6 Weeks Has Come and Gone!

I am not doing very well at updating here, I apologize. My baby boy is extremely colic-y right now and it is everything I can do to keep up with the housework. I am trying to throw a little sewing in here and there. I can now understand what I have always heard about babies with colic and how hard it is for the mamas. It's so hard to see your baby hurting and not be able to do much, but hold and try and comfort him. I hope this doesn't last too long for my baby's sake.

I did manage to embroider a antipill fleece soaker from the katrina soaker pattern. It would be perfect for Halloween, but I forgot to size up, so it will be too small for Halloween. Probably throw this one in the store.

I did a Batman set after that, with a Katrina soaker and matching lap tee from Otto. I love this set on my little guy, but it won't fit for long the way he is growing! I appliqued the bat symbol on the butt and then on the tee, using some repurposed fabric for the sleeves. My big guys love this set on him! I love the easy wash and wear of the anti pill soakers. I think these may take the place of my wool soakers. They are cheaper to make too and I love all the color and print choices!

And then there are a couple of sets that I have shown before, but they are oh so much cuter when they are modeled! And I have to throw my little brotherly love picture in here too. Noah is so ready for Tristan to be able to play with him, but for the moment he will have to do with a kiss here and there!

I am happy that I was able to send off 2 tees that were my end of swaps with a couple of sewingmamas! I was so happy to get them off to the post office, I forgot to grab a pic or two! I hate when I do that.

Now I am off to work on a purse that I have needed to get done for far too long. I have it all cut out and most of the interfacings too, but need to get sewing! I must use every second that I have while baby boy sleeps! Have a great week!

My Little Chunk!

Tristan turned 5 weeks old yesterday and his 1 month appt. was this past Monday. His nickname has been "Peanut" because he weighed only 5 lb 5 oz and was such a shorty. But after his 1 month weigh in, he needs to be called "Butterball"! Our little guy is now 8 lb and 8 oz, wow! That's great news for me because everything I made before he was born should start to fit around now.

Today he is wearing the owl lap tee that I made with the matching Sprout Snap diaper. The diaper is still a bit big on the small setting, but at least we will be able to enjoy it for a long time!

I drafted a wrap top this week, raglan style and the good news is that it fit. The bad news, I think I made it too small and I don't like the wide sleeves, so I need to redraft it. It matches a DDU serged diaper that I made last week.

And finally I had to sew up another romper for him to match his personality. Yes, my little sleeping angel has at times become a little monster! Gone is the newborn sleepy phase! He is fighting to stay up longer during the day and then fighting not to sleep later on in the evening. Hopefully this too will pass!

Off to cut out some PUL diapers! We are outgrowing our Ladida NB's and I think I am going to do mostly darling diapers newborns for now(the bigger one).

I added a long sleeved version of my Newborn Romper to my etsy shop. Perfect for anyone's little monster from about 7 to 9 lbs.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/57002522/little-monster-baby-romper-boy-newborn

Time Flys When You are Having Fun!

Tomorrow my baby boy will be 4 weeks old! I just can't believe how fast the world is spinning! He has been a little fussy this past week so not a lot of sewing has gotten done. Slowly working on some roman shades for my living room, did I say slowly, think turtle pace.

I did have some time to sew up another jumper. I lengthened it just a tad more this time and used some of my Aussie guitar knit. I just love this fabric!! Thank goodness I have more. Here is a yawn and a picture of Tristan trying to like his swing(he doesn't).

And just because I adore these fabrics, I picked some up and sewed a girly one. Mind you I have no one that to give it to, but it sure is cute! I think maybe this will go into my shop. Sadly it has a flaw in the owl fabric that I didn't notice until I was putting snaps on. So I guess I will have to make it a 2nd and discount it deeply. Hopefully someone having a small little girl will adore it as much as I do!

Off to sew a little while my baby boys catches up on his sleep!

3 Weeks Old Already!

Just when you think you have a routine established the baby boy decides it doesn't work for him! I haven't gotten very much sewing done this week. Tristan has decided to stay up a little more during the day and take a little longer to nurse. I did manage to cut out a new pattern yesterday and sew it up during nap time.

This one is the wraparound romper from ottobre 3/07. I decided since the smallest size was 50 to trace without seam allowances on the sides and even took the sides in some too. I didn't like the thought of wasting all that great fabric underneath where it crosses over so I altered the pattern to just snap up where the two meet. I just layed my pattern pieces on top of each other and traced the curve adding an inch or so for me to turn under for a facing. Worked great! Thankfully too, because I used my prized Seuss knit that I had saved from a blanket that I bought a couple of years ago. I just adore this one! I already had a matching LDD diaper too!

And just for cuteness sake here are a few pictures of diapers that we have worn this week. Most can be found on my blog, but I think modeled pictures are so much better!! These are a mixture of Ladida NB and Darling Diaper NB. I think the bottom one with the minky is my favorite at the moment. I think I need more minky!

Starting to Sew Again!

This Wednesday Tristan turned 2 weeks old and I am starting to feel like a real person again! We are slowly getting into some kind of routine with just the two of us here during the day while everyone else is at school and work. As soon as I put Tristan down for a nap I run into my studio to cut something out or sew something up! Oh, and throw a load of wash in too! I forgot how much more laundry a baby can make!!

This week I traced some otto preemie patterns and tried a few free tutes too! Issue 6/07 has some great preemie patterns, I tried out the wraparound jacket and the jumper. The wraparound is a great pattern. I made a 45 and Tristan is a little over 6 lbs now, fits him great! If anyone does this one, for this size I used ribbing that was 44" long for the top.

The jumper pattern was a different story. The first time around I did it as they wrote it and what a pain!! If anyone tells you that binding, corners and a preemie size is a great idea, they are fooling you!! Horrible to coverstitch, the curves are just too small and really curvy for a coverstitch machine.

So the next attempt, I decided to cut out a facing instead. Super easy just trace the top of the jumper. I did a simple zig zag stitch on mine for topstitching. This was a much better method than the binding, trust me!

I also tried out the free XXS Comet Tails diaper pattern. I really like this one. It is very SMALL though, so unless you have a peanut this probably isn't the dipe for you. I had to put the diaper on the 2nd setting for Tristan. I may just enlarge it a little for the next time.

http://makingitlittlebylittle.wordpress.com/2008/03/06/xxs-little-starter-free-download/

Oh and before I forget, I tried out the freebie breast pads too. LOVE these! I made 2 pair the other day, but I will definitely need a couple more. Great pattern and super easy to sew up!! The inside is a bamboo fleece and the outter shell is PUL. Very absorbant and the bamboo fleece is super comfy against the skin!

http://www.pamperedcheeks.com/nursing_pads_pattern.php

I made these little shoes to match the outfit above. I cut them out without the seam allowance AND took a bigger seam allowance, but they are still a little too big. Very cute though and they don't take but an hour or so to sew up from start to finish.

http://stardustshoes.blogspot.com/2006/10/cloth-shoe-pattern.html

I hope to have a few more things to share from this weekend! I hope everyone enjoys their Labor Day!! Happy Sewing!!

My New Little Love!

August 18, 2010, Tristan David is born! It was a long day, starting out with my water breaking at 8 AM when I woke up and ending with an emergency csection around 9:30 PM. Everything that had went so well in my previous 3 births, went the opposite with this one!

I have now learned to expect the unexpected and that sometimes no matter how hard you tell yourself I can overcome this, well it's just not possible.

I told myself that a csection would never happen with me. I do really well during labor and cope with pain enough to get me through. My 1st labor was under 3 hours, my 2nd about the same and my 3rd was an induction, but lasted only 7 hours from start to finish. This one was over 12 and ended the way I never thought it would. Sometimes we can't control things and this was just one of those times. When baby boy's heartbeat fell to around 65 or so, I knew that my baby was the most important thing in this world at the time, and life would go on as long as he was healthy. So at 9:58 Tristan came into this world weighing a whopping 5 lbs. 5 oz. and around 18" long. Healthy and pink, but a little bruised from the trip. I told everyone that he reminded me of Rocky Balboa for the first 24 hours, a little beat up, but a winner!

Tristan had a slight bit of jaundice and spent 24 hours under the lights on his 2nd day, but we were able to come home on Saturday. I now have a new appreciation for any woman that has underwent a csection. I have always taken for granted how easy it was for me to bounce back from natural labor and how quickly my body healed. THIS is a whole different ball game! I am just glad that it happened to me during my last labor because I'm not sure I would have ever gotten pregnant again if it had been my 1st! But now after a week, slowly things are beginning to feel a little better.

I know you are expecting great pictures of Tristan in his mama made, well sorry. All of my babies have weighed over 8 lbs and had a little chunk to them when they were born. I expected nothing less from this little guy. In fact, the doctor had told me just 2 days before birth that I was having a larger baby. Guess Tristan fooled him! My mom came to the rescue and stopped to buy some preemie outfits on the way over to the hospital.

So we will have to grow in to all of our mama made. I do have 1 picture of him in a Jamie Jumper that while too big was cute just the same! I have pages marked in my ottobres as I type, preemie clothes are on the way! Just need to feel a little better first!

Tristan's bed set, well, I finished the bumpers the night before I went into labor. They are so cute! I dare not show them without the other pieces though, so as soon as I get the skirt and blanket finished I promise some pics! And sometime today I have to sew up some breast pads and some flannel wipes. Those are at the top of my list! Must haves!

Now I am off to steal some sweet kisses from my sleeping bundle of love. He is such a good baby and I'm not just saying that because he is mine. He really is! I have gotten lucky for the 4th time in a row and have decided not to push my luck anymore. I am officially happy with 4 of the best kids that a mama could wish for.

1 Month Exactly!

I am still here! I can't believe it has been over 2 weeks since I posted. I have been nesting away, but not sewing as much as planned. I look around and see so many things that I would like to do before baby boy arrives. We have exactly 1 month as of today! That doesn't seem long, but yet, when he is trying to stretch out inside my tummy it seems like a lifetime of waiting!

Top on my priority list, make the crib bedding. I bought Monaluna's beautiful new Monaco collection to make the bedding, have it all washed up, sitting here, but I am afraid to cut into it! Silly I know! I keep tossing ideas around of how I would like it to look and they seem to change frequently! Must come up with a design soon and stick to it. Hubby has had the crib up for a week or two and it looks plain naked!!

Second on the priority list, more diapers, preferably smalls. I think maybe this baby boy will outgrow his newborn sizes lickety split, so I could really use more smalls. I have about 6 fabrics picked out that match onesies the kids and I printed last week. We finally tried our hand at freezer stencils and oh my I think we are addicted. They turned out so cute, but they really need to be hemmed into tees and they need diapers to go with them! Pictures to come very soon I promise!

Third on my list, I need to make up some trifold soakers, wash clothes and wipes. That just seems really boring, so that is perhaps why I haven't gotten around to it yet. However, diapers are no good without soakers, so I really need to push it up on the list!

Can't have a post without pics, so I will show a few of the upcycled tees I put on ebay last night. I usually throw them in my etsy shop, but I figured hey why not give ebay a little of my hard earned money. I haven't listed over there in so long, it took me forever to put up 9 auctions! Trying to trim down my tee shelf in the sewing studio, so I decided to make some money while I did it and turn them into unique tees! I am really quite addicted to sewing these and Noah my 7 yr old just loves to wear them too! I make the tees in boy sizes 2-8, they are all one of a kind and I'm told, fun to wear!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260646624622&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260646636251&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260646642009&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT