Soft Sole Baby Shoes Update

I did give it another go yesterday with more soft sole / robeez like baby shoes. I chose to make them with simple flannel this time. No stretch to deal with. They turned out sooo cute. I love them. I fussy cut the tops to have a cute monkey on each foot. I also fussy cut the soles. One has a giraffe and the other has an elephant. They are lined with flannel too.
My next pair was some denim ones with faux leather on the bottoms. These turned out great too. For some reason they are a tad bit bigger than the others... I have no idea why. They too are lined with flannel. I love these because they will match anything.
As soon as I get a chance I'm going to get really brave and try some leather ones. I have some really nice suede and leather pieces that I got from a local tannery. They sell "scrap" leather by the pound super cheap. I'll post pics of those when I'm done. Again, my reborn baby doll is modeling for me. He/She has small feet compared to a real baby.

I'm Being Beaten By The Simplest Pattern!

I love love love Robeez shoes for babies. I only had one pair when my girls were babies. But, they were worn more than any other shoe. At that time I didn't even think of making some. Now however.... I know I want at least two pairs in each size until our son is walking. Then he will have one pair for indoor use and regular tennis shoes for outside. But, at $20.00 + per pair I needed to rethink that plan.
There are a few patterns free online here and here for making similar style shoes. There are many more so just do a search until you find one that you like. I started with the first one linked. A lot of people seem to love this pattern. I made a pair for a friend having a baby 2 or so years ago. They turned out so bad that I never sent them to him. Now that we are having a son, I needed to try again. Now, I'm trying a free pattern called Sew Darling Mini Mocs Pattern. It has all the sizes and good a good photo tutorial.
I sat down yesterday with some sweatshirt fleece and made the 0-6m size. Needless to say, I ended up tossing the finished set aside on my desk and walked away to do laundry. I just can't seem to make this simple pattern work! I think I made the slit on the toe/tongue part to high up on the inside and for some reason one of the shoes back parts was soooo much longer than the other and it's bunched up in the back. The photos of these shoes are very very kind. Though I do have to admit that looking at them with fresh eyes I do see potential. I'm going to try again with some flannel and cotton. I would love to get good enough so I can make some out of soft leather. There are so many darling shoes out there on Etsy. I might just break down and get some. My favorites right now are these, these, these, and these.

P.S. The baby feets in the photo is my reborn doll. Such a great model. But his/her feet are a bit to short compared to an actual baby. I think my blue faux Robeez look really big for a 0-6m.

Another Diapering Post

I guess I couldn't resist a post about diapers today. I should be doing something else right now. Like laundry, gardening, general house cleaning, or outside playing with the kids. But, my motivation level is really low today. So I think I'll do another diaper post.
Since being told that our little man will "very likely" be coming at or before 37 weeks I decided that our diaper stash may need a few more preemie size things just in case. I didn't want to make up a bunch of fitted diapers that he may never wear. Instead I decided to make some preemie prefolds. The JoAnne near our home now has PUL as well as diaper cotton. I made these 2x4x2 and they are approx. 9x12". This makes them the same size as standard preemie prefolds. I am planning on using them inside of some PUL covers like the little yellow one in the photo. I'll need to make one more in that xxs size. (I will have 3 xxs covers then) The prefolds are pictured with a standard NB sposie, one of my Very Baby NB fitteds, and a XXS Starter PUL cover.
Next up are some contour burp cloths. Easy hourglass shape using my own pattern. I used flannel on one side and some chenille that I've had in the house forever on the other side.
Last are some covers and a contour diaper that I bought from Wildflower Mama Designs on Etsy. These are the only covers and/or diapers that I have bought so far. The two covers are made with two layers of insanely soft wool. They are meant for babies NB - 20lbs. But, to me they look to long in the rise for a NB. But, the quality is awesome and I can't wait to use them. I also bought from her a basic all hemp contour diaper. I love how it has no closures. It's meant to be used with pins, snappi, or just tucked inside a cover. I loved this one so much that I used a pattern I had to make some similar. They look almost identical to hers, but mine have more layers in the middle and have longer back wings and a wider front wing area. I'm hopping that they will fit from NB - 20 lbs too.

24 Week Belly Bump

I can't believe I'm 6 months along already. It's seeming to go pretty fast. (boy... I look tired in this self picture) The girls will be out of school in just 6 weeks and with the hot weather on the way, I'm starting to think about swimming lessons, gardening, and of course preparing for baby. I still have a lot of sewing and shopping to do for this little one. We already have the bare essentials.

My midwife has told me that he will "very likely" come at or even a few weeks before week 37. I'm healthy and he's healthy, but I've already started having braxton hicks and my youngest was born at 37 weeks. I guess this all means that I better get going on my sewing and shopping!

A Little Spring Planting

It's been a while since my last posting. I figured that instead of doing another post about cloth diapers I would try something new. There hasn't been a lot going on around here other than the normal busy of a household with kids. But, we did do some spring planting.

Now, everyone who knows me knows that my thumb is anything but green. Totally brown if not completely black. The last time I tried to grow anything from seeds all died. My hubby knew that I wanted to try some herbs in a pot this next season and maybe some upside-down hanging tomatoes. I figured we would start with already started plants. But, he brought home seeds.......
I figured I would have better luck with them if I got the kids involved. Their love and general cuteness can make anything happy. I decided to start with egg cartons and potting soil. I wanted to find something free to start the seeds. So I figured this would work ok. And, it did! Here are the girls filling the egg cartons, and putting in the seeds. The trays that we put the cartons on fit nicely on my kitchen widow where they would get plenty of light and also be right with the sink to remind me to actually water them.

Here they are about 3 weeks later. Everything is growing except my tray of basil.... of course it would be my tray. My same tray with the tomatoes are growing fine... but not the basil. (my favorite thing!) Everything needs to be transplanted into something bigger. Again, I didn't want to go buy anything. So I read about newspaper pots. Love them! I made up a tray of 24... I still need to find another tray that will hold another 18, but for now at least the girls plants will have bigger pots.
Here we are transplanting and the final tray of seedlings. They are now sitting on our back patio table all watered. I think I'll leave them there for at least today. I think they will have a better chance of staying watered if I keep them in the house. But, I'm not sure where to put such a big tray.