sewing

Sew Mama Sew! Giveaway Day

December 12, 2011

I am very excited to be participating in Sew Mama Sew’s annual Giveaway Day. The Mealtime Organizer is by far my favorite sewing design, and perhaps the most useful thing I have created so far. It helps to keep my menus organized, grocery lists together, and even allows the kiddos a peak into what they will be eating each week. For today’s giveaway, I am giving away one mealtime organizer in a choice of three fabrics. To enter this giveaway, simply leave a comment below and share with me your favorite holiday meal. I will use the random # generator to choose a winner on December 16th. If you are interested in making one for yourself, please visit the full tutorial here. To see more free sewing patterns, please visit my pattern page. Good luck, and happy sewing!

Congratulations to Andrea for winning the organizer. Heather–I love your mealtime organizer. I remember coveting it when you first posted it (though, please, please tell me you don’t have all your recipes printed out on cards with photos!). Goodness knows I need all the help I can get organizing meals. 
 My favorite holiday meal is a smorgasbord of fancy cheeses, smoked trout, dips and spreads with veggies, crackers, good bread, German stollen, and Christmas cookies, nibbled at all day while opening presents and playing with new toys (and no cooking!).

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Getting Out

May 5, 2011

Do you ever have those wake up moments where something that you should have thought about so much sooner suddenly comes flying into your brain with an almost panic sense about itself?

Yesterday I realized that my garden was not only not planted, but that I had not set foot out into it since my husband did our fall clean up in October. I think that somehow time has stood still  these past ten weeks, and I still feel like we are coming out of winter, rather than fully ensconced in Spring.
Having your seven year old approach you with his garden plan is just a small hint that perhaps you should get up off your lazy tush and begin to engage in the things that keep your household running; like fresh food in the summertime. So off we plodded, out to the side yard, compost in tow, to begin the process of turning the dirt and getting ready to plant. 
Tears almost flooded as I looked across the way at my neighbors beautiful garden patch, already full with lettuces, kale, chard and the like. I scolded myself for my lack of enthusiasm these past months, knowing full well that our growing season for greens will be mighty short this year. 
So what do you do when gardening depression sets it? Head to the Farmers Market. 

There is nothing like the Boulder Farmers Market. I say this cautiously, since it has in fact been ten years since I have visited any other farmers markets with regularity, but it seriously is a joy for the Rocky Mountain region. Those first few weeks of the market are filled with such small bursts of colors: red radishes, the emeralds of mescalin, arugula and pea shoots, the browns of fresh baked bread and mushrooms, and those first flowers of the growing season. 
Bernadette was in town for Rhythm of The Home (how is it that I did not take any pictures???), and our final stop in seeing her was the first Wednesday that the market opened. Live music, tons of food (the gluten free selection of foods at the market makes my heart swell), and perfect weather made for a great evening. It was also a real treat to meet a fellow blogger and her family. Kellen of Enchanted Mama and her four sweet kiddos were sitting next to us when we sat down to eat. I am sure that many of you have experienced this, but it is really cool to connect to another mama blogger in person. Somehow the whole process becomes so much more personal, and there is a renewed sense of joy in the community that this virtual world creates. 
As is always the case, the market season brings a small bit of happiness to my sewing machine with the family market bag. Every year we make a new bag to take with us, and while it is a small project, it is a lot of fun to fill the bag with all of the season’s bounty (and by bounty, I mean gluten free key lime pie that calls my name rather incessantly). 
This year was an upcycled bag kind of year, as three worn place mats were used. When I say simple, I mean simple. To make the bag, just match two place mats together, and using a 1/2″ seam allowance, sew the sides and bottom together. Using the third place mat, cut 4″ strips to create the handle, and attach from the inside of the bag. I used super sturdy place mats, and our entire day of produce filled the bag perfectly. 
Landon seemed rather intrigued by the spectacle of so many people, dogs and food all in one place, and it was fun to have this be one of our first outings. As has been the case for the past ten weeks, Landon’s hat (made by the incredible Julia), got more attention than the child himself. Sometimes it is a bit disconcerting when so many people come up to you and say, “Oh my goodness, what an adorable…….. hat!”. I always figure that they are going to say kid, but nope, it is the hat every time. 
There is something special about a day at the market, and today was no exception. I personally thought that the produce was the highlight, but for the kiddos it was the balloon man on the corner making blow up Daschunds that stole the show.
Hey, to each his own. 
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Right Now I Am: Waiting

February 17, 2011

Could two full weeks really have gone by since I was here last? Time has felt like it has both rushed by, and stood still in these past few weeks.

I have to admit that I succumbed to what many a woman before me has done: I believed that I was just about to have my baby. I have been walking around at 3 cm dilated, and 90% effaced for about two weeks now, and each and every day I wake up thinking that today has to be the day. Of course, I simply just go to bed that same evening a bit bigger, a bit less able to turn over, but still very very pregnant.

I had been having wonderful labor patterns until about the 5th of February, when my children came down with a severe respiratory infection that landed my oldest in the hospital, and then all labor ceased. We spent a full week battling the ick that so many of you have already experienced, and I was glad that my body knew better than to try and attempt to bring a new life into the world while my two boys were struggling so (not to mention the husband, who was certainly my third child while he battled it as well).

So now, here we are. Not late, just perfect, having to readjust my thinking that my babe will be here soon, and that everyone is doing what they are supposed to be doing in these final days. My creative juices have not flowed, and I have just found myself being in the moment. I have been with my children, my parents, my husband, and my dear friends who keep making sure that we are well fed. I am assuming that it is a normal reaction to the quiet and slow days of waiting.

Whenever the little one arrives, We have their tiny space ready. A corner of our room that houses the dresser, filled with handmade blankets, diaper covers, wet bags, sweaters, and the clothes that the big brothers of this household wore just a few short years ago.

There is a gorgeous handmade mobile and gnome from my sweet friend Julia just waiting to greet this little being when they make their arrival home.

Changing pads, wet bags and wipes to make life a bit more colorful, fun and comfy on their little tush.

and of course, tons and tons of knitting.

I can’t wait until this little being arrives, to show you all that we have been creating to welcome them. For now, these tiny glimpses into the waiting, the longing and the hoping for a safe delivery and a very healthy baby.

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Warmth and Color

January 26, 2011

My posting may be a bit spotty here this week, as it is submission time at Rhythm of The Home, and we are sifting through so many amazing contributions: reading, editing and laying out. Bernadette, Julia and I are working double time to try and get the magazine as near to completion as possible as soon as we can, since the wee one is due just two days prior to the launch date.

I am just stopping in quickly today to share my late night project from yesterday. After staring at my computer for hours on end, I needed something creative for my hands before bed. I had my heating pad under me while working (you all know how I love to use my bed as my office), and I noticed the cover was dingy, grey and in serious need of replacement.

I love winter, I really do, but I hate being cold. I am one of those people who can jog in 117 degree weather in Arizona, and feel awesome. Cold weather, however, can leave me with constant neck pain and tight muscles. I suppose that is why you see so many posts here on warm bath and foot soak recipes throughout these months.

My heating pad, or rice packs, go every where with me, and one place for sure I know it will be is in the birthing room in just a few short weeks. Like I said, it was time for an update, and I gave it the quickest  one I could think of.

I measured the existing cover, and added what I needed for seam allowances. I then cut my strips of flannel 16×5″ and sewed them together.

From there I sewed the case together, and with right sides facing, I placed the new cover inside the old (the old cover is made of a great sturdy flannel, and it seemed unnecessary to throw it out). Leaving a 3″ opening, I stitched them together at the very edge, pulled the new outer cover through the inner layer, and then topstiched around.

In less than an hour I had a brand new pretty cover, and was snuggled up and ready for bed. I am learning that re-purposing kind of rocks, and that there can be endless ways to take something old and icky and give it new life.

Now back to work.

Please note: Heating pads do emit EMF’s, and while I love my heating pad, it is not something that I would recommend for excessive use during pregnancy or with small children. This is where Rice Packs would come in handy, and can be just as healing and beneficial. 

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Snack Bags and Lunch Totes

January 24, 2011

As I am sure that many of you can relate to, I am now fully immersed in the nesting instincts of my pregnancy. I find myself scrubbing floors at all hours of the day, walking behind my children with a vacuum, and becoming rather irritable at any discovery of clothing out of place.

I will say that my family, especially my husband, seem to be taking all of this in great stride, especially since the other two pregnancies yielded disastrous nesting projects that he is still cursing me over (think an entire English garden in our backyard that I planted at 7 months pregnant, and he now maintains).

I feel a great need to be organized and “ready” for this new life coming into our world, perhaps more so than with the other two, because as much as I may want it to be so, life will not be able to stop fully once the wee one arrives. There will still be home school lessons, chess club, art class, and life in general to tend to. Everything will of course slow down, and especially in those first few weeks we will all be together taking in this new life, but 7 and 5 year old brothers will only goo goo over an infant for so long before they want their rhythm to return.

While organization has become a focus, reusing what we already have and buying as little as possible is also becoming a strong trend in our lives. With this child, and with my family in general, I am moving as far away from disposable products as is possible, and am trying to look at all aspects of our day to see where we can reduce waste. More than that, I am attempting to save as many dimes as possible by using up what we already have available to us. A few weeks back I came across this amazing video tutorial by Amy Karol, and it set in motion a fury of sewing projects that have left me feeling a bit more secure that we can live with little waste and still be organized.

Amy’s snack bag tutorial is so fast and easy, and it has yielded not only a stash of snack bags for our family, but a set for many of our family and friends (I figure the more gifts I can get made and put away, the easier the holidays will be with a babe on the hip). While I do own a serger, I have to admit that I despise the darn thing, and so I have modified Amy’s pattern to meet my needs with a sewing machine. I have been using fat quarters from my stash, and each one produces three snack bags, while leaving me enough fabric to whip up some quick lunch/grain bags as well.

A few yards of muslin found on my sewing shelves and one strip of fabric left over from each of the snack bags, and I have a quick set of bags for those take away lunches to the museums, park, etc. Or reusable bags to head to the grocery store or co-op for bulk rice and grains.

The more I put it into practice, the better I feel about our ability to use what we have, and reduce the waste that we create. Sometimes that feels overwhelming to me, but other moments, like these, make it feel a little bit more possible to make a small change that has a big impact.

While so far these little bags have only held food, I can see them being the perfect way to carry around wipes, cloths, and general supplies for the little one. I will say that for my family, I sewed up 20 of these small bags to make sure that we had an ample stash, as well as 10 grain/lunch bags. It seems to be a good amount for an active family of four, but I imagine we will be adding to it as we get closer to picnic and outdoor time in the coming warm months ahead. I simply turn them inside out and put them in my delicate wash cycle with other clothing. They have held up well, and can take a good amount of abuse.

There is nothing earth shattering that we are taking on, but making these small changes feels like a positive step, both in family budgeting, as well as our impact on the earth. To learn more about other small changes that families are making around the globe, head on over to the One Small Change project.

Wishing you all a very Happy Monday.

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