Talented Mommies

As many of you already know, Aidan was a die-hard co-sleeper. I was beginning to think he was going to be in our bed forever! Well yesterday we bought him a brand new mattress (CostCo had mattresses for onlyt $130!!) and made a really big deal about him getting a special bed etc, etc, etc. He was all game for it until bedtime, then all heck broke lose and the screaming began. After we discussed the bed again and read stories, drank water, etc. the crying only lasted about 10 minutes while I sat about 15 feet away (he could see that I was still there), and off to dream land he went!! WOOO HOOO!!! I woke up about 5 times checking on him because I was so used to his elbow in my spine but he slept clear through to about 8 am! And now he is napping in his bed as well! I think we have success!!

The next step in our ongoing efforts to go greener, we are transitioning to “un” paper towels. There are some really great ones made by other WAHMs (work at home moms) out there, but due to budget constraints, I decided to make my own. I started by buying a huge packet of white towels (garage kind) from CostCo. I double washed them in organic soap from “Crunchy Clean”, (her store on Etsy ROCKS!!!), making them super clean. Then came the line drying (still going strong!). I plan to sew snaps on them so they can roll up like a regular roll of paper towels but that will be a little later. In the mean time I am rocking these un-paper towels in a smallish rubbermaid box under the counter. I will keep you posted on how they are working out

This is my latest creation which I cannot claim is 100% my own. I started with a great pattern from one of the ladies at my local quilt shop ( thank you Kim) and modified it from there to fit a toddlers smaller frame and special toy needs lol! Aidan could hardly wait until I finished it before he had it on and was heading out the door! Most kids I know love to carry their own bag and this is a great way for them to do it and experss a little of their own personality too. Aidan picked all the fabrics, the inside, outside and straps so this is all him. I was shocked that he didn’t pick the train fabric, but I think it escaped his attention . I was able to stitch in 2 rows of stars for an added touch of fun. I love that he can now carry his own stuff, even a wipes and a snack. He feels good about having some say in when he has a snack

To give you all a little background on my son, and the immediate necessity of the sling I redesigned, let me 1st start out by telling you we are a very tall family and Aidan is no exception. I am guessing the next babies that come along will be much the same. He was born at 10lbs 12 oz and a week early (THANK GOD!) and not a fat baby at all. He has continued to grow at a rapid rate and is still tallish for his age. Now he HATED the 1st sling I had purchased at Target. It had too much padding so I assume he felt suffocated. The front pack worked for a little while but provided me no screen for nursing. I ordered a pattern for a ring style sling online and started to tinker with it. I added an area of padding in the shoulder that is low profile and still adds that little extra softness for your shoulder. Then making the “tale” long enough to use as a nursing blanket, I special ordered aluminum rings that are tested to hold up to 1000 pounds! (I challenge any of you to try to hold a thousand pound baby). I then changed the width to accommodate the very short and small women or tall women like myself. My sister is built like a super model so I needed the same sling I used to be able to adjust to her extremely slender frame. In the end this is what I ended up with. This was made especially for our client Jen Dinger and her 7 month old baby girl Isabella. Same sling on a WAYYYYYYY smaller person. Jen is a whopping 5′3″ and this is still a perfect fit (more pictures with Jen and Izzy in a later post). We have used this style sling on the beach in the waves, at the train show to keep track of a toddler, at the mall to carry and then nurse a new born and many many other ways. This sling is amazingly versatile and I would love to make one for you too. I have a number of colors and patterns to choose from and am always willing to do special orders. I have even made one as a special occasion sling out of silk duponi! Please email with inquiry’s as prices will depend on your requests

This is my latest WIP (work in progress), a quilt called Big Fat Queen. It is a fast moving quilt pattern with the fabrics for this one being beautiful batiks of oranges, reds and yellows. It is for my mom but as you can see my darling son has snatched it from the work table (aka my dinner table) before I could get the borders on. I am hoping to get the borders on this weekend but with a 2 year old and just having gotten back from my 2nd surgery in 2 weeks on Wednesday, I have a LOT of cleaning to catch up on. On a brighter note my hubby will be back in under a month now!!! WOOO HOOOO!!!!!

About a year ago I found this great “support the troops” Marine Corps colors fabric. It’s a red background with white stars and yellow ribbons. I thought it would be great to make a travel neck pillow for my Brother-in-Law, the no-longer enlisted Marine (once a Marine, always a Marine!). Turns our he’s not doing as much traveling for business and most of us can’t afford to shelp 4 family memebers anywhere on a plane these days, so I was deparately trying to think of how I could use this fabric. In the meantime I then found a really nice Marine Corps emblem fabric that I thought would go nicely if I ever figured out how I was going to use the first fabric, so I bought the second fabric! Tooling around the internet one day, I found a great pattern for regular, standard pillow case and thought….hmmm, “Great way to use the fabrics AND give a little something special to ‘Uncle Mike’ for Father’s Day”!

Well, it went together like a dream, nice and easy! So much so, I’m going to be making PLENTY of these to come! I’m going to make some for my Hubby a former Navy man (I also found the same support fabric in blue for the Navy, just have to find a Navy fabric I like to go with it! heheh), and some to match our Daughter’s Ariel quilt for her Big Girl Ariel room! I will probably use it to make pillows to match our bedding (whenever I get around to THAT monster of a project that’s been in the works for YEARS! hehe), make some for other gifts, etc. etc!

Anyways, just a little tidbit of something to blog about in my crafting world! I know Heather’s been anxiously awaiting my getting projects done and blogged, so I think I’ve finally satisfied my INITIAL contribution! hehehe Soon to follow, though, will be a blog about my Daughter’s Ariel sundress. I have to put the ribbon ties on and it’s done, so that should hopefully be soon!!! Take Care all!!!!

Nikki

Hi everyone! Sorry I have been such a slacker about this blog as of late. We are still trying to recover from the fires that took place 8 months ago! At least the new roof is FINALLY on. Now I am working on getting a check from the insurance company! wooo hooo! I was supposed to have said check BEFORE they evern started the roof but that did not happen and now we are hoping before the end of the week. The roofers also took an extreemly long time to get anything done. Between all of this and a 2.5 year old I have been totally swamped! That and my DH will be deployed for 3 months starting in just a little over a week. We are ramping up and trying to get everything possible done before he leaves I am also working on another co-op with another WAHM in an effort to make purchasing our goods a little easier. I will keep you posted!

Here are the latest flat folds! They are great and this set was made by special request!

This is Groucho, our baby llama. He is about 3 years old and our only remaining rescued llama. His buddy died of a stroke while giving birth shortly after the fires swept through our area. Llamas are pack animals so we are hoping to get a few more from the llama rescue but it will be a few months because of his fighting teeth. They have yet to fully come in so we can not get them cut. I assisted with his gelding about a month ago (we do not want to have any more baby drama) and gave him his 1st haircut! The vet was AMAZING! Dr. Byer even helped me cut his hair & nails (no small feet when they have never been done). Yes, that is why he looks like his mama cut his hair! We had a large yeald from this 1st shearing and are looking forward to getting it all cleaned & spun!

So my great grandmother used to make these for my mother and her siblings over 40 years ago! My son was so enchanted by one he saw in a picture I decided to try my hand at it. This was a great 1 hour project, with the longest part being the stuffing! And man was it a hit with my son. He calls his “monkey no eyes” due to the fact that I didn’t bother to sew any eyes on the poor monkey. Another appealing thing about this project is that it 100% machine washable. Being 2 my son has had a nice run of colds and flus this season and each time the monkey gets a turn in the washing machine and comes out great!