Our Tiny House

We are going to the Great Cloth Diaper Change today! It should be fun!  

My dad fixed up an old rocking chair for Elliott’s nursery before she was born.  I have loved having it to nurse her in, to rock her to sleep, but it needed some light padding.  I had been sitting on a old folded blanket and it would slide and shift, making the rocking experience less than ideal.

I finally finished these tie on patchwork pads. They work great, are just the right about of padding, and are bright and cheery, like Elliott’s room.

I used mostly fat quarters, 10” fun squares from my local quilting store, and scraps I had laying around from the Christmas ornaments I made.

I covered the back of each pad in a fun blue print, so if I want to change the look, I can just flip them over and tie them back on.

The ties are just bias tapes sewn closed from the same material as the backing fabric.

Now I can sit a bit more comfortably in an already comfy rocker, no more adjusting or sliding around!

Elliott will be one year old soon.  So I had to start planning her birthday party.  I came up with the idea of having a Book Birthday Party.  Elliott truly loves looking at books, flipping through them, back and forth, upside down, right side up. She loves them.  She has gotten to the point where I am not afraid of her ripping pages in non-board style books.  She is happiest with a book in her hands.  So…thus the theme.  

I made invites!

Starting with my favorite card stock, I decided to put Elliott on the cover with some of the pics I have of her reading her books.

I went to my local grocery store and printed 3 x 3 pics of Elliott at the Kodak Kiosk and then just cut them into strips.

I laid the strip of pics on the card and marked dots where I would be sewing them on. Two in each corner and one above and below where the pictures meet.

Then I threaded a needle with some embroidery floss, poked a hole in each dot and sewed.  The right picture is the back of sewing.

And this is the front.

Then I just inserted a strip of pictures!

Now I just hope people show up to the big event!

My cousin is having a baby girl in May.  I decided to make her some handmade gifts for her baby shower.

I made an Elephant. A sock bunny. And cloth teething rings.

The Elephant was my favorite.  Elliott loved it too.  I might have to make her one!

The bunny is just made from an inside out baby sock, Elliott has several and LOVES them.  The teething rings were a bit of a challenge.  I had to devise my own method of stuffing them.

I used a funnel, stuck the tube on the end, and used a pencil to shove the stuffing through the funnel into the tube. This was much easier than the suggestion of the tutorial, which was to stuff tiny pieces in one at a time.

In the end, I believe my cousin loved the presents and I enjoyed making them with love.

Per request of my sister Adri, I made her a terrarium to go under this cool glass lid she owned that she didn’t know what to do with.  

To add interest, I took a wine cork and made a few slices and laid them in among the plants like a secret path. 

Adri seemed to like it, and now her lid has a purpose!

Inspired by Pinterest, my friend Alynn has started to host Pinterest Craft Nights.  We have had two so far and I love it.  I took the lead on this past Monday night’s craft.  We designed and sewed our own tea towels.  I bought flour sac cloths from Walmart (I try to avoid Walmart, but they were the only ones selling them) for a buck each and brought my abundance of fabric.  We cut, ironed, sewed, fused, and sewed some more.  It was fun, everyone made three towels.  We for got to take pictures of everyone’s towels before we left, but here are the ones I made.

These are from the craft night.

Someone wanted to sneak in the picture!

And this one is the example I made to show the girls.  I made it on a terry cloth towel from the dollar store. (I made it before the dreaded trip to Walmart for the flour sac cloth.)

I want to make more of these, they are quick, fun, and the possibilities for decorating them are limitless!

Here is the original blog I got the idea from, which I promptly pinned!

I made this card for my sister-in-law.  She is graduating from a doctoral program of the medical kind.  She is amazingly smart and beautiful!  So I made her a card to let her know how proud we are of her.

Lately I have read several blog posts like this post and this one, by moms who basically hate on moms who craft/sew/knit/cloth diaper/make baby food or enjoy being at home, mothering, and spending their free time being creative.  These women seem to think that just because some moms choose to knit a sweater for their kid and use cloth diapers then we look down on everyone that hasn’t done the same.  And the ultimate sin is blogging about your “perfect” life.  

I just want to say, I sew/knit/crochet/bake/craft/create/quilt because I LOVE it.  I enjoy all of these activities.  I wish I had more time in the day to do all of them.  I blog about my crafting because I like sharing the things I have made.  Just like I enjoy looking at blogs and seeing what other people have created.  

I am tired of reading about moms defending their non-craftiness or hating on people who enjoy DIY-ing or be a homemade homemaker kind of mom.  Moms like me don’t do the things we do to make other moms look bad or feel jealous, we don’t do it and then look down at your because your baby has on a disposable diaper and a store bought sweater.  I do the things I do because this is who I am and who I have always been.  I have always loved creating, whether it be with puzzles, K’nex, yarn, fabric, creating elaborate Barbie houses with my sisters, building a log cabin with my dad for school, or building forts with my friends.  

What is that cheesy saying Oprah always used to say, “Live your Truth” or “Remember your spirit” or something.  Be who you are, do what you can/want/enjoy with your life and your family.  Stop judging and stop feeling so judged.  We all have our talents, be proud of yours, I am proud of mine.