A long time gone...

It has been a long while since I have even visited this blog. Its been a crazy couple of months crammed with lots of various issues. But I won't get into that one here.

This week my mind has been racing with a variety of different things that I want to do. So I am going to list my latest projects.

1. Diaper Bag:
     While we were in Tucson I found "Little Stitches for Little Ones" on the clearance table at Borders. Thanks to my amazing friend Deanna, I was able to get a discount off of that clearance price. This is a book that I have been wanting since about this time last year when I discovered all of Amy Butler's amazing patterns. I had already fallen in love with her fabric but had no idea of her talent at pattern design until I was searching the internet fervently for crafts last winter.
      Anyway, there is a huge, beautiful diaper bag pattern included in the book. I love it! Not only is it big (which is a concern right now since I will have twice as much stuff to lug around and our current diaper bag is just barely big enough for one), but it is stylish.
       The trick is that I am trying to do it without spending much, or any money. I may have to pick up a few little supplies but I don't want to have to spend much money on it. This has been more of a challenge than I expected. Although I do have a decent amount of random fabrics, it is hard to find fabric that will work and that I like. I don't want it too be too baby-ish and would really like it to be more like a purse I would carry around.
       The other problem is that it calls for fusible fleece. First of all I don't really know what that is. I looked at it while I was at Joanns today and it looks like it is just fairly thin, soft interfacing that has glue on one side so that it will stick to the fabric. I have been looking online for reviews of this pattern so that I know what I am up against and so that I can find something that I might be able to substitute. The best I have come up with is felt. Several people have said to use fleece but the fusible fleece is really nothing like regular fleece and I doubt that would work well in the pattern. So I can't decide if I should get the fusible stuff or if I should just try it with the felt.

2. Curtains:
      This has actually been a priority for awhile now. I need to get curtains done in order to move my son into his bedroom. I haven't been able to decorate it as much as I would like but thanks to my friend Nenna it has been cleaned up enough that S can be moved in. But there are two bright street lights that shine into the room and the sun is blaring in the morning. Even though there are the standard blinds that were included with the house (base housing), they don't do a whole lot to help with the light. So curtains are a necessity.
          A while back I found some curtains that were the perfect color of green at the Airman's Attic (think free goodwill for enlisted military families). There was a stain on one of the curtains and they were not the right size for the windows that we have in the room. Due to that I knew that I would need to re-adjust the curtains in order to make them work. This has been a lot harder of a process than I expected.
         First, I discovered that the person who had owned them before had actually bought the top layer of the curtains and then attached fleece to the back. The stitching was horrible and needed to be replaced in order to make the curtains even begin to work.
          Second, the freshly altered curtain pieces lost quite a bit of fabric from removing the bad stitching. Now I am in a place where I am not sure that there will be enough fabric to make it work. This means that I will have to use more of my own fabric, which was something I was trying to avoid (except in small quantities).
         Tonight I took a part a bumper (also found at Airman's Attic) that was really cute but had a lot of little stains on it and the ties were messed up. I didn't feel comfortable with using it in my son's crib so I decided I would take it a part and use the fabric.
          The fabric matches wonderfully with the room, and with the curtains. Now the trick is figuring out how to attach it to the curtain pieces and make it look good. I might have to do patchwork and fill in with random material. The problem is that I don't really have material that is the same weight AND colors to mix in. So I am kinda at a loss as to what to do.
             I do have some cute monkey fabric that mostly matches that I was thinking of using. I just don't know how to make it all work. Its puzzling me. But I am sure I will figure it out.

3. Crocheting:
         I'm excited about the two crochet projects that I have in the works. The first is a baby blanket for T (all yellows and a new pattern I haven't tried before) and the second are squares that are going to be mailed to an online buddy, stitched together and then donated. I am really excited about this project because it was my New Year's Resolution to make at least two afghans to be donated this year. I'm not sure that I will count this as one of them but at least it is working towards my goal. And its only February! Lol!

4. Cards:
        For some reason my mind has not been working as well with creativity as I would like. On one hand it is racing with ideas. On the other, the ideas are just not coming out completely.
        One project that has been stumping me is card making. I need Thank You cards to give to people who have (and will) given us baby gifts. I also need to get a plan together for my baby announcements. I need to get as much of it pieced together as possible so that when T is born it doesn't take forever to get them done. It is going to be a challenge to craft, as it is, with two babies in the house.

5. Bags:
       These are to organize things in the diaper bag. Right now I have a bunch of different ziploc baggies in my diaper bag to keep things organized and easy to grab. Although this does work, I want to make myself a set of bags that will coordinate with the diaper bag I mentioned above.
       I want to make a bag to contain diapers. One bag for each child. They will contain just that, diapers, and nothing else.
       I also want to make a coordinating changing pad. This I want to make as a kind of wallet that can hold the container of wipes. I have a changing wallet but it is kind of big and I would rather have something more simplistic for the purposes of being in the diaper bag.
         The other bags that would be nice to have are: clothes bags (one for each child), a matching bag for food and such, and a bag for the toys to be in. I don't know how much I want to make all of these bags. I am going to start with the diaper bag and the bags for the diapers and then move on from there. Currently each of those items are inclosed in separate ziploc bags even though there are plenty of pockets in my diaper bag, simply because it makes it easy to grab things out when needed. But we'll see how ambitious I get. It all kinda depends on when T comes.

6. Clothes Dividers:
       I want to make clothes dividers and labels for everything in the nursery. I want it to be easy for me, and anyone else who needs to get into the clothes to find exactly what they need. And I want them to be cute.
        This one I have totally planned out as well. I just need to sit down with my cricut and do it. But that has proven to be easier said than done. I also need to pick out some paper out of my vast amount of scrapping paper that I have.

7. Name Banners:
       This is another project that really just requires sitting down and doing it. I am going to use cereal boxes and my cricut to make "chipboard" letters to decorate and then hang on the wall above each baby's crib. I haven't decided how I am going to hang them. I think that I might hole punch the letters and then attach a loop at the top of each letter so that I can easily hang them. I don't have any other ideas of how to get them on the wall that wouldn't do any damage to the walls.

I also have several ideas of things that I want to make for friends, for my "business," and for myself. But the above are the more pressing items. I know that once Tobias comes it is going to be really hard to get anything done. And although I am so ready to be done with this pregnancy and the contractions and doctors appointments, I would love to be able to get through at least part of this list before he comes. But we'll see what happens. The boys might just have to figure out how to spend more time playing on their own so mama can get some things done. I'll try to get some pictures posted tomorrow so you can see what I have done recently and what I am up to. Hopefully I will be productive tomorrow.

Update

I know I have been missing from here lately. That is not to say that I haven't been working on crafts. I have been. Just not as much as before. First, Christmas came and I got wrapped up in all that brings. Then we got home and I started preparing for Sherwood to move into his own room and for T to come. Now I am in so much pain due to the pregnancy that it has really slowed me down. So I may not have anything new or exciting to share with you in the next few weeks (months?) but I will try to get some pictures up of some of the things that I have been doing as soon as possible.