While I was designing and writing the SweetPod pattern I wrote many an e-mail to my blog friend Meg at Sew Liberated.  She was so kind and gracious to answer all of my questions and help me along the whole pattern designing and writing process.  Though she couldn’t fit being a pattern tester into her book-writing, pattern designing, new baby life we decided we’d do a trade.  She cut the pattern pieces from fabrics she loves (left over from book projects), sent them over to me, and I sewed them all together.  Now I’ll have a little advertising button over on the right hand side of her lovely blog.  Check out her post about her carrier.  Finn!  in that hat!!  I can’t stand the cuteness!

It’s made with an Echino print for the decorative panel and a luxurious silk/ hemp charmeuse for the lining and sleeping hood.  Lovely and fun for that mama, and that chubby little boy.

I’m glad you like it, Meg!!

My drawer full of bibs just weren’t cutting it against the sweet potatoes and carrots and all the other deeply colored pureed ooze we try to shovel into our little guy’s mouth.

Here’s my solution:

The super bib from the front…

from the back…

and in action.

This photo actually doesn’t do justice to the clothes-protecting powers of the super bib.  Here the booger encrusted (though less encrusted than he might have been thanks to the retouching tool in i-Photo) baby is merely eating cereal puff things.  But you can imagine how effectively it protects elbows and shoulders, no?

I really need to make a dozen more!

I am a baby wearer.  With each baby it has become more and more necessary, but this baby– he practically lives on me.  For little babies I love wrap style carriers like this pretty one my friends in Ohio gave me, and this buttery soft one I made using a tutorial by Jessica (of course).  Now that Hunter is way too heavy for those, I love my Ergo baby carrier, but getting baby on and off my back is a bit precarious in parking lots and rocky hiking trails.  I’ve been dreaming of getting the Beco Butterfly II with its cute fabric and internal panel to make swinging a babe onto your back a cinch, but just couldn’t justify spending the money.  So, a couple of orders of buckles and webbing from Seattle Fabrics later, I did the next best thing– I made one!

Introducing the “Sweet Pod” :

(drum roll please)

I made it with the same Joel Dewberry fabric as my diaper bag  , some army green twill, and lined it with a pillowcase we had because it was just the color I was looking for.  The sleeping hood tucks into a hidden pocket with an invisible zipper.  See?

Having an internal panel does make getting him on my back much easier with the added bonus of making the carrier more adjustable than my Ergo.   The whole thing has been taken apart and put back together several times.  At first my waist belt foam was too squishy, then the body was too short, but now?  Now it seems just right.

Hunter seems to think so too.

I’m working on putting together the pattern because, well, I think the world of crafty-babywearing-mamas needs it.   I mean, I would have bought one if it already existed.  I’m thinking I’ll make it a downloadable PDF and sell it from my Etsy shop.  What do you think?

I’ve got another one on the cutting table.

I’m sure most of you who read my blog know that I use cloth diapers.  Jonah was my guinea pig as I experimented with everything available.  I think that is the hardest part of cloth diapering– sifting through all the available options to figure out what works best.  Sometime toward Jonah’s toddlerhood I settled on Mother Ease One Size diapers with Air Flow covers as the all around best mix of cost effectiveness and functionality.  I also have a couple dozen extra small Sandy’s for those first few weeks when they’re so tiny with skinny legs and pointy bums.  Now, since I have a new sewing machine and serger I had the urge to sew some diapers.  I decided I needed some velcro all-in-ones (that have the waterproof layer built in so you don’t need a separate cover) for babysitters and helpful kids.  You don’t know how many times I’ve found diapers inside out, backwards, or without a cover after taking the sitter home– and Logan keeps asking me to teach him how to change wet diapers.  So here’s what I made:

It’s a size small Very Baby Basic All-In-One.  I’ve got supplies to make a dozen.  I’ve got 3 done.  Hopefully I can get them sewn so I can use them before he outgrows them! I’m hoping I can do one a day.  Or maybe half of one a day…

I couldn’t resist taking a picture of those perfect tiny toes, but I have to say I think the other end is the cutest. So I leave you with some more pictures of the newest little boy in these parts.  Do you think he’ll mind if I say I think he’s pretty?  Well, I do.  I always think my babies are pretty.

even if most of them are boys.

The handmade toy swap deadline is today.  I got my doll finished last weekend while my body was getting ready to have a baby.  Here’s the play by play:

I’ll show her to you with clothes once the recipient gets her.  Don’t want to totally give away the surprise.

Yesterday I impulsively signed up for this handmade toy swap.  Like I need to add a time consuming toy to my list of getting-ready-for-baby crafting that I want to get done in the next few weeks.  I decided to get right on it because, really, I wanted an excuse to make another doll.  It is so fun to see them come to life. Here’s today’s play by play.

First, there’s the head form.  This isn’t a totally kosher Waldorf doll because the materials aren’t completely natural– I’m using panty hose instead of cotton tubular stockinette because that’s what I’ve got laying around here.  It’s stuffed with wool, though!

Gotta cover that crazy looking lump with skin.

and give it a face…

Ahh, there she is!

Also, February 10th the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act goes into affect.  You can read all about it here, but in a nutshell congress passed a law to protect our kids from toxic chemicals in massed produced toys from China and didn’t think of all the ramifications of their new regulation.  Now ANY product marketed for use by children must undergo third party testing, which is fine for huge mega companies, but for moms sewing cloth diapers in their homes, or artists selling clothing or toys on etsy, this will essentially put them out of business.  Hopefully the powers that be will see the light and make some exemptions for small businesses.  It will be a sad day when the ONLY options we have for buying toys are those mass produced, lifeless plastic things…

Hi.  It’s me, the big huge pregnant lady.  The one you might have seen leaving her snowy driveway at 8:30 this morning so she could make it through the storm to her 9:30 birth center appointment.  The same one who called the birth center an hour later, just 3 or 4 miles from her house.  The one who left the GPS at home, but still thought she could bypass the standstill freeway and ended up completely lost.  Lost, going 5 miles per hour, frantically calling her husband at work hoping he could give her some directions, but no answer.   The one who called the birth center for directions and got the nurse who has only lived in Denver for 2 months and was as clueless as she was as to how to get headed in the right direction.  The one who finally got through to her husband’s voice mail and broke into tears, who fed her two little boys their lunch in the car  by 10 AM to keep them happy in the slow moving icy traffic, and then was miraculously called on the phone by her Visiting Teacher who gave her directions.  The big, crazy, frazzled pregnant lady who finally got to the birth center at 10:45.  After leaving home at 8:30.

Yep, that’s me.  I probably should have just turned around and gone back home when I saw how slow traffic was moving.

But, my visit with my midwives was good.  I have been Group B Strep positive with all four of my previous pregnancies– requiring that I have IV antibiotics during labor.  This time my test came back NEGATIVE!!!  I have been taking probiotics, eating lots of yogurt, and taking odor free garlic (when I think of it) and I got rid of those pesky bad bacteria in my guts!!  Is that cool or what?!

Also, I was wearing my green cordouroy shirt and the nurses and midwives were all perceptive enough to know that I needed compliments on it.  I made it after all.  Want to see?

It’s view J from Lovely Maternity Dresses.  I have made view E, but it ended up too big.  I was sure I’d need to make a pretty big size and after trying to study the Japanese size charts and deciphering what I thought were prepregnancy and pregnancy measurements and size charts I decided to opt for a size 11.  Turns out that the patterns take into account how actual people grow during pregancy, and so an 11 on my 5′ 2″ narrow shouldered, though swollen body was too big.  This one I made in a 9 and it is just right.  I’ll probably be wearing it almost everyday until this little guy pops out.

And here’s another Built By Wendy shirt.  Just with long sleeves.  Not quite as comfy as my green corouroy shirt, but will do when I have to take it off to do laundry.

And here’s my photography helper.

I’m always amazed that something this cute actually exists.  I think I can handle one more.

Did a week and a half really just go by since my last post?  How did that happen?  I better get on the ball and finish posting about our handmade Christmas gifts before it is way too far past Christmas.

For weeks and weeks before Christmas Logan would say, “When I get the teddy bear you make me for Christmas then… (fill in the blank with things like “I’ll always wrap him up in my mimi.” or “you can make him a little dresser and fill it up with jammies and a swimming suit.”)   So, I had to oblige.  Brenna has been totally attached to Buttercup for 2 years now, but the boys had no mama-made toys to snuggle.  I haven’t got that swimming suit made, or any clothes for that matter, let alone the dresser, but they are the perfect night time snuggle companions.  Here’s where I found them this morning:

Jonah’s Teddy

Logan’s Chubby Wubby

So, has it really been since December 11th that I last posted?  Sheesh!  I’ve been so caught up in creating stable scenery for the ward Christmas pageant, a husband with Strep throat, sleepless nights with puking children (and parents), other intestinal problems of which I will spare you the details (they’re not pretty, let me assure you), gestating of course, and last minute holiday preparations and gift making, that it never even crossed my mind to make a blog post.  There have been several days that I didn’t even take a glance at the computer.  So, now I’ll play catch up, posting this week about the handmade gifts we gave this year.

These are my favorite, and the last ones finished.

I have wanted to try my hand at making waldorf dolls for ages and ages, but Brenna has never been much of a doll player and it always seemed frivolous to just make one for myself.  But, this year I decided I’d make some for Brenna and Ian whether they’d really like them or not, just to indulge myself.  I ordered my pattern and supplies, and then got underway.

Good news is, they are some of the favorite gifts this year!  Ian’s Boy has been a constant companion since it was unwrapped.  He snuggles him, sleeps with him, feeds him, and just carries him around.  Brenna has left me little thank you notes all around and on Christmas day she kept telling me, “I just want to keep telling you thank you.  I can’t say thank you enough times.  I love her!”

So, I was up late on Christmas Eve stitching and trimming hair and finally realized that clothes just weren’t going to get made by morning.  Barry had been saying the entire week that I shouldn’t stress myself out and just give the kids naked dolls.  So, that’s what they got Christmas morning.  But– the nakedness didn’t last for long.  Look what I got for Christmas!!

A sewing machine and a serger!!  Can you believe it?  I’m still in shock.   I quickly got to work and made some panties, diapers, and clothes.

Brenna even knit a hat, and made a coat and mittens for Julie so she wouldn’t be too cold here in Colorado.

I just can’t even put into words how excited I am at how well they’ve been received.

But, this isn’t all.  We were hard at work on some other hand made gifts as well.

Stay tuned!

So, I used the tips from Jessica (which she got from Mary Beth) and took a stab at a Built by Wendy top for my tired-of-tight-t-shirts self.

I just used some fabric I found on my magic-basement-shelf-of-lots-of-craft-stuff-that-I-didn’t-remember-I-had, and made the mistake of using the size of the pattern that I had already traced and cut out pre-pregnancy (it was way too big then), adding several inches at the sides and bottom of the front, of course.    Fortunately, after peeling it off from the first trying on, I was able to rip the pieces apart and just use a smaller seam allowance .  Phew.  (It is still a teeny bit tight around the bust– I’m going to have to do some serious armpit seam reinforcement today.)  It looked a little to tentish to me then, so I stretched and sewed a little piece of elastic in an empire waistish spot.  That was just what it needed.  Oh, and I skipped the elastic in the sleeves.  My arms don’t need tourniquets, thank you very much.

 Also, on the maternity clothes sewing front, my book finally got here from Japan!  Consequently I’ve spent some hours studying it, the patterns, and some good blog entries about sewing clothes from Japanese books.  I think I’ve got it as figured out as I’m going to before I actually plunge right in.  I’ve got one pattern traced and some half-price fabric from JoAnns to try it out with.  Maybe I’ll get to it today?  That may be wishful thinking.  There are Christmas decorations to unearth and put up, and a stable set to design and build for the Ward Christmas party next weekend…

But I do need something to wear to church tomorrow.