Summertime

It's getting dangerously close to July, which means it's time to start grilling out.

My daddy is grilling burgers for linch right now.

What are your favorite grilling out recipes?

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My favorite

... is when they play together.

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Public Service Announcement

Houston, we have splash down.

That's right, pee is in the potty!!!!!!

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Helmets

Sometime's they're more trouble than good.

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Tutorial Tuesday: Pillow Case

I like making pillow cases. They're quick, easy, and a great way to add some interest to your bed, or to lug your laundry home from a week camping.

Pillow cases make me happy.

Because I heart pillow cases so much, when I made my nephew a blanket for his birthday, I decided to make him a coordinating pillow case too. 

 I keep thinking that I need to make a set of three matching pillows for our bed, one for myself, one for spouse, and one for the JabberWalky, since we co-sleep.

About this pattern/tutorial:

This pattern makes a Standard sized pillow case.  The method can be adapted for other sizes of pillow, however, I have not yet crunched the numbers, and it would not be as elegant as a simple "one yard." And since I'm putting this pattern out there for free, I'm too lazy to do the other figures right now.

This design leaves no exposed raw edges by using French Seams. They're not complicated, and I explain the process, but you can be proud of yourself for having learned how to do them when you're finished.

Have fun, feel free to play with fabrics, and look forward to seeing variations posted in the future.

For a How-To on how to make the child sized blanket, see my Blanket Tutorial.

Materials:

1 yard quilting cotton

2" to 4" strip contrasting fabric

Matching or delightfully contrasting thread

Tools:

Sewing Machine

Iron and Ironing Board

Scissors

Rotary cutting mat

Rotary cutting ruler

Rotary cutter

Step 1:  Pick out your fabric.  This may take months, it's okay.

Step 2: Wash, dry, and iron fabric. This is crucial to having a long lasting finished item that doesn't look like it was sewn by the cat.

Step 3: Cut a 9" strip of fabric from your one yard piece from selvage to selvage. You will now have two rectangles. One 27"x 42"-44", and another 9"x 42"-44"

Step 4:  With Right Sides Together, pin contrasting fabric to the larger piece of your main fabric.  Stitch together with a 1/4" seam allowance, remembering to backstitch at beginning and end.  Remove pins, press seams flat toward contrasting strip.

Step 5: With Right Sides Together, pin 9"x 42"-44" strip of main fabric to the contrast fabric. Stitch together with a 1/4" seam allowance, remembering to backstitch, backstitch, backstitch.  Remove pins. Press seams open.

Step 6: Fold over and press a 1/2" hem along edge of smaller section of main body. Stitch in place

Step 7: With WRONG sides together, carefully fold down hem so that it completely overlaps the contrasting strip, aligning the seam lines. ( I skipped sewing in my hemline as it's a redundant step, but if you're nervous about alignments, it's a good idea)

Step 8: Pin in place sparingly, flip over, and slowly stitch along the seam between the contrasting strip and the main body.

Step 9: With WRONG Sides Together, pretty side OUT, fold "hotdog style" so that you have a rectangle approximately 22" x  38" (Approximately because fabric widths vary and the width of the contrasting stripe can vary per your preference.)  Pin the long edge and the edge furthest from the contrasting stripe, leaving the hemmed area unpinned.

Step 10: Using a 1/4" seam allowance, sew far and long edges, remembering to backstitch. Pretty side still out.

Step 11: Turn inside out and iron seams so it all lays down nicely.  Now it is Right Sides Together. Pin  along the long side and the far side, so you don't get confused about where you're sewing.

Step 12: Using a 1/2" seam allowance, stitch the long and far sides.  Remember to backstitch where you start and stop. Clip loose threads.

You've just learned how to sew a French seam.  Pat yourself on the back.

Step 13: Turn right side out and enjoy

GREEN TIP*If you are making a pillow case and blanket as a gift, I say fold the blanket neatly and wrap it in the pillow case.  It's cute, efficient, and saves wrapping supplies!

UFOs

Just before my son was born, I was working on a quilt for my daughter.
Here I had it all laid out on the bed, trying to decide just which colors would flow nicely into the others.

Sadly, I was placed on bedrest and I put it away.

Then, when my son was born, I became bizarrely paranoid about ironing with him in the room. What if there was a freak accident with the iron and he got burned? Well, certainly I can only quilt while he's sleeping then, right?

But laying out a whole quilt takes up a lot of space, and what if I accidentally make a mess? What if I loose a piece?

Well, maybe if I just work on it in parts while he's napping.

But he sleeps so much better if I nurse him down.... and then I want to lay there and cuddle.

You get the idea. The reasons compound.

Since then I've made more than 20 sock monkeys,

 bunnies, 

bears, 

elephants, 

and other creatures,

 upwards of 15 dolls,

 at least 2 purses, 

one complicated hexagon quilt, 

eight blankets, 

three slings,

one pillowcase, 

and a couple hats, 

And some other odd projects of which I seem to lack photographs...

but I still have this UFO staring me down.

What sorts of projects do you have on hold, and what *really good reasons* are you using to convince yourself not to finish?

Tutorial: Toddler Blanket

This year for my nephew's birthday, I decided to make him a blanket and matching pillow case.

 I made blankets for all of my parents' other grandkids for Christmas, and a couple of their half-siblings, so it was time to make sure the latest toddler on the list had a blankey too.

For toddlers, small children, and people who like a light weight blanket while watching tv, I like to make them either 42"x60" or 42" x 72".  42"x72" is what my great-grandma called "bunk size," and was about the size she made all her quilts for children, since they didn't need them hangin' off the bed and makin' a mess.  She sold quilts by the side of the road and pieced ones for her own family from the scraps from the ones she'd sell.  To make a baby blanket I would reduce the size to 42" x 36" or use the same size, because I'm a big fan of borrowing my kids' baby blankets when I'm watching Doctor Who.

(note- finished blanket sizes are closer to 41"x59" or 41"x71")

What you need:

 Fabric-
2 yards quilting cotton, 2 yards Minky. (If you want to make the blanket only 60" long, you can get away with only using 1 1/3 to 1 1/2 yards of Minky, as it is 60" wide)

Thread- matching or complimentary to your fabrics
Iron
Ironing Board
Scissors,
Pins
Either Measuring tape or cutting board and rotary cutter with rotary cutting ruler.  I highly recommend  using rotary cutting methods as I'm awful with scissors.
Sewing Machine
Bobbin
Extra needles for your machine.  If you don't have at least one, go procure one before starting any new project.

How to make the blanket:

Step 1:  Pick the fabrics that are going to make your heart sing. Then Wash and Iron the quilting cotton.
Step 2: Straighten your work area, double checking that you have all the supplies you'll need.
Step 3: Thread your machine and test your stitches and tension on a scrap of fabric.
Step 4: Cut  quilting cotton fabric to your desired size, taking care to cut straight lines at 90 degree angles.  Note- This is fairly easy if you are cutting for a 42" x 72" size blanket and you've bought exact amounts from a supplier who takes great care in their cutting of yardage, as your quilting cotton will already be the right size and you can trim your minky to match in Step 7. Because I didn't use exact yardages, I had to cut mine, and I used my rotary cutter to trim it to length.

Step 5: Lay fabrics flat  and smooth on top of one another, right sides together. (This is easier said than done. In order to keep the Minky smooth you need to have some amount of friction with it, so I usually lay it on a bed, carpet, or on top of an acrylic afghan to keep it from slip-sliding around.  Some people prefer to lay the cotton down first to act as the gripping agent.)

Static clingy afghan of goodness.

Step 6: Pin edges all of the way around.  At this point you have to decide where you want the opening to turn the blanket.  I usually place it about 10" from a corner, and use the length of my hand as a guide.

I mark the extremes of this area by double pinning at each end so I'll know where to stop and start stitching.  (This is a good time to cut the Minky layer if you still need to)

Step 7: Trim excess Minky away.

Step 8: Begin stitching at the first set of doubled pins and stitch around the entire blanket.  I usually use between a 1/4" and 1/2" seam allowance.  Always backstitch when beginning or finishing a line of stitches.  When I am a seam allowance's length from the end of a side, I lower my needle through the fabric, raise the foot, and turn the fabric. Then I lower the foot again and continue stitching so as to not have to start a new seam.  At the second set of double pins, backstitch, remove from machine, and clip loose ends.

Step 9: Remove all those pins.
Step 10: Turn rightside out. I generally worm my whole arm into it and grasp the far corner, then pull it out first.

This is the fun part.

Step 11: See that open area? Time to handle that.

Take the whole mess and the pins back to the open area where you first pinned it and  carefully arrange the blanket so it lays flat with all of the seams nicely open.  This takes patience. You can iron the seams in place if you like, but use a low temperature, as the Minky is synthetic and can melt.
Step 12: Pin the edges so that the nice seams you've just lined up don't move around. Be sure to carefully turn in the open section and pin this area more densely than the rest of the blanket, again marking the starting and ending points of the opening with doubled pins.
Step 13: Starting with the opening, stitch all around the entire blanket, remembering to backstitch at the end as before, turning at the corners.

Step 14: Remove all pins except the doubled pins.
Step 15: Gently pull back the seam between the double pins to make sure that it is properly closed and there are no exposed raw edges.  If necessary, run a second seam between the doubled pins nearer the edge to make sure to enclose any raw edges, backstitching at the beginning and end.
Step 16: Trim all loose ends
Step 17: Take pictures so you can show off your spiffy cuddly new blanket masterpiece.

This is anotherI've made using that technique:

Ta-Da!

The Great Fluffy Review: Maude Baby Cloth Diapers

We're still a very fluffy family around here, so I was excited when Motherofasale.com offered to have the JabberWalky review their new diapers, Maude Baby.  It was even more exciting that it arrived just in time for his second birthday.

They're designed to fit tiny tots from 6 to 36 pounds as a onesize pocket diaper.  The lining is a friendly fleece with an outer of colorful PUL.  Instead of cumbersome and complicated snaps on the front of the diaper to adjust the rise, Maude Baby diapers use adjustable leg elastic to take up the rise, much like Rocky Mountain diapers do.  I am somewhat partial to this sort of design, because I like the elegant lines, and you know, changing diapers should be elegant.  It came with two microfiber inserts so I had the option of doubling, which is good, because Mr. Toddlerpants likes a double stuff for naps, and I've taken to doublestuffing most of his diapers just in case he has a bout of what we like to call "firehose."

JabberWalky immediately wanted to try on his new fluff.  He then wanted to climb around the living room, play the piano, and run around a lot so I couldn't get very many good pictures.  He's worn the diaper many other times since then, but my camera has never been at the ready while he was in the mood to hold still.

There are quite a few snaps in the front to ensure a good tight fit for your child, though I wish that it adjusted wider, as JabberWalky is a thin little monkey who weighed just under 30 lbs when he first started wearing the diaper, and it was already at it's widest settings without male snaps being against his tender hip flesh.  I am not sure how long he'll be able to comfortably wear this diaper, and I wonder how chunkier children of similar weight would fare.

I really want to like this diaper.
The first time he wore it, he promptly decided it was a good poop diaper, and I had to agree. It held all the "yucky-poopoo" without any up-the-back or sneaking out the leghole action, which is something one has to look out for.  The legs and waist fit nice and snugly.
It has remained a great poop diaper, even hen he had bout of diarrhea.

That said, I have had so many wet leaks with this diaper, it boggles my mind.
It seems to soak through where the snaps are with ridiculous quickness, or sometimes along the legs, and sometimes at the waist line.  If the point of failure was always the same, I would know how to remedy it, but it's not.
I know the inserts are working great, as I've tried them in other diapers just in case.
I figured it was human error and kept modifying how I stuffed the diaper, sometimes single, sometimes double. I take care with washing it, but I keep running into trouble with it.
Could it be that the insert seems a touch longer than the pocket itself and it usually feels a touch bunched in the front to keep it from sticking out the back?  I don't think that's the problem as I've bunched and folded other diapers before.
Could it be repelling? Nope, the inserts are invariably soaked, and they work just peachy when I put them in other diapers.
Could the kidlet just have a predisposition to oversoaking this diaper?  It's a possibility.
Could the PUL from which this one was cut just have been a little wonky?  It's possible.  I once had a Smartipants that would leak straight through, but another that held up nicely.  I can't say with certainty where the problem lies, and that bugs me.
I cloth diaper virtually exclusively. There was a trip once when we packed for 3 days and ended up spending 3 weeks when I had to buy diapers until the nearby public washer could be serviced and operational again.  Those diapers got a little more use when JabberWalky had sever gastroenteritis.  But otherwise he's a strictly cloth baby. I've been experimenting with different brands for years and the kind of trouble I'm having with this diaper has me very frustrated. I'm not used to being or feeling bested by a diaper, so I've been determined to make it work and work well. I'm not there yet, but rest assured, if I solve my issues with it, I'll let you know.

Would I recommend them?  Based on other reviews, I'd perhaps recommend trying a different color if you feel inclined, as bad PUL tends to happen by the batch.  It's cute, and sonling finds it comfortable. As a matter of fact, he seems quite smitten by it, but until I sort out my problems with it, I wouldn't yet recommend it.

They can be purchased online at MaudeBaby.com.  MaudeBaby diapers are $17.99 if purchased individually, but the price per each drops off as one buys in larger quantities.
I noticed on their webpage a "Flexi Tub" bath tub that looks quite interesting as well, and I've long been a fan of Rockin' Green Cloth Diaper Detergent, which is also sold on the MaudeBaby site.

If you have any experiences you'd care to add, feel free to mention it in the comments, I'd love to read what other people have to say.

Disclaimer:
I received a diaper for free in exchange for writing a review about my experiences therewith. I have not otherwise been compensated for this review.  Your experiences may vary from ours, and I hope that they do.

Walking is good for you, right?

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