O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Yes, it is that time of year.  J's birthday is out of the way, so its time for some Christmas spirit.  I love Christmas. I have incredibly fond memories of Christmases as a child, and I really want P and J to feel the same way about this special time of year.  So my project this week is to get the Tree and decorate it, complete with Christmas carols and squealing excitement from my two girls.  I suspect J's contribution may be to pull decorations off the Tree and try and eat them.

Spring

Our raspberries have been ripening up really nicely, and both P and J love to visit the raspberry canes to pick up yummy morsels.

Check out more seasonal stuff at Seaside Siblings

My baby is turning one!

My project this week is birthday preparation.  J turns one at the end of the week, and we are having a party to celebrate, so my project is to clean up my house again.  The moral of this story is that if I had kept everything clean after my birthday, then all that would have been required would have been to do a once over.  Unfortunately I did not do this, so there will be much frantic tidying this week.  But on the more exciting birthday front, I am making a cake for J!

Mama Pads

I made myself some Mama Pads this week, and it was such a quick and easy project, I wondered why I didn't do it weeks ago.  I used this pattern from Jan Andrea, but as she says, its pretty forgiving.  You could just make rectangles if you couldn't be bothered with the hourglass shape.

I used up all the scraps of PUL, microfleece and cotton flannelette that I had left over from nappies. The most time consuming part was cutting out all the material.  Rather than stitching and turning, I laid out all the material right sides out (the way they would be in the finished product) and then zigzagged around the outside.  As I already mentioned, they were super easy, and a really quick sew, just what I needed after the fiddly baby shoes I did last week.

Shoes

I made a lovely pair of baby shoes using this pattern. 

The pattern calls for bonded fleece for the soles, which I don’t have, so I used some cotton batting sandwiched between the two fabrics, so they are all nice and soft on the bottom. 

I got the idea in my head that since baby shoes are small, they would be, if not easy, at least quick.  I was mistaken.  While these are not the most difficult sewing project I have ever attempted, they are not a particularly quick or easy project.  The small size and all the corners makes them a bit fiddly, although it wasn’t helped by my machine having tension problems.  Despite following the pattern pretty well, I couldn’t get mine to sit properly, and I can’t for the life of me figure out what I’ve done wrong, which is always disappointing.  I’m hoping that once I get the hang of these I will be able to make them more quickly, as they are a great way to use up those smaller bits of fabric that you just can't bear to part with because you must be able to use them.

Products of a feminine hygiene nature

My project for this week are things of a feminine nature.  I’ve been meaning to blog about this subject for a little while, but I was too chicken.  If you think this kind of subject should not be discussed in mixed company it would pay to close this blog now.  I’ve decided that since I am pro cloth in a number of other respects, it’s about time I extended this to my own feminine hygiene products.  There are a number of websites that sell these kinds of products, such as Mothers Instinct, and Ecomoom but I have decided to make some of my own this week.

Seasons - So close to summer

I love my garden in the summer, there is so much going on.  For more seasonal things, head over to seaside siblings.