W.I.P Wednesday

This week I decided to join up with Freshly Pieced and take part in Work in Progress Wednesday. I've got a couple of things on the drawing boards, but I actually managed to finish something that I started!

I've been working on the boys' baby quilts and then decided that I might as well do a twin size quilt, so that they can actually use it once they have their own {nautical themed} room. Here's the idea: The middle section is sailboats and nine patch, then there will be a top and bottom border. The top will be their name appliqued on, the bottom will be their name, appliqued, spelled out in flag-signs (Matt's helping me with that).

 

This finish got me the crazy lady award! I found out on 2/11 that BIL and PP were coming to visit the following weekend with our new nephew, so I had to get this quilt done. I managed to start and finish a 46" square quilt in 1 week with 4 kids....needless to say I didn't sleep much last week, but it was done. I love how it came out too!

The fabric was Baby Safari, the pattern was from my latest APQ magazine cover: I just adjusted the pattern from 9" finished blocks to 13"...took a lot of math to figure that out. In my latest form of baby quilts I backed it in flannel and hand tied the quilt. I really feel this just makes a nicer quilt; it's warm, it's soft, it's super cuddly.

I love my deodorant!

Last summer I attempted to make our own deodorant using this recipe (an awesome blog by the way!) I really like this deodorant. Most commercial deodorants have way too many perfumes to them.

I had bought a small su.ave deodorant to take to the hospital with me in December. I used it once and kept wondering what the smell was that was bothering my nose...I finally realized it was the deodorant, in the trash that went.

Since I didn't take any pictures of making the deodorant last time I have a few to share with you here....
{ The ingredients are all things we carry in our store }

It makes enough to fill a standard sized deodorant container and another small baby food container; and it only took me 2 minutes to make. I keep them in the fridge so they're hard and go on the way "normal" deodorant does. I can't wait to take a shower and use my deodorant again {I've been out for about a month now...whoops!}

Home Management Binder ~ Part Deux

If you missed the other posts about my Home Management Binder, you can find them here:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

I managed to pull together a lot of the supplies needed to create a binder from things I already have at home (I have a major weakness for school supplies). The big things you need are:
*Binder
*3-hole punched plastic sheet protectors
*Binder tabs
*Printed forms and information
*Post its (come in handy for marking changes to update sheets later)
*Computer paper and printer (if you like things "fancy")

The other part of my Home Management project is putting up instructions in our laundry room for people to know how to use our machines, as well as how to wash diapers/clothes. The only supplies I needed for that were a few cheap frames from wa.lmart.

I ended up spending maybe $15 on all of the supplies needed for my project, I had some and others I had to get.
You can see that my supplies are very basic and really nothing fancy, but they'll do the job. You can go totally crazy though with color coding, special graphics on your forms, pretty-fying the outside/inside of your binder. Whatever is going to get you to actually USE the binder is a bonus.

Keep tuned for Part Trois! I'll be posting all of the bits of information I have pulled together for our binder, as well as all of the pages I've created. If you've created a Home Management (Command Control) binder I would love to hear about it!

Home Management Binder ~ Part Un

If you missed the other posts about my Home Management Binder, you can find them here:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

The other day I posted asking for your questions and one of them was whether we had a game plan for life after these three are born. Simple {and hard} answer is "No", because I have no idea what to expect.

BUT I have had something in the works for a while: A Home Management Binder. With not knowing how many people we will have helping out, and knowing that no one, but me and Matt, knows how to wash cloth diapers, I decided I needed to take the time to create some sort of system of information.

A while ago I read the book Large Family Logistics (LFL), which was helpful, but not really, because the assumed norm of having one kid at a time doesn't apply to us. In general there was a lot of great information for ANY size family on getting organized. One of big things the author did discuss was creating an information center and a sort of system to your daily/weekly/monthly life.

I googled for a while (there's lots of ideas and lots of FREE things too); finding different ideas of what should be in it, ideas for layouts and formats, and referenced the LFL book. The hardest thing about this is what works for one family won't for another so you've got to really play around with ideas and designs, which I did months ago, but I never put the binder together.

I got my latest issues of Better Homes and Gardens today and for the new year they had a section on creating a Command Center Binder, with a free download (it has a lot of great information in it). That sealed the deal...I'm going to sit down and get this information pulled together. I've already done a lot of the leg work in creating the computer documents.

I'll be posting Part Deux, once I've pulled all the supplies together, to show you how I'm creating our Home Management Binder!

You know you've watched too much Winnie the Pooh, when you spell honey "H-u-n-n-y"

My sister and I recently decided that we wanted to try and make candles from bees wax. We found a company that Matt and his friend have ordered beekeeping supplies from and they had a kit for sale which included most of what we needed. Then we ordered extra wax and a couple of molds. We figure this would be a great way to make Christmas presents for family members, as well as to sell in the store.

It was actually pretty easy to do and we were really happy with how the candles came out: Melt the wax, pour it into the molds (have to spray them with silicone so you can get the candles out first), let them sit for a few days and pop them out of the mold. I was really surprised by how easy it actually was. The book that comes with the kit says it takes several hours to do, but we were done in about 30 minutes.

Voila! Easy and delicious smelling gifts!

The stockings were hung.....

A while ago I posted about how unfair our Christmas stockings were: Mine is HUGE, the others are not. My mom did needlepoint Christmas stockings for all of us, and with the progression of time the stockings became smaller. The manufacturers just started making the stocking kits, smaller and smaller, my sister's is HALF the size of mine, Matt's is about the same as that, and Ave's is even smaller.

It took me almost 2 years to make Matt's stocking (I enjoy needlepoint, but it's tedious and time consuming), it took me over a year to make Ave's stocking....see where we're going. With needing 3 more stockings, I could not spend the next 6 years working on Christmas stockings (not to mention I don't think I'll have the time).

I decided to scrap the needlepoint stockings and do quilted stockings. While certainly easier and less time consuming, it is not easy and not NOT time consuming, just less. So far I've gotten the top part of Matt's stocking done, and 1 other one (I'm not sure which kid is getting which yet).

The tops have come together pretty easy, it's the rest of it that has me worried. I found this great tutorial (and new blog) that shows how to do what needs to be done, but I'm still confused. Of course it doesn't help that I want to use Matt's grandmother's embroidery machine to put the names on the cuffs, which creates a whole other level of complexity.

Here's what I got so far, but I flubbed (does anyone else use that word? Flubbed? "To botch or mangle"). I used my stocking as a template, made a paper copy and added a bit around the whole thing for a seam allowance. On the first stocking (Matt's) I added even a bit more when I cut it out...I forgot I had done that when I cut the second stocking...Yea.

Notice how the "neck" (where your leg would go) of the second stocking is a lot smaller...that would be the problem. It's still big, but it's definitely messed up. I don't know what I want to do; I can either trash it, go with it, make the others the same, or ignore the mess-up and make the others like the first (CORRECT) one.

Needless to say, for the mean time this one has been put aside. I have a feeling I'll probably do what I usually do....start over, but only if I can find the right fabric, or have enough left of the fabric I used, because I love it! The green fabric is beautiful with bows of branches, swirls, and tiny peppermints. We shall see....

DIY Fall Wreath

I have a pinterest issue....or more precisely I have a Fall decor issue. I love Fall! Love the colors! Love the smells! Love the cooler weather! I've been really wanting a nice wreath for our front door, something to take us through 'til Thanksgiving.

I decided I was going to make my own. Yesterday my mom, A, and my sister went to Bing-ton; while there I went to Michae.l's for some silk flowers and a wreath form. I was going to use Styrofoam, but then the grapevine ones were cheaper. I spent about $23 on supplies, and I had a hot glue gun and sticks at home.

I started out working on it on the table, but it was hard to get a feel for the layout of the flowers. I ended up hanging it on the door of our buffet, so that I could see what I was doing. I trimmed up all the flowers so the stems weren't too long and pushed the leaves up closer to the heads, so I didn't lose them. I picked a couple of big ones to start with and just hot glued the bottoms of them, then kind of weaved the stems in to the wreath. Just kept playing with it until I liked it.

It took me about an hour to do, but I kept getting frustrated with the layout so I would walk away, then come back and see what needed to be different.

I'm pretty pleased with it and it was really easy to make. Fortunately our front door is sheltered from the weather and sun, otherwise I don't think it would hold up too good to fading and such.

Homemade Laundry Detergent - FAIL x 2

I've tried it again and it is just not working. I think the lye soap that I'm using isn't working: I believe the issue is that it isn't a hard soap. Most processed soap (Dove, Ivory etc) is extremely hard and it takes quite a bit for it to dissolve in water, the Lye soap is softer and dissolves pretty quickly. That's what I'm guessing the issue is.

This is what my jug from yesterday looked like this morning. It's separated and there were thick clumps of soap at the top, and then just funky water below. I shook it up and did a load of wash and I don't think it did anything.

Then I decided to try it again. I read some other stuff online; all have the same ingredients, the same basic idea, some had you boil the water first, then add your bar soap. I decided to try that. Boiled the water, added my soap, let it dissolve, add the rest in. It looks just like it should while it's cooking, but once it starts to cool it gets a film on top and has brown-ish water underneath.



For right now, I've given up. I guess I need to try it with a different bar soap, as that is the only difference. I was really hoping to use a natural soap though, so there would be nothing questionable in it. I have a few bars of Irish Spring lying around (we never use it), which I guess I could try that.

In the mean time....I'm now questing for a powder detergent recipe. I found one that was a cup each Bora.x and Washing Soda, and a bar of soap shaved. Maybe.

Crunch...Crunch....CRUNCH!

I don't intend to be crunchy, it just kind of happens when you try to be frugal. That, and I really don't like all the chemicals that are in some products (like deodorant, which you then spread on your lymph nodes).

Two things that I've made: Homemade Deodorant and Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent. Both were really easy to make and really cheap (which I like!)

The deodorant I liked: It was really simple to make just 3 ingredients (Coconut Oil, Baking Soda [I used aluminum free], and Arrowroot). We carry all 3 things in the store, but besides the coconut oil, they're all relatively cheap. I don't really sweat and I don't really get that lovely sweaty smell (I do sometimes). When I was pregnant with Ave I managed to get away, for the most part, without wearing deodorant. I do think the homemade deodorant works well for me.

However, Matt doesn't like it. He really wanted to like it and tried it for 2 weeks, but it just doesn't work for him. He works hard, physically, every day...he's out in the heat and lifting constantly. His complaints, it didn't really mask the odor (which I am going to see if I can fix) and it did nothing for the sweating, which resulted in him having some major chaff-age and break-out issues. For now, he's back to using his old deodorant, for at least the rest of the summer...maybe in the winter he can use it.

Unfortunately I did not take any pictures of making the deodorant. There really wasn't much to photograph.

The Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent was really easy to make too, and I did take pictures of that process....although there are some great pictures on the blog I linked to. I did the same as she and only made a 1/2 batch, which works out to about a gallon. I didn't want to have a ton of this stuff sitting around if I didn't like it.

I've been using Pu.rex Free and Clear for the past 4 or 5 years, especially since cloth diapering (one of the highest recommended). It used to be a lot cheaper than anything else, but since being "green" is now cool they seem to bump the price up and only certain stores (none in our town) carry the detergent.

I used a 1/2 a bar of lye soap (which we carry in the store), then bought my borax and washing soda. Just an FYI There are 2 different kinds of lye soap: The raw lye soap which everyone thinks of when they hear lye...the kind that will burn your skin off your hands, and then there is the processed lye soap which is actually a very gentle and great soap.Grating my soap...the finer you grate your soap the better, it takes less time to dissolve then.

Adding in the Borax and Washing Soda. This part stumped me a bit: The original blogger said that it would start to coagulate, but the person who's post I followed said that their's never did until 24 hours later. Mine did not coagulate during the boiling, we'll have to see how it sets up.
Unfortunately I don't have a pretty container to put my detergent in. I'm going to put my MIL in search of one, she always finds those kinds of things. For now, my laundry detergent looks like a gallon of skim milk sitting on the counter. I suppose I should somehow label it, so that Matt doesn't try and drink it ;-)

The cost of this: Insanely cheap! I figure the boxes of Borax and Washing Soda probably cost me around $10-12, but when you only need a 1/2 cup of each to make a gallon, I probably have enough to make 15 gallons of detergent. The lye soap wasn't cheap ($7 a bar), but I grabbed it from our store and just wrote it on our tab.

I will update once I've actually used this detergent...probably tomorrow or this weekend.

"You lift me up to the wind and cause me to ride; And You dissolve me in a storm" Job 30:22

I apologize for not having too many posts as of late regarding things going on around here...being sick didn't help. Anyways.....

Last week I got 2 skirts stitched up for Avelyn; they're a bit big still (made a 3/4) but by the summer time they should fit well. The yellow and blue one is actually done with scraps stitched into patchwork leftover from Avelyn's baby quilt I made. They're both really cute! How could a little girl in ruffles not be cute!

This was such an easy pattern, too: It was in the Summer 2008 edition of Quilts and More magazine, but I think this is the designer's blog, with the pattern. It's actually very easily adjusted to make it for anyone.

Today the weather was decent so we decided to take Avelyn and the dogs for a walk in the field...she was having a blast running after the dogs. She and daddy had quite the time high flying too.

Saturday night Matt and I were able to go to one of our favorite dances (the place with the really good food!); my sister was able to babysit and from the sounds of it she and Ave had a ton of fun! We had so much fun! The band was pretty good and we actually got to do a couple of dances that we enjoy that they don't usually play (tango, swing). It was great to get to spend time together and do something we enjoy.

"Do not plan for ventures before finishing what's at hand." Euripides

There are a few projects that we've almost completed around here, but just haven't managed to share.

After working diligently on the Christmas quilt for our room I think it's done. I planned on putting a few more borders on it, but when I put it on our bed it already covers the bed with quite a bit of a hang-over so I think it's good. Now I just have to decide if I want to hand tie it or send it out to be quilted....I have a few months to decide.

The other projects were of the wood-working kind: A new coffee table for the living room and a towel shelf for the bathroom.

Matt and I always work together with this kind of stuff. I usually draw up the plans, then we work together on cutting out the wood and assembly and then I get to finish it.

The coffee table was a simple enough design. Our old one was just too big for the room, particularly with Avelyn running around. We have a stash of pine that we keep for any projects that pop up and that worked perfectly for this piece. We haven't decided about a shelf along the bottom. We're waiting to see what Ave does with it and whether she hangs out underneath.

What I loved about the coffee table is it didn't cost us any thing: We had the pine, I had sample paint left over from choosing a house color, and we had a can of poly-acrylic left from the vanity. Love that kind of project!

The other thing we did was build a towel shelf for our bathroom out of the same oak (and stain) we use in the rest of the room. None of the towel racks I could find were right, plus they all cost several hundred dollars, and quite frankly, I'm cheap.

That's a few of the things we've been up to as we prepare for spring and the BUSY season :-)

11 weeks and New Developments!

We've had 2 new and exciting developments in the White House.

Avelyn's been pulling her pacifier, "George", out of her mouth and dropping him, for the past 2 weeks or so...well on Thursday she decided to take him out of her mouth and put him back in, repeatedly. The best was when she took him out of her mouth, was holding him, and didn't realize she was holding him, then started crying because she wanted George back.

Yesterday my sister was over and we were playing with Avelyn and gave her a plastic spoon to hold. I looked away for a SECOND, and my sister goes, "She just changed hands while holding the spoon!". Sure enough the spoon had been in her left hand and she had switched it to the right!

On Sunday night we headed up to my parents house to have dinner with them and some friends: It was really great to get together with everyone. Avelyn even got to meet another little friend, Sebastian, who is 17 months. He was so much fun! (Here's the pictures)

(Here's the pictures)


Avelyn's 11 week pictures!


Oh, and yesterday I crocheted a hat for A: It's the first thing I've crocheted since 2000.

“Faith makes all things possible.... love makes all things easy.”

I got my new glasses last night: WOOHOO! They're definitely taking some getting used to. Not only are they a stronger prescription, but there is also something with an astigmatism in my right eye that makes adjusting to them harder. (excuse the picture...I haven't brushed my hair today).

We also had A's ophthalmologist appt yesterday: Clean bill of health. The doctor didn't see any cause for concern with her pupils/irises. Most likely she will grow out of it.

She's been doing better. Yesterday was bearable and she was acting a bit more like herself. She was on her more regular sleep schedule last night and so far today she seems to be more like herself. Someone had suggested that it was a growth spurt, and then someone on the bump.com boards said their son went through the same thing at 8-10 weeks and chalked it up to a growth spurt and the vaccines. We're thinking it's a mix of a growth spurt, the vaccines, and an upset tummy. I'm beyond glad that she's getting back to her normal self.

We had a meeting this morning with the Child Health Plus people...A's application is submitted and they didn't see any issues with her getting the insurance. Hopefully it will all be through and submitted before her next Well Baby visit in March. I even got the application in the mail for Matt and I for Healthy NY...hopefully that goes through smoothly.

While my ILs are in Egypt my MIL let me borrow her cricut. It's a pretty cool thing, but I'm rather disappointed with it's limitations. I thought for sure that I should be able to cut text out of an overlay and just place it over another piece of paper, but you can't...you have to have the individual letters cutout and glue them to your paper. Oh well. I think I may try and use it for A's Christening invitations. The cartridges are certainly not cheap though for the different fonts and such.

This is what I made for A's room though. I've wanted something like this for a while. It isn't quite this color (I wasn't using the flash), but I'm pleased with how it came out :-) I'm waiting on one thing from Willow Creek Signs and then her room will be DONE!

This just in: Matt was in a car accident. He's fine. Today is the day he does the route, with another guy. The other guy was driving...he has issues, a lot of issues...most of which have been resolved for the past year or so. Matt was putting things into the computer and BAM! I'm not sure of all that happend, but from the sounds of it, the other guy fell asleep while driving and jerked the van off the road.

It's not even funny how many issues there are now because of this: The first being that the van is undriveable and they still have the entire day's worth of deliveries to make. If Matt makes it home before 10 tonight I'll be surprised. The other big issue is getting the van repaired; this isn't a minivan it's a 16' refrigerated van. On top of all this my parents insurance for the trucks/business is going to go through the roof because of this.

The guy told my dad in December that he was going to be moving out of the area in June, but I think my dad might just be firing him before then...he's pretty pissed. There's absolutely no excuse for this guy to not come to work well rested: He lives alone, his girlfriend is in another town, and he has no other responsibilities outside of work. At least Matt is ok (albeit very pissed off).

I actually finished something!

I can't even believe it...somehow I actually managed to finish this tote bag!



I had some struggles with it, as the pattern doesn't allow for inside pockets and I knew I wanted them, but I'm pleasantly surprised with how well it turned out. I actually had to quilt the entire bag body on my sewing machine and it actually came out looking halfway decent.

I hate quilting anything on my machine so I avoid making anything that needs to be quilted there. I was a bit tricky though in how I did it: Adhesive spray and painters' tape.

The pattern for the tote bag actually tells you to use spray adhesive between the layers before quilting them...I tried it and it actually worked quite well. The masking tape gave me straighter lines than I could've done on my own.

I finished it just in time too! Two of my cross stitch kits showed up in yesterday's mail.

On another note: Let the 2010 Christmas shopping commence! I got Ave's "big" present! I wanted to get her the LL Bean kid's push/pull sled. I thought to myself, "Hmm...maybe I can get it cheaper on ebay..." and I did. I managed to save $60 by buying it used on ebay.

The seller's mother bought it for her daughter this Christmas, but the kid is too big (she's 4 and it's meant for much younger kids)...it was used to pull presents up the driveway a couple of times...AND she's including a Christmas outfit that her daughter got that's too small too. WOOHOO!

Catch-Up

Breath!

I feel as though things have just been a whirlwind of ending and beginning, from one year to another, and that I just haven't written a REAL post. I don't feel that much is going on, but there are some things.

I called worked last week and told my boss I'd like to come in and discuss my return to work with her and our HR manager when she's next in the office. I could already tell it was getting a bit "chilly" on her end of the phone...great! I was told to contact our HR person to set it up; she finally called me back today. I go in next Monday at 1:30 to discuss my return (or lack there of) to work. I can hardly wait for this conversation *note sarcasm* Either they will be cool about it or completely bitchy and I'm not sure how to deal with it. I just have to keep telling myself, "It's not personal: It's business".

We had a nice Christmas, definitely better than last Christmas...when we found out the week before that BIL and PP were pregnant...whoops! I managed to not get into a fight with my brother, although we didn't spend much time near each other. I did almost got in a fight with FIL... or rather his behavior was TERRIBLE and I seriously wanted to punch him in the nose.

Christmas day he was down here and had a major attitude, granted he had a slight cold and didn't feel great. Matt asked him if he would be able to help him sheet rock our bathroom...."I'll have to think about it" (we found out yesterday, that while FIL was visiting BIL in NH, he helped him sheet rock their entire basement...but he can't help with our bathroom).

Then on Sunday (12/27) FIL, in a moment of kindness, helped Matt move the last of the wood pile into the basement (it only took a couple of hours). We went up there for dinner that night and he was in a mood again. We were doing presents with SIL and Matt's grandparents. FIL sits down next to the tree, MIL asks him to hand out gifts "I don't want to" and flat out REPEATEDLY refused to participate in giving gifts, left the room the minute they were done and went back to his TV (he didn't have a cold at this point). That night he makes some comment about A...I think we were talking about her hair or something...and he goes "It's not like it matters....it's all going to fall out anyways": SIL kind of went off on him about that.

I've been trying to get a picture of A and her grandparents since she was born, but FIL is never cooperative. They're leaving for Egypt for a month and I really wanted a picture before they left...here's the picture I have. He flat out refused to look at the camera. Isn't lovely?! GRRR!! He's been seriously getting on my nerves lately.

We have started a couple of our "To Do in '10" list. We went to Lowe's on New Year's Day to look at stuff for the bathroom and decided that we really don't like any of the bath vanities they have OR we don't want to spend $600 on them. I think we may just build the cabinet and the medicine cabinet too. We still have to sit down and price out the whole project, but we're seriously going to try and get it done for less than $1500. Sheet rocking is really the biggest part of the job, even the tiling of the shower isn't going to be too big. I just want to get it done.

I actually managed to work on a sewing project for the second time since A was born. Yesterday we were snowbound (we actually were all weekend, it was REALLY nice)...Matt brew a batch of beer and I started working on a tote bag in which to store all of the crafting supplies for the kits I bought. I'm hoping to be able to work on it in the evenings a bit, but between A, the dogs, the chickens, the furnace and the rest of the "household to dos" time is scarce.

We've decided on a bit of a sleep routine for us. We're going to rotate nights, as long as she's on schedule. Meaning every other night Matt get's the 3:30 shift and I get to sleep, but if she's wonky and not sleeping I get her. I tried in the crib last night again. She slept for about 3 hours in there, but would start crying every once in a while. Needless to say I didn't sleep during that time and actually considered sleeping on the floor so I was right there....we'll have to see.

The doctor wasn't too concerned, but was relatively adamant about no tummy sleeping. I know once she is allowed to sleep on her tummy that she's going to be a great sleeper, until then.... I honestly can't complain because she's not a bad sleeper, she just doesn't do what I (or the books) think she should. I guess that's partly my problem...I need to get over them (the books) and just do what works for us.

Here's the beginning of the tote bag I'm working on. I bought the black paisley fabric several years ago and absolutely LOVED it, but didn't want to use it in just anything...so I decided to use it in this (I have 5 yrds of it!).

I also went for my eye exam today, that was interesting with a 2 month old that didn't want to sleep. I need a stronger script, no surprise there, but I also have an astigmatism in my right eye...had one when I was a kid too. I asked the doctor about my eyes starting to bother me for up close work (ie. quilting or hand stitching) and he said to try wearing my glasses for that too, rather than just distance.

I'm not sure if these are it, but it looks kind of like them, but they're Mocha and Cream not black.






And I think that's all that is going on right now.....phew!