Finished projects!

Well, it's the week of christmas, so things are busy, but wanted to share some finished projects. I finished the quilt I made for Quilt for Kids and I have a new found appreciation for quilters. While it was pretty simple to sew the squares together, the quilting was not so much fun after it was put together. I imagine it is fairly simple with an actual quilting machine, but with a sewing machine it takes a little maneuvering. Being my first quilt, I think I did a pretty good job.



I also made my son a pair of booties. He has fairly wide feet right now, so shoes never seem to fit. So nothing better than a custom pair. I based it off this pattern http://www.cedesign.com/familyphotos/sewing/info/fleecebooties/index.html but made some of my own alterations, and voila!



MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO EVERYONE!!!

Make your own mittens!!

So, I decided to make custom mittens for my little guy, since I have sooo much fleece and store-bought mittens are always too big or too small. I will share my process with everyone, so you can make your own too!

First, I choose fleece since it has the most stretch and, like I said, I have a lot. I have seen them make out of wool sweaters also, with the wrist cuff of the sleeve as the wrist on the mitten, then you don't really need elastic. I picked a scrap piece of white I had to practice. You can mix and match and use different patterns to make it fun.

I started by tracing Cs hand (which is not easy to do on a 10 month old who does not want their hand held, but you just need the approximate size). Then I drew somewhat of a mitten shape on a piece of paper and made sure it was even (I only cut out 1/2 of the paper, then folded over and traced the edge).


Then cut out 8 of the mitten shapes with the stretch from side to side.


Then you will need to sew elastic onto the wrong side (if there is one) of your fabric on all 8 pieces. I didn' stretch all the way tight, just enough to make it a little stretchy, I didn't want them too tight on his chubby wrists :)


I used just a regular zig-zag stitch. I didn't go all the way to the edge of my seam, so I wouldnt have to sew in the ends, just makes it easier to sew for me.


Once you have the elastic sewn into all of the pieces. then you are going to want to sew 2 of the pieces together at a time. I have realized that I never leave enough seam on fleece, the bottom piece tends to pull in the grips a little, so next time I will leave a larger seam.



Then you will have 4 mittens sewn together. You will take 2 of the mitts and turn one the right side out and leave the other the wrong side out.


Then you stuff the wrong side out into the other one. I tend to always have one a little bigger, so I use that as the right side out, or whichever stitches look better if I do a colored.


Then all you have to do is finish the bottom edge. I, of course, did not leave enough seam to turn and topstitch it, but since fleece doesn't fray I just zig-zagged to keep them together.


And the end project on my model, who was not a fan of things binding his hands while he wanted to play :)


Easy as pie! I didn't add thumbs, since at this age, they don't really need them or cooperate to put them in the separate holes. I did also realize that I should have just left the edges straight instead of curving in at the wrists to make them a little looser. I love to be able to make my own since you can make custom sizes and colors and patterns and whatever else you choose!

Say thanks to our troops!

I was informed of this website from a friend on facebook. Please support all of our brave men and woman, moms and dads, children, brothers and sisters, and every other family member overseas. You can go to this website http://www.letssaythanks.com/Home1024.html and pick out a card to send to a troop away from home this holiday season. All it takes is a few seconds and it will mean worlds to whomever receives support and happy wishes.

Quilts for kids!!

I got my fabric today to make a quilt for Quilt for Kids and I am so excited!! I have never quilted, so it will definitely be a learning experience. It is a wonderful cause, so happy to donate my time. My BFF and I are going to start this weekend, so I am sure I will have more to share.

For more information on this awesome challenge, visit http://www.downy.com/en-US/helping-kids.jspx. They send you the fabric to make a quilt for a child in the hospital and all you have to do is create the memory and send it back. I hope more people get into this. You can also make your own quilt and send it to them. Measurements and more information is on the website. Happy Quilting!!!!

Easy Peasy Baby Legs

Ever found cute socks that you wish your little one could wear? Here is the solution, make your own baby legs (leg warmers)!!! It is very inexpensive, you can get a 3 pack of socks for $7 and get 3 pairs of legs. You are going to want to get some knee high, or thigh high for older/longer kids, socks that have some stretch.


Then, like the above picture shows. you will cut out the heel and the toe of the sock. We will only be using the leg part and foot part, shown below.

Then you will take the foot part of the sock that you cut out and fold it in half, so that the raw edges meet.

Then you will slid the long leg part into the folded in half foot section, with all raw edges meeting.



I took a piece of red fleece to use as my cuff, to make it more festive for Christmas. I did the same as the regular foot section and folded it in the leg section to sew together.








Then with all layers sewn together, it looks like above. then just fold the shorter section back over, and voila, super cute, custom baby legs.



I like the cuffs at the bottom, but your child could wear them either way.

Chocolate cheesecake recipe

I am a cheesecake lover and this is my favorite to make and eat, and my family's favorite also.

Ingredients
18 Oreo cookies (i usually use generic) finely crushed, makes about 1-1/2 cups
2 tblsp melted butter or margarine
3 pkgs of cream cheese (8 oz each)
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
8 ozs of semi-sweet chocolate (I found the best kind is Baker's chocolate, comes in a package with 8 1-oz squares) melted, slightly cooled
3 eggs

How to make
Heat oven to 325

Press combined crumbs and butter onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan. I am working on finding a comparable cake, pie pan.

Beat cream chesse, sugar, and vanilla with mixer until well blended. Add chocolate and mix well. Add 1 egg at a time mixing on low speed until just blended. Pour mix over crust

Back 55 min to 1 hour until center is almost set. Run a knife along edge of the pan before removing the rim. Refrigerate 4 hours.

To dress it up a little, I like to add some caramel syrup and maybe some crushed pecans to make it like turtle cheesecake. Enjoy, try not to eat it all :)

gDiaper - Love/hate relationship

I, for the most part, love gDiapers. That was my "gateway" cloth diaper and still use them. While they are a good concept, trim, more cost effective that sposies and cheaper than other cloth (I make my own inserts so I save a lot more $), and they look freakin adorable. But, trying to get the darn things on my wiggly, fighting diaper change time child is a pain in the !*!! The insert tends to slide when he pushes away and it takes some seconds to get the velcro unattached to itself. My solution, I am creating my own gdiaper-like fleece AI2. As soon as I perfect my creation, I will add pictures. I made one last night, and it is definitely a work in progress, but has great potential.

Polycystic kidney disease

I also want to share a little of my family troubles. My family is directly affected with polycystic kidney disease (PKD). PKD affects 1 in 500 people, regardless of sex, age, race, or ethnic origin, including newborns all the way to the elderly. A normal kidney is about the size of a human fist and weighs about 1/3 of a pound. With PKD, cysts develop in both kidneys and increase size and or weight of each kidney. Each cyst can range from the size of a pinhead to the size of a grapefruit. This is a disease that is not well known, but is more common than anyone realizes.For more facts, visit pkdcure.org.

Now, how it affects my family. We don't know where it started, a relative down the line had what they diagnosed as kidney disease which may have been PKD, but it was not well known for a long time. My great uncle had a successful kidney transplant from his wife a few years ago and is doing well. My grandmother is currently on peritoneal dialysis and is doing well, though gets pretty weak from the dialysis. Fortunately, my dad has been tested and does not have PKD, so I will not. I feel that in families with PKD, you either have it, or have the potential to be a donor. The form in our family is hereditary, and this does not skip a generation. Each child of a parent who has PKD has a 50/50 chance of inheriting the disease.

I am really trying my best to get the word around and generate knowledge of PKD. I feel the more known and understood it is, the better chance we have of finding a cure, or at least a better treatment then dialysis and kidny transplant. I have been part of the walk committee in my city for a few years, and now my cousin is heading the walk, which is very exciting. This becomes an entire family support system. If you or anyone you know is affected by this, you know what I am saying. Lets do our best to spread the word and get people knowing about this disease!!

And so the blogging begins! Firstly I will introduce myself. I am a single 20-something mom to a wonder baby boy from the midwest. I am new to this blogging thing, so bear with me. I started this to delve into the world of cloth diapering. My son is about 10 months old, and we have finally started cloth diapering, almost full time (I just can't seem to give up my sposies). With the economy the way it is, everyone including myself is trying to find ways to save. There are soo many new ways to cloth diaper, not like your mama used to. But I found it becomes an addiction, so I have started to make my own, but then buying cloth becomes an addiction. Those mamas in the same boat know exactly what I mean. I have so much fabric, and so little time. I will try to review what diapers I buy/make and give honest opinions and ideas. More to come later!!