and fit great! They are made with a cotton woven outer and internal hemp soaker. The blue and black diapers have velour inners, while the green snowflake diaper has a microfleece inner.

We're still alive...

No, we haven't fallen off the face of the planet! ;) Things have just been extremely busy around here! Since my last update, LOTS has happened!

Kaiden is now not only toddling, he's practically running everywhere! He loves reading, and is constantly bringing me books to read to him. Today, I think I read "It's not easy being big" about 10 times! His vocabulary is expanding, and he understands pretty much anything you say to him. He loves the Christmas tree, and now that he's pulled off all the ornaments withing reach, he anxiously waits every day for me to turn on the tree lights. When I turn them on, he'll just sit there for a minute chattering about and to the tree, and exclaiming about the pretty lights. He's gotten to be such a big boy in the past few months, he looks so grown up now! Looking at old pictures makes me miss those baby days.

Next Monday Nate and I celebrate our 4 year anniversary! I'm not sure what, if anything, we'll be doing, from the sounds of the weather we'll be spending the day shoveling! Today was his last day of class! Believe it or not, he will *finally* be graduating college!


In October, a couple other ladies and myself founded a rat/small animal rescue! We've already been inundated with rats needing new homes, mostly due to a large rescue situation from up north. Unknown to us, almost every female from that rescue was pregnant, and we wound up with over 120 rats including all the pups! We still have a lot of rats available, so be sure to check us out and spread the word! I'm in charge of running the store, which is a lot of work, but also fun at the same time. Mainely Rat Rescue, for anyone interested!


And if running a store while chasing after a toddler wasn't enough, I've been busing sewing lately as well! I'm doing trades with a couple mamas I know from online message boards. I'm making a bunch of diapers for them, and LOVING how they're coming out! One of the mom's has girls, so it's really fun being able to sew girly things for once. Here is a preview of a couple of the diapers I've just done.



In other news, we finally got a "real" couch!! Nice full size couch, complete with matching storage ottoman! It was a wonderful early Christmas gift from Nate's mom Trish. :)

Winter has come early here for once! We've already had one storm with a foot of snowfall, a couple smaller ones as well. Tomorrow into Friday we're getting another 2-4", then Sunday we're supposed to be getting a big ol' nor'easter! I think, for the first time I can remember in recent history, we will actually be having a white Christmas!

Some WIPs

Here are a few WIPs to tide you all over. These are both knit using the LTK Picky Pants pattern. They have ribbed waistbands, and I'm doing increases and short rows for the rear shaping, with an extra short row added about halfway down.






This is 3ply Purewool in Fresh Blue. I love how the colors are coming out, and the yarn is so incredibly soft to work with! I really enjoy it. I've finished the body shaping, split for the legs, and just need to finish it up. These will become a pair of longies for K.










This yarn is Patons merino that I dyed a few months ago, along with matching trim. I had to add a couple extra increases to fix some wonky pooling, but I'm loving the effect now. These will become a pair of shorties, and with any luck will also fit him next summer!



Last but not least are some pillows I made (minus stuffing). My Gram gave me her sewing machine, along with a bunch of fabric. These don't match anything in the living room, but, I can't say no to pillows. Besides, it was a good way to use up the fabric!

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Listening to: Barenaked Ladies - Hidden Sun
via FoxyTunes

Instant gratification!

Well, almost instant... Tonight I took a bunch of onesies and turned them into shirts. I was lazy and used white thread on everything, since that's what was in the sewing machine, but ah well... Still functional!

I'm SO glad to have that football one done! It is literally the ONLY top in the house that somewhat matches his Pumpkin Pie shorties! Then the red shirt and the solid blue shirt are to match up with some shorts that didn't go with anything before. So, hooray for more shirts and completed outfits!!

All Done!

Tonight I finished sewing up my newest diaper. It's a medium Fattycakes side snapping fitted diaper. `The outer layer is a printed cotton interlock, with a red velour inner. The internal soaker is two layers of hemp terry, with a snap in soaker consisting of two more layers of hemp terry, topped with velour.

I made another diaper in the same pattern, but in a size large. The rise is a bit high on that one, but I think the medium should fit him well. Kaiden is already down for the night, so it will be tried on tomorrow.

Here are the pics as promised. For the most part the diaper came out as expected, though I did forget to put in the size tag while adding the snaps, and the snap-in soaker is shaped oddly. Otherwise it came out fine. :)

Pulled the sewing machine back out...

I finally blew the dust of the sewing machine and got back to work! Since Kaiden is crawling, and I only have two pair of babylegs, I really needed to make some more. They work great for keeping his knees from getting dirty or banged up when he's cruising around. Also keeps his legs warm while being able to show off his adorable diapers!

These homemade babylegs were created from a pair of tights. I was able to get two pair of babylegs out of them, though I'm only showing off one pair! The other didn't come out so nice, but is still plenty functional. The ankle cuffs are a tad too wide, but otherwise these fit him well. Great news for those thunder thighs!



I also have a diaper I started tonight. It's from the Fatty Cakes pattern, and is a fitted diaper. The outer is a cotton woven print, hemp french terry internal soaker, and a cotton velour inner. I still need to add the snaps, the external soaker, and sew the back closed. I'll have pics for you when I'm done, as well as a sneak peek of the rest of the future fitteds stash! In the meantime, here's a peek at the dipe-in-progress. Enjoy!