she's crafty

you may remember that part of our new magic life was going to include making things rather than buying them and being generally more creative. you also may remember that we got a badass sewing machine for free and i completed my first ever project with limited success.

well since then i have busted out ole sewie (which i still dont have the manual for and have mostly learned by trial and error...heavy on the error) 2 more times and these have been my results (in chronological order so you can see my improvement).

this was my attempt at avoiding the folded overlap of the new material onto the back of the burp cloth. a little bit of white edge was intended, but it should be way more uniform around the edges. i added the line of gray ribbon too for extra snazz just like the original gift that i was copying. this one was immediately after the first one i made so i was getting the hang of things a little better and it only took about 45 minutes (sad, i know). its still a hot mess because i hemmed the green panel first by itself and then sewed it on the cloth rather than pinning it to the cloth and doing it all in one run, so there are two sets of stitches going around the whole thing. from afar though, its serviceable. it also looks like the north carolina avenue monopoly card.

this one started out with me intending to put the blue fabric all the way down the middle panel and then frame in the green ribbon. well, i jacked up the blue stuff so bad that i decided to just do 3 little patches of fabric instead. the ribbon inst really that wavy in reality, although its far from perfectly straight, the cloth just bunches when you wash it. sadly this took probably and hour and a half and was my first effort after the initial night of bringing home and setting up the machine. i think i was cold and rusty and without any residual beginners luck.


this is by far my favorite yet. i NAILED it. i got the panel of yellow just right on size and alignment and didnt have to sew any edges twice like i did before. it only took maybe 20-30 minutes. glad i saved the cool tech-colored pattern for this one!

beware if you are currently inseminated and invite me to a baby shower, you may be receiving one of these! i mean, judah doesnt have so much fluid that needs to be wiped up that necessitates us having 24 of these. he does however have this little cleanup gem:
.
sunday morning i was home from church to meet my parents so they could watch judah. well, i wanted to take a bath so i brilliantly thought of hanging judah's johnny jumper in the bathroom doorway so i could watch him, occupy him, and get clean all at the same time. he bounced away happily and adorably while i washed up and i emerged so proud of myself for my ingenious idea and at how sparkly clean and relaxed i was without even having to rush. well i went to grab a towel and i look down at his legs (previously obstructed by the side of the tub) and this is what i see (WARNING: GRAPHIC POOPIE CONTENT)

it was horrific. my first instinctive thought was "good lord, he's started his period." i recovered from that lunacy and realized what it really was, gagged a few times thinking about the cleanup and how clean and happy i had been 2 seconds ago. i have read the stories about toddlers when they learn to open their diapers and the subsequent fecal smearing (yeah i said it) that can occur, but i thought i was safe from having poop mashed into any of my surfaces for a year or so at least. so i left the little guy there, swung him aside and scooted delicately through the doorway to get my camera to record this magic moment. when i got back, he had this look on his face that indicated that he was possibly as yucked out by this as i was. i finally realized that it clearly had happened a while before i noticed because of the little poopie bounce-prints left all over the tile.
.

so i grabbed one of my beautiful blank burp cloths that had been destined to be a canvas for my future sewing exploits, the one in the picture to be exact; it had be there to catch all the drool that is raining down from judah's mouth these days and protect the delicate surface of the jumper. i figured poop was what the cloth diapers were intended for anyway. i was dying laughing at this point. i extracted the little turd from the seat (which had barely ANY poo on it) and took him to decontamination. i was shocked to see that the diaper had hardly any poop in it either. once again we were victims of the poop that just wants OUT. this poop managed to elude the absorbent pamper AND the jumper seat and make it all the way to my bathroom.

.

in case that picture grossed you out so much that you fell out of love with him or forgot how cute he is when he's clean. here's a reminder.

knuckling down on tummy time

i placed him here, walked away, took the picture, and stood there and waited for the inevitable fall or potential face-smashing. it never happened. he looks so freakishly old when he does this!