more newborn sewing

My diaper stash sewing is on hold for a few days while I wait on some supplies to arrive in my mailbox but I did get a couple more done before I ran out of the fabric I'm using for my inners and hidden inners.

These are from the same pattern as the pink velour diaper, however, while the dinosaur one is the same size as the velour, the other two are from the smaller newborn size of the same pattern. When I made the velour and dinosaur diapers, I was thinking they looked bigger than I had expected them to be. So I cut out two more using the smaller size and they are bang on. So tiny and adorable!

This one as the same layers as the velour diaper posted previously with the exception of it being cotton interlock on the outside.

These next two are the smaller newborn size. Both have cotton interlock outers, hidden hemp french terry inners, and a next-to-baby inner of stretch baby terry. The soakers are two layers of thick diaper flannel backed by cotton interlock and topped with velour.

And a size comparison shot between the two newborn sizes.

Lastly, I have a New Conceptions Baby Essentials cross-front top, 0 - 3 month size, in cotton interlock. I have a diaper cut out of the same print and plan to make a few more coordinating diapers and a pair of wool longies to go with it as well. The cover is made using the newborn Fattycakes pattern.

I love sewing tiny baby things! Quick, simple, and adorable.

squee!!

Cuteness overload today. I've been sewing! I've been wanting to start on this for awhile but told myself that I had to get my sewing room in better shape first. It's not quite perfect yet but it is a FAR cry from what it was. So on to the pictures...

Diaper fluff! This is the free newborn pattern (this is a pdf file) by Amber of Darling Diapers. So soft and squishy! This particular diaper has a velour outer, an internal body layer of hemp fleece, and an inner layer (next-to-baby) of baby terry.

The snap in soaker is two layers of thick diaper flannel, a layer of BKT (burley knit terry), and topped with a layer of velour. Ignore the markings; that is washable Crayola marker that I used to  trace the pattern and to mark the elastic and snap placement.

It has the option of snapping down the centre front to accomodate the umbilical cord stump. It also has an adjustable rise in the form of two rows of snaps.

I have a boy diaper sewn up too, however I finished it this evening and I'll need to wait for daylight to get decent shots. It's from the same pattern. Same layers as well, just different fabric and different coloured snaps.

menu plan monday: 18|10 to 24|10

I hope to never again get out of the habit of planning the supper meals in advance each week. For a period of time, I had let that habit go. It is so much easier to shop, to get supper actually on the stove or in the oven each night, and I've found it really does save me money as well. I save money because I'm buying what I need, not what I think I might need, and because I'm making the vast majority of the meals from scratch or at least using minimally processed ingredients (things like brick cheese, canned tomatoes, canned fruit, and sometimes a jarred pasta sauce or salsa) instead of purchsed frozen pizzas or other frozen meals, take out, or expensive pre-cooked meats. 

Today I did a grocery shop without having planned my meals and I did find myself putting things randomly into the cart. "I could probably use some of this and I think I only have one can of that left..." Granted, they are items that I regularly use and they were on sale (at least according to the sticker on the shelf - "Save 50¢!") but I most likely didn't need them now or even next week or the week after. I did grab a case of 12 cans of apple juice even though I had two full cans at home (and those cans will last two weeks because I dilute them 1:1 with water) because the sale price for individual cans was 77¢ (the regular lowest price I can find is 95¢) and the cost per can when buying a case was a fraction under 50¢.

I did my grocery shopping trip (I will pick up chicken tomorrow for the freezer) and then came home and planned our week of suppers. Supper tonight was processed and frozen, grabbed in a moment of "I have no idea what we'll have for supper tonight and look it's on sale!". We had crunchy-breaded fish fillets and McCain's fries, which were actually very good despite my feeling of failure for having bought them. The rest of the week will have a planned supper though, to be as follows:

Tuesday: crock pot roast and veggies (hoping to resuscitate an old freezer roast)
Wednesday: Easy Lasagna
Thursday: spaghetti with meat sauce
Friday: Ham and Potato soup
Saturday: Shepherd's Pie (using leftover roast)
Sunday: leftover soup

The few minutes (or hours) it takes for me to plan out a week's worth of suppers is worth it. I'm not sure I want to think about how long it would take to plan out a whole week of meals if I were including lunches and/or breakfasts though!

Laura over at I'm an Organizing Junkie hosts Menu Plan Monday each week and browsing through the hundreds of blog links there (each with many recipe links) just might take some of the trouble out of planning your menu. Check her out.

it's only taken three years

Is three years a long time? To finally start to make a house home-y, that is? I bought my little 790-ish square foot 1950's house in July 2007. Just now, over three years later, am I beginning to put things up on the walls. Just in time to sell think about selling it. What can I say? I am the queen of procastination. I own the crown.

In the past several weeks I've done some work in the living room, building a simple console table (the boards were cut months ago but I just did something with them a few weeks back) from plans at Ana White's amazing site, painting and slightly grunge-ifying a small bookshelf, and doing the same to a pair of molding-like wall shelves. The bookshelf and wall shelves are seen in their Value Village state in this post. I thought I had taken close-up pictures of the finished bookshelf and shelves but apparently I didn't. The bookshelf I painted with an oops can of Behr exterior paint in a rusty red and the wall shelves I painted using leftovers from my kitchen cabinets, which are Behr's Creamy White. I then mixed Burnt Umber acrylic craft paint with water until I had a solution I liked and brushed it on with a dry sponge brush. I let it sit for a few minutes and then wiped it off with clean rags made from an old t-shirt. I had to experiment a little with the leave-it-alone times before wiping it off but I'm happy with the results. I'll try and get pictures close up another day.

Ignore the awful colouring of this photo (the walls are Behr's Gobi Desert, not a caramel coffee), the lovely popcorn ceiling, and the beautiful end table in need of sanding and staining and instead be awed by the fact that I hung those shelves and framed and arranged all those pictures in a few hours this afternoon. Maybe it shouldn't have taken that long but I had issues with the last drywall plug (of course - three went in perfectly and then one decided to be a pain in the ass) and hanging the lower shelf.  And I was choosing pictures and finding frames as I went along. I was also in dire need of a nap, which I did not get.

Looking at this picture, the shelves seem high. I'm not sure if it's the crop of the photo or what because they look much better proportioned in real life.

I'm thinking of moving the swing-arm lamp downstairs to the rec room and instead hanging a pendant of some sort in that corner and then putting a lamp on the end table between the chairs to add a little height in that area. We will see. I do have a few thrift store lamps in need of some TLC.

I also did some work on the opposite side of the room but that's a photo for another day. And the entire room is still a work in progress. I really like how it's starting to look. Like I said, just in time to get it ready to sell. Sigh. Maybe I'll be more on the ball in my next house.

menu plan monday: 11|10 to 17|10

This will hopefully be the last week in which Menu Plan Monday is the only post. Posting our menu here makes it handy for me to refer back rather than writing it down and having to look the recipes up.

 

This week I have half a small smoked ham to use up, a couple of night shifts at work, and a Thanksgiving dinner at my mom's. Meals will be relatively simple fare.

Monday: Thanksgiving family dinner at mom's
Tuesday: ham and apple grilled cheese sandwiches
Wednesday: butternut squash soup
Thursday: leftover tuna noodle casserole
Friday: leftover soup
Saturday: Baked Chicken and Acorn Squash
Sunday: Ham Stew

Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canadians! Check out Laura's blog for more meal plans and recipes.

menu plan monday: 04|10 to 10|10

Someday soon I'll get back to posting regularly. In the meantime, posting my weekly menu keeps me on track meal-wise.

This week we're going for quick and easy preparation:

Monday: Chinese take-out

Tuesday: massaged kale salad with mango

Wednesday: spinach salad with strawberries

Thursday: creamed peas on toast

Friday: Impossible Cheeseburger Pie

Saturday: baked macaroni and cheese

Sunday: tuna noodle casserole with peas

The unofficial plan this week is also to bake a batch (two loaves) of bread and make a spice cake to use up some of my tomatoes, which are still green on the plant. I wonder if I can chop the rest up fine to freeze to use in future baking.

Check out Laura's blog for hundreds of menu plans and meal ideas!