Cottage-y Cotton for my Cookie Cutters

I was inspired by Tabiboo to make a drawstring bag for my cookie cutters. I had them sitting in a basket on the ledge until the ant infestation a couple weeks ago. My husband went a little nuts-o with the bug spray and got it all over everything, so we had to wash all the cookie cutters and utensils that were sitting out on the counter. I finally got them washed today and was able to put them into these two cute bags. (I only meant to make one for them all to fit into, however it turned out a little smaller than I had imagined).


Thank you Tabiboo for the inspiration :)

For Girls' Eyes Only

Hello ladies. Today I want to talk to you about breast pumps. If you aren't interested in breast milk and don't want to hear how I think I broke a world record in milk production today, then you can scroll down and read about a blanket binding I sewed yesterday.

I heart my Lansinoh double electric breast pump. If you're in the market for one, this one's the one to buy. My son won't latch on to the breast, so I have to pump the milk and feed him in a bottle. I really don't mind because that means my husband can partake in some of the middle-of-the-night goodness. I just jab him in the ribs, tell him it's his turn about three times, and voila, he's up and at 'em.

Today I slept in a little later than normal. I didn't get up until 8-something, and I hadn't pumped since 10:30 PM. About 11 hours of not emptying the breast is not a good thing. They felt like bricks. I think I could have broken a window with them. I couldn't pump right away either because Joel was hungry and crying, so I had to feed him first. Then I realized the pump parts had been rinsed last night but not washed thoroughly. By the time I started pumping, it was 9:05. In twenty minutes, I had pumped 12 ounces. 12 ounces in twenty minutes has to be some kind of world record, people. And that's not even taking advantage of the fact that I have a double breast pump. I broke a part the other day so I can only use one flange, so I can only pump one breast at a time.

Speaking of broken parts... I got on their website, and the part I broke was 90 cents. I about fell out of my chair with disbelief. But don't worry; they made up for it in shipping and handling. They wanted over 7 bucks to ship something just a little bigger than a quarter. I decided to buy several extra parts for the pump just in case I break or lose something else. I ended up buying five bucks worth of parts, and the shipping stayed the same.

Just in case you're totally enthralled with breast pumping and would like to see graphs on my progress, you're in luck. (Yes, I am one of those moms). Below is how much I have pumped each day for about the past month. Each color represents a pumping session. You can see that lately, I usually have pumped only four times a day. I figure if I am getting the right amount of milk in just four pumping sessions, why pump more?



The other graph is how many ounces my son eats in a day (what's going on with that sixteenth day?). During the first month of his life (not shown), I had to give him more formula, however as you can see, he barely needs to eat formula at all now. I am still using the free sample cans, though I am on the third and final one. (Luckily my sister-in-law gave me two, and my hospital gave me one so I have plenty).


Ok, as promised for those of you who just want to read about sewing... another blanket binding project. My mom kept all my thirty-year-old blankets, however they were in sorry shape. She gave me four big boxes of my and my brother's baby stuff when she found out we were pregnant, but alot of it needed a facelift, like this striped blanket below.

I didn't know that they actually sell blanket binding already made until about a month ago when I thrifted a bag of vintage sewing stuff, and several packages of it was inside. Woot, woot! That made it a heck of a lot easier, and it turned out so much better than the one I did a few months back.

Here's some of the blanket bindings I got in that thrifted bag o' goodies.

The finished product.

Bunny Ears and Lots of Tears

Today I decided to make Joel some bunny ears. Yes, Easter was two days ago. That's the story of my life, folks. Two days late and a dollar short.

They were really easy to sew since I used felt. Not just any felt... felt I already had lying around the house! Another craft project to use up the stash. Yay :)

I used a hat that fits him as a template, but I made it a little larger since the felt doesn't have as much give as his hat. When assembling the ears, I used pipe cleaners inside so that the ears would be positionable. As it turns out, they were pretty heavy and would not have held up on their own. That was okay though since he was laying down for his photo shoot.

Why does my mom torture me so?

No self respecting two month old should be caught dead in a bunny suit...

How to Make a Child Leash

Happy Easter everyone! (All three of you!) This weekend we're up at my parents' place, hanging out and watching the same exact Mecum Car Auction show that we watched last night. As I have several built-in-baby-holders for a couple of days, I should be able to get online in peace for awhile.



So I was online trying to find some blogs about sewing a child's toolbelt (yay, I have thrifted almost all the kids tool toys I need!), when I ran across a tutorial on how to make a child leash. Hmmm. I'm not sure I feel about this one. Joel's not mobile yet so maybe my tune will change next year, however it just doesn't feel right to me. Although on the other hand, I do have the tendency to want to call him "Licorice" (my deceased pet rabbit's name). I also keep catching myself almost saying things like, "Not now, Joel. You just ate; now it's the humans' turn to eat. Mommy and Daddy are hungry too!" (as if he isn't human). I think Joel is going to grow up and have a complex.

So what do you think about toddler leashes? Yay or Nay? Do you think it would be a good idea to get a bunch of ladies together and pump a bunch of these out? You know how there's knitting and quilting groups to make little hats and blankets to send to people in need? Well I could start a group of lady-leash-makers, and we could pass them to out to mommies in need. You know the type, right? They let their kids run wild, terrorizing grocery store shoppers.

Um, maybe we better not.

Back in the Saddle, err the Sewing Machine

I actually got a chance to sew today! No, the grouting isn't finished (though it is close, and we'll finish it tonight). Instead of grouting this afternoon, I decided to make a poodle skirt for my friend's upcoming 1950s-themed bridal shower.



It was really easy! And the best part is, I didn't buy a thing for this project. That's right folks, you should be very proud of me. I used things already in my stash! The purple felt was free several years ago from a friend. The elastic was from an old pair of shorts that had long since been scrapped (but of course the packrat in me cut off the elastic and kept it). The white felt was from an after-Christmas clearance sale from Michaels. I've had the glitter for years and years; it was attached with Elmer's spray adhesive from the closet. The buttons were in one of my several mason jars of vintage buttons, and the ribbon was already in my ribbon bag. And last but not least... the fuzzy "fur" was thrifted several years ago. Can you guess what it really is?

It's okay. Go ahead and guess. I'll wait.

*Twiddles thumbs and whistles the Jeopardy theme*

Give up?

It's actually faux spider webbing for Halloween! I bought several bags of it for a quarter each to use as stuffing for pillows, softies, etc.

Here's a close-up of my furry friend. She's glued on with hot glue. Have I mentioned before that I *heart* my glue gun?



The only thing that isn't on the skirt that I would like to add is the leash. I would like to use some sequinny ribbon, but I don' t have any. If I were to buy some, then I can't say that the skirt was made entirely from things I already have, so I probably will just leave it as is. Oh well. I'm pretty pleased with it anyway!

The Most Awesome Cake Ever

Isn't this the most awesome cake you've ever seen?



Yes, it's really a cake! You can visit parenting.com to see how to make it. Basically, you take a cake and cut it to fit the burger basket. After you ice it, you top it with the yummy french fries! Well they're not really fries; they're toasted slices of pound cake with a side of red icing. This cake is going to be sweet for my friend's wedding shower in a couple weeks. I'm throwing her a fifties themed shower, and I already had purchased 14 of those burger baskets. We'll be having good old fashioned hamburgers, fries, and malt shakes. Mmm! A heart attack on a platter.

Ok, enough blogging. Grout is calling my name. Ugh.

Must. Finish. Grouting. Soon.

Still Spring Cleaning

Yep, I'm still at it. I don't think the bathroom will ever get done. I'm now working on regrouting the tiles on the walls around the bathtub. It's looking pretty good but I get bored easily and keep taking breaks, so it's not going very fast. My goal is to have it done by Friday. We'll be out of town from Saturday until Monday night, so it can dry while we're away. Tuesday then we should be able to shower at home again for the first time in over two weeks!

I'm also scrubbing the grout between the tiles on the floor to make it white again. It's amazing how dark they had become and I hadn't even noticed. Up against the new white though, the dingy grey really sticks out bad!!

In the kitchen, I've got a crock pot full of venison stew cooking. My coworker's boyfriend had hunted and killed a deer, and since my hubby loves it, she gave me two steaks. I've never cooked deer meat before, so hopefully it turns out good. I figure you can't really go wrong with the crock pot. It makes the toughest cuts of meat nice and tender!

I've also started saving all my hubby's coffee grounds, and all my egg shells for the garden. I absolutely hate gardening, however to save money I just might give it a try this year. Even if I don't actually plant anything, I figure I can save these coffee grounds from going to the landfill by putting them in our soil.

The only other thing going on today was finishing up our taxes. We're getting back a few thousand, so I'm pretty happy about that. We need all the padding in the bank account we can get since my job is still up in the air for next year.

The only sewing I've done lately was to trim down the sides of Joel's Easter sleeper. I had thrifted one for him before he was even born, but it's a size 3-6 months. From what my mom had said about me as a baby, I figured he'd fit into that size at 2 months. I was wrong. It wasn't a big deal to make it a little thinner, although the arms are a little long on him. Here he is wearing it: