Brenna blogs:: finches

Ever since we put up our bird feeder, there has been more birds around the neighborhood (Team Sparrow who live in our big pine tree, some house finches, grackles, a few dark-eyed juncos, and one or two chickadees). I guess two house finches saw this as the perfect spot. Anyway, my next-door-neighbor-best-friend Holly was over to play and we decided to play out front. As we were walking out the door, Holly spotted something fly away when the door opened. Then we saw it. The Nest.

Now, I mean today, mom went out to see if she could get a picture. This is what she found.

We looked at a bird book and it says that one pair of house finches will breed up to 2-5 times a summer, and egg clutches are 2-6 eggs, and that our front-door eggs will hatch in 13-14 days.

Looks like we have new neighbors in the neighborhood!!

our table for all seasons

So, when we graduated from college and moved to Albuquerque I found a table at a flea market and brought it home. It matched the two white and natural wood chairs we already had, and it wasn’t hard to find two more. We’ve been eating on that table ever since. Our family grew from one child, to 2, to 3, 4, then 5. Our table didn’t grow, though, and that has posed a problem as of late. We could squeeze 6 of us around the table (with the baby securely strapped into the high chair beside us). We could even fit place settings for 6, but fitting the food got to be tricky, and having company really complicated things. We looked in furniture stores, but there just wasn’t anything there that was what I wanted. I wanted a rustic handmade table or something old with character. Oh, and it needed to be square and extend to get bigger. I scoured craigslist and happened upon a listing for a table made from reclaimed barn wood. It was gorgeous. I wrote the carpenter. What I wanted would be way more than we could afford. I kept looking, kept pouring over craigslist and nothing could float my boat. Then out of the blue I got an e-mail from the carpenter. He changed his mind! He could make my vision a reality well withing our budget.

Now, several months later, it is sitting in my dining area. Wanna see?

It’s made from reclaimed Douglas Fir beams from an old bridge in Kansas. The trees were probably 150 years old or more when they were cut to make the bridge. I’m not sure how long the bridge was standing, but I think it’s safe to say that the wood for our table has been around for centuries.

He made us 2 matching benches too all with through mortise and tenon joinery.

The ends extend so it can go from being a 54″ square that seats 8 to being 54″ x 84″ to seat 12!

It’s finished with a natural beeswax and mineral oil finish. This has to be reapplied every few weeks, but it actuall makes the care of the table easier because I can sand out inevitable pencil marks and keep it looking perfectly beautiful.

I got new seating for the littlest guys too. A Svan highchair for Hunter and a Kaboost for Ian.

I love it. I love the natural beauty of the wood, the texture of it, the smell of it, the handcrafted nature of it. It is perfect and will be for generations to come.

To see more tables by Jeremy Glenn of Elemental Table Company check out his flickr page here.

the saddle bag test run

Ever since I dreamed up my baby carrier pattern writing project I wanted to design a bag to go along with it. I needed to be something that could attach to the carrier to make it function like a back-pack and have enough room to keep essentials on hand, and also work as a stand alone diaper bag that would fit the carrier inside along with the essentials. So, I’ve been working on (drum roll please…)

the SweetPod Saddle Bag!

It attaches to the carrier!

And makes a great diaper bag!

This design definitely needs some tweaking and refining. First off, I think this first run is too big. I was able to fit diapers, wipes, a blankey, and my camera– not to mention my wallet, keys, and water bottle. In addition to my nearly 30 lb. baby it was WAY too heavy! But I’m on the right track.

Any of you SweetPod users out there want to try it out? You should be able to use the home dec fabric left over from making your carrier. This initial test version of the pattern won’t be super detailed, though, so I’ll need anyone wanting to try it out to be able to do it with minimal instruction. I’d love to get 4 or 5 more people (RaeLyn is already on board, of course), so if you’re up for it shoot an e-mail to jessica {at} seedpodcraft dot com. It’ll probably be another week before I get the pattern pieces digitized and ready to send out, but I’d love to get an idea of who I’m going to send them to! You’ll need a 7 inch zipper, a 1 inch side release buckle, 2 1 1/2″ snap hooks, 1 1 1/2″ single bar slide (I found both of these at my local REI,, but I can’t find any on the REI website), 1/2 yd of 1 inch webbing, and 2/3 yd of your heavy weight solid, lining fabric and neutral flannel for interfacing.

If you’re interested please let me know!

UPDATE ***I think I have plenty of testers!! Thanks!**

sewing for little bums

The first thing I ever really researched and obsessed over using the internet was cloth diapers. I figured it all out with help from many, many online cloth diaper users and sellers and makers, many of which aren’t around anymore, some who are under different names and locations. My main source of information was the FAQs at the One Stop Diaper Shop (now Very Baby) and the Diaper Pin. Anyway, back then I tried my hand at sewing some diapers, but it was a long process to get just one done without a serger or a snap press.

Just a few weeks ago Jessica came out with a one size version of her fitted diaper pattern with a snapless option, and since I do have a serger now I thought I’d give it a go.

I learned that serging around curves is hard. It is definitely something that needs more practice and time than I had to give it. I made 3 with stretch terry on the outside and velour on the inside. (I don’t know what I was thinking with my color choices, though.) My chubby baby likes to pull them out of the laundry basket and bring them to me so I’ll put one on him.

I’m a big fan of one-size diapers. I absolutely loved my Mother Ease One-sizers when they were in their prime. They lasted through 3 babies, but by the time they got to this guy they were scratchy and stinky.

I’m not sure about the snappi fastener on these, though. My climbing, running, climbing, dancing, climbing baby seems to get his diaper all wadded up. If I could somehow find 2 days to sew I would get myself a snap press and push through making a dozen of these the real way.

I’ve also got another bum that needs covered. We’re working on the potty learning here with Ian, but it’s a process. I hate putting him in diapers, though, so I’m making him some Tinkle Time Trainers. They offer more protection than the training pants you can find at Target, can snap off for messy accidents, but still feel like underwear.

I’ve got one done. Let’s see how long it lasts today.

And let’s see how many more I can get done.