Diaper Sewing
I've been sewing a lot lately (well that is in between being a mom, a wife, a professor, a business owner, etc). And of course my sewing of choice is diapers because if we're going to cloth diaper, shouldn't those diapers be cute?? Using my new embroidery machine (and some imagination) here is what I have come up with...
Some covers:
The one above is a medium cover from DiaperKits.com with a flannel top that I embroidered.
This one is also a diaperkits.com cover - medium, single layer.
And I love this one - it's a medium two layer cover (to seal the embroidery) and it says "Does this Diaper Make My Butt Look Big??"
Some fitteds (these aren't waterproof and need a cover over them):
The one on the left is cotton flannel, the one on the right is bamboo fleece - both made from diaperkits.com and both are a medium (size two).
The blue cameo one is from Wal-mart fleece and is a medium Fattycakes diaper. I put snaps on and I just love the way it came out.
This yellow one is made from a t-shirt I picked up for $1.48 at a thrift store. The outside is the t-shirt, the inner is from an old sweatshirt, and sandwiched in between is one more layer of t-shirt, one layer of diaper flannel, and a soaker that has three layers of flannel and two layers of t-shirt. The face was part of the t-shirt. There are hidden snaps for comfort - and it's a Fattycakes size medium diaper.
This black one is made from a t-shirt I picked up for $1.48 at a thrift store. The outside is the t-shirt, the inner is from an old sweatshirt, and sandwiched in between is one more layer of t-shirt, one layer of diaper flannel, and a soaker that has three layers of flannel and two layers of t-shirt. The shirt says "back in the days." There are hidden snaps for comfort - and it's a Fattycakes size medium diaper.
Some pockets (these are waterproof , are Fattycakes pattern size medium and have hidden snaps... And I did the embroidery on all of them too!):
The whale diaper has blue PUL fabric on the outside and fleece on the inside.
The green Biohazard diaper has green PUL fabric on the outside and fleece on the inside.
The red diaper red PUL fabric on the outside and fleece on the inside. It says "A diaper change is in your near future" (with lottery numbers) on the back and "Lucky You" on the front.
The mom tattoo diaper has black PUL fabric on the outside and microfleece on the inside.
Some All-in-ones (these are waterproof, And I did the embroidery on all of them too!):
This monkey one is from diaperkits.com. It has green PUL on the outside and then two layers of flannel on the inside (plus a three layer soaker sewn in too).
This panda one is from diaperkits.com. It has maroon PUL on the outside and then two layers of fleece bamboo on the inside (plus a three layer soaker sewn in too).
I have used everything from specific diaper fabrics to just t-shirts and sweatshirts to create the above! It's soooo much fun!! I keep a Flickr group found
HERE where I am putting all of my creations as I make them. So for all of your cloth diapering sewing mama's there is more info there about each diaper... Too much fun I tell you! My kid has the cutest butt!!
Necessity is the mother of all invention
You know the saying "Necessity is the mother of all invention" - well it's too true! We needed a way to hold Avi's toys around his high chair so they are easily accessible yet neatly put away. So I decided to sew one that matched not only the high chair itself but our kitchen too. I bought two different fabrics at Wal-mart, some stiff iron-on interfacing (memo to me - I HATE working with stiff interfacing), and a belt-like woven ribbon. I was going to buy some D-rings to attach the bag to the high chair, but they didn't have any.
I then loosely followed this tutorial found
HERE for making a messenger bag with gussets (I say loosely since I didn't make a messenger bag and I didn't make straps for it either). It all took me a night to cut, measure and sew.... I give you the High Chair Toy Bag:
I created a pocket to hold a book or two:
And made sure to create straps that are exactly the same width and size as the holes on the high chair for the seat-belt straps:
The clips on the straps allow me to easily remove the bag if I need. So far it works great:
How Alison Got Her Groove Back...
Hello Blog (and readers if I still have any)... Well it's been nearly 19 weeks since there was a last blog post - long time!! And wow have I been busy these last few months. If you've been reading
my other blog you know that Avi is just amazing, wonderful and the sweetest most precious thing to grace my life since my husband Michael. Avishai is a blessing from above - one that I thank G-d every day for!
But boy does he keep me busy. I can't, in good faith, work during the day - since I'd be taking time away from him... so I do thing here and there as he is napping or sleeping. That means that I am always doing something... and most of the time it's not sleeping.
Since his birth back in November I have taught one class with the online university I work for and I am in the process of teaching a second. We are still working on For the Love of Yarn and it continues to grow, despite my wacky schedule. We have traveled to North Carolina, Florida, Arizona and Utah. We've gone hiking, skiing, and out for many, many walks.
I have also been crafting... a little. First I made some homemade cloth wipes and burp cloths for a friend who just adopted a baby:
Then I knitted Avi a cloth diaper cover
Yeah it isn't the best... the rise was way too high (and the second one I made was way too low) but I am working on perfecting the pattern (I might just have to break down and buy a more professional one).
I also knit Avi a sweater (Pattern is Knitting Pure and Simple Baby Pullover #214 and the yarn is one ball of Cascade 220):
Notice the finger... he's saying that it took "one whole ball!" It's a top down pattern that really sailed right through. I made him the 6 month size but it really fit him at 3 months. I bought several of their patterns (because they are all top down) so I am going to keep going with them and make him some bigger sizes.
I have also made some gifts for friends. Here are some cute homemade onesies that I made for a friend who just adopted a baby boy and will be adopting a baby girl at the end of April:
I just couldn't resist and I thought they were too funny not to make. I have made Avi a few too and I am sure I'll get pictures of him wearing them soon enough.
I also sewed Avi a few blankets to hopefully have him use as his personal security blanket:
These are Avi's monkey blankets (because there is monkeys on it) and I made four big ones and four smaller one... with the thought that I can rotate them as we need (wash one, give him a clean one).... and the smaller ones are for when we are carrying him around and don't want to hold a huge blanket too!
Oh and then there was the costume I sewed for him:
He was a Hamantashen for Purim (a cookie for the Jewish holiday of Purim). He was just so sweet (pun intended). These are the cookies we baked for the holiday:
And the diaper cover I sewed too (from DiaperKits.com):
And that's it... things are good and I hope to post more non-baby stuff here (I'll try to make it non-baby at least). I have a few more crafting projects on my soon to be plate (a bag to go on the back of the highchair to hold his toys... and the bag of course will match our kitchen), a quilt that I have 1/2 done for Avi already, more personalized onesies, some cloth diapers and mamma pads... and I am sure there is more.
I am on my way to getting my own snap press and hopefully I'll have my very own serger soon too! Now all I need is an embroidery machine and I'll be a one-stop sewing shop! Then all I'll need is TIME! Leave me a comment if you are still a reader and say hi!
We have a new son!
Reilly Fox Inc is proud to announce the early release of Baby Reilly Fox version 1.0. Codenamed “Avishai”, Baby was officially released to the public at 11:01pm last night. The research and development team who conceived this project are doing great and are prouder than ever. The post-production Quality Assurance team was also thrilled with the stats collected upon release last night and the fact that there were no defects to be found:
Name: Avishai Reilly Fox (Hebrew Name: Avishai Navon)
(pronounced ah’-vee-shy)
Date of Release: 11/3/06
Time of Release: 11:01pm
Weight: 8 lbs 3 oz
Length: 20 ¾ in.
Some early pictures from the release party are below:
Halloween Fun
Well today is our second Halloween in our Georgia house. The plan was to join the neighborhood Halloween celebration (they do a parade for the kids down to the pool area where there is a supper/snack before trick-or-treating) but I was too tired and too lazy to walk all the way there. So instead we just stayed home waiting for the kids to come to us.
This year we gave out:
Yup - some candy and cool little mini-tins of Play-Doh! I was very excited about the Play-Doh! Turns out that we didn't even have 20 kids come to our door... our block dead ends and our house is at the top of a hill that no one wants to have to walk near... so just the folks we're friends with dropped on by! The Play-Doh was a big hit with most of the "older" kids opting for Play-Doh (the younger kids had no choice)! We waited for nearly two hours and finally got bored, went inside and watched a movie. Nothing like a quiet Halloween evening to bring a smile to an adults face!
Freakin Time Change
Just a quick note to say "what's up with the time change??" I have issues with turning the clocks backwards and forwards and wish we could just keep one time and all just get along! I woke up this morning to SUNLIGHT in my eyes!!! Ummmm hello?!?!? That was so uncalled for! I was grateful for the extra hour of sleep but sunlight with that sleep? No thanks!
Football and Halloween
Well today was a big day in the world of college football - ok not really but it's the day that the University of Florida beat the University of Georgia - again! Our day started off with my loving and very peaceful husband stealing the Georgia flag from our neighbors porch and replacing it with a shinny Florida flag.
You see here in the South college football is a BIG thing, people decorate their cars, their mail boxes, wear team gear out and about, and even fly flags outside their homes. Last year we noticed that these neighbors, who we hadn't met yet, were Georgia fans, and the weekend of the game my husband wanted to steal their flag. I wouldn't let him since we hadn't met them yet (and who knows how nice they would have been to our flag) but told him to wait a year.
Well a year has passed and they are as nice as can be - a young couple (like us) with a soon to be one-year-old little boy (who is cute as can be!)!! We have hung out with them at various neighborhood events and joked about our school rivalry. Well today was the day that Michael got to have some fun.
He snuck over to their house, walked up onto their porch and switched flags... Here is their house with our Florida flay flying!
We spoke with the wife later who said they were home when it happened and she looked out the window one minute to see their GA flag flying and the next minute to see our Florida flag flying - never having seen Michael. She thought "d'oh - they got us!"
Michael brought the flag home only to have some fun with the camera and our stuffed Gators. I offered him the chance to blog about it but he responded - "I don't blog" so of course it was left up to me to share. So here is what it their flag looked like in our house:
It sat on our floor, in front of our HUGE TV screen, for the entire game... and what was funny about this was the fact that we had four other Georgia fans over to watch the game with us... they got a good laugh out of it!
And speaking of the game... as pregnant as I am it's hard to find a team shirt to cover this pregnant belly - so I made one:
Isn't it cute?? I bought cheap maternity shirt at Old Navy (and I mean cheap - a whole $2.97) and I printed out the words and arrow using Print Shop and Iron-on transfer paper! I just love it!
Anyway, after the lovely game where we kicked Georgia's tail (again for the 15th out of 17th time) we said goodbye to our house guests (who had all come over to watch their team get beat) and we headed off to a Halloween party at the neighbor's house.
Being nearly 39 weeks pregnant, it's hard to find a Halloween costume that fits AND Michael hates dressing up. So I went with the idea I had nearly three years ago (that we never got to use). It was easy/comfortable to wear and cheap to make. So without any further ado - I give you Alison and Michael's Halloween costume 2006:
Now for those of you who were not blessed with a dirty mind, let me spell it out for you!! If you are up on your nursery rhymes you might remember the old one.... "Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater." And that's as far as this explanation will go - hopefully you get it, if not... sorry just smile and nod like you do!
The funny thing was, several people at the party thought "pumpkin" on my shirt had to do with my big pregnant belly! Ummmm - no... if I had wanted to be a pumpkin I would have come up with a way better costume than that!! Anyway, when that would happen I would then ask them if they had met my husband "Peter Peter." Most would then get it, although a few of the dense still smiled and walked away.
One husband, who I had never met before, upon first meeting me at the party, shook my hand and then poked my belly and as he did said "great costume" only to discover that the belly was real!!!! WOW was he embarrassed and his wife nearly shot him. She tried to explain that women don't like it when strange men touch their pregnant bellies but the poor guy felt so bad because he really thought my belly was fake - it was a hoot!
There were some really great costumes like the husband and wife duo where she had an army fatigues jacket on and he had the army fatigue pants on -- they were Upper GI and Lower GI. Another guy was dressed like a huge turd with horns - he was BullShit! There was a pregnant Raggedy Ann and a drunk Raggedy Andy. Then our friends Adam and Alicia were my FAVORITE of the night:
They were Brittany Spears and her husband K-Fed! What was so funny was that Adam looked so dead on to K-Fed (as in white trailer trash bum). Alicia was pretending to be pregnant (and she looked damn good), had a beer in her hands at all times, and also carried around a baby boy who she would drop or nearly drop:
They really looked terrific. People would ask Alicia if she was really pregnant (ummm hello... note beer in hand) and that got even more laughs from those of us who know her. At the end of the night she put down her beer and took off her blonde wig - Michael told her that she could now be "Alison" since she still had the belly -- funny dear, really funny!
Here are a bunch of us "ladies" having fun:
It really was a good time and while I don't drink (not even on non-pregnant days) it was fun to hang out at watch everyone get silly - yet still be able to walk on home! Now I just need to up the ante and think of a good costume for next year!!!
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