Back, maybe....

So I logged on to blogger for the first time in months. I have had update my blog on my to-do list for a while now but find more "important" things to do. In the last few months I havn't been all that createive. Blame the gloomy English winter or pregnancy but I just have not had the will to do more than what had to be done. I have done a few things and I am working on getting photos of them to put up.

I am in the midst of making newborn diapers and covers, I have much of them cut I'm just waiting on supplies to come that I have ordered and most likely will not get them done until the end of May since I want to put bamboo velor on the indside of them and well I special ordered a bunch of it, so lets hope my new born diapers get done before I have a new born, LOL.

Here is a picture of one diaper I did make while exprimenting with diaper making. I made several proto types and eventualy drafted my own patteren because most of the patterens I printed off the internet wound up way too small and now Livi has a few diapers for her dolls. This diaper I made from an old polo shirt that Justin no loger wanted.

I made a Mai Tia carrier a couple of months ago and think I will really like it, unfortualty I have not been able to try it out because Olivia runs and hides every time I get it out. I would love to try it and take some pics but I don't think it's going to happen unless I put it on the dress manaquine and put a doll in it.

I also recently made a pair of pajamas and a dress for Olivia but I have not taken photos because Olivia loves these and also has learned to use the camera so wants to be the photographer instead of having the picture taken of her. Eventualy I will sneak photos of these things.

I have lots of other projects on the list and am working through them along with looking for a new house and preparing for baby to come. I hope I can keep up on this blog, but I'm not making promises.

What I have been doing

The last couple of weeks have been up and down. I'm pretty sure I got everything I ordered a the beginning/middle of June so if I can make myself sit down down and do them I should have some projects going and done this month. Then on the other hand July is one of the nicest months of the year here in England and if it's not raining I sure would rather be out taking walks with Olivia or playing in the garden. Speaking of which we have a greenhouse and I have taken to growing things in there and it's not going half bad, if I can keep it up I think I can grow a good portion of produce right in our back yard.

I have completed one project. Part of my big shopping spree was an order of diaper kits from Diaperkits.com I spent an entire weekend and a little bit putting together a dozen all in one diapers but the results were great and the order was well worth it since I could not have bought the materials to cut them myself for what I paid per diaper. Justin told me when he put one on that if we got 50 more of them he would be perfectly happy. We don't need 50 but another dozen in this size and three dozen or so in smaller sizes should do us along with some sleeping diapers.

Up next, the ruffling foot for my sewing machine FINALLY came in so I will be working on the pettiskirt I started for Devan while we were home and send that to her. I have 30 yards of chiffon so I'm going to make one for Olivia for play clothes and put at least one in my ESTY shop. I also got in two yards of oil cloth to make bibs with, I will be making a couple for us because we are in desperate need of bibs and putting the rest in my shop. I also have a shirt cut out for myself if I ever get to it and I would love to get to my fabric stash and make myself and Olivia some new clothes since I have lost a couple of dress sizes since moving here and Olivia is growing like a weed.

No pin solution to pre-fold dipers

I have been facinated with cloth diapering for years. When we first began to think about having children I thought about the possibility of cloth diapering. For me it's more of a reduce, reuse than money saving. I believe that as christians we should be the bigest environmentalist on the planet. God put us on the planet and chared man kind to take care of it. I recycle when possible and do not feel comfortable throwing diapers into the trash week after week.

When I became pregnant with Olivia I began to research cloth diapers more and fell in love with the idea of all-in-one diapers. I didn't buy any however because I was unsure how big of a baby I would have so I settled for using disposables at first and then buy cloth diapers after we got settled a bit.

When it came time to by the cloth diapers I could not justify the cost of all-in-ones even if I made them myself because we were only spending about $20 a month on diapers (buying military storebrand diapers) so I went the "old fashiond" route pre-folds, pins, and plastic pants. The problem was that my huband who is wonderfull about helping with all of the aspects of parenting was not comfortable with the pins, I was talking to my Mom one day about it and she was like don't they make diapers with velcro? I said yes but they are expensive and more than I want to pay for diapers right now.

So today while driving home from my personal time shopping trip I came up with this idea.

I took a pre-fold diaper and folded it to the size Olivia is right now

I then put a piece of loop just below the line where the diaper folds over. I left the fold loose so that the diaper can grow with her. When she gets bigger I will put more loop at the bigger sizes and if God blesses us with another baby I will put loop at the smaller size also to make a one size fits all diaper.

I put hook on the top corners of the diaper and then put loop right next to it so that when I wash the diapers I can fold the hook over onto the loop and not get junk caught in the hook.

Here is the finished product.