back in the saddle again!

In all the craziness of the last year, we moved to a new house. Still in the same complex - but a house! We have the top floor and attic of a lovely Victorian that has belonged to many different people over the years but started out as one of a row of houses for railroad executives when Vancouver was growing into a city. The house was overhauled about 20 years ago, and made into two suites. The old lady that lived in our suite before us was NUTS! The entire place was painted purple. Three different shades of purple. And hot pink (the kitchen). And peach (the bathroom). I wish we had photos, but she was required to paint it back to white before she left. She also tried to blackmail us into paying her $1000 for updates she did to the house 20 years ago - a window she put in, the attic she finished (very poorly, I might add), a really old washer, dryer and dishwasher that she didn't want to remove. We refused to pay her, as this is a co-op, and in return she siliconed the windows shut, and tried to smash holes in the attic walls. Thank goodness she was frail and couldn't do much damage. We (i.e. me and my dad (Opa)) did alot of mending to make it "ours". Bamboo laminate in the attic, fresh colours (not purple) in the bedrooms. The co-op gave us new carpet and lino throughout the house - lucky us! New light and bathroom/kitchen fixtures. We bought a new washer and dryer (my first ones!) and dishwasher through great sales over the Christmas holidays/economy slump. I feel so grown up having a washer and dryer in my own home! Sadly, the front porch belngs to the unit below us but we do have a view of the ocean from a few windows and we will be able to see the fireworks from our balcony off the attic.

My big yellow house in the Winter....


My big yellow house in the Spring....we have a lilac tree out front!


Have I mentioned that I love this house? The layout is so much better than our last place - everything on one floor. The only thing that bugs me is the bathroom. It is like a hotel bathroom - narrow and squashed into the only space they could find. It is in the centre of the floorplan, and as such, is party central whenever I need to "go". I hate having an audience.

The attic space is a playroom/craftroom/office. The office part is the part that is allowing me to post here again. My computer was in the bedroom, but the baby naps in there so I never got any typing time. Now my computer is in the attic on my crafting table so I can type while he sleeps. I have so many updates to catch up on. I am looking frward to blogging again and not just reading everyne else's!

It Happened..a year ago....

So it has been a year (well, 15 months, now...) A VERY BUSY year. I was going to post on my due date which was the 26th of March 2008, but I started to go into labour that night. Early labour - nothing to crazy. I called the midwives and the doula around 11pm to give them the heads-up. I had the doula come over shortly after because I was getting nervous. She slept in the other room until early in the morning when things started rolling. She called the midwives and they came to check me. I was in agony, but only at 1cm. My dear son was punching my cervix with his very able little hand. I only wanted to be on the bathroom floor. Moving was no good for me - I needed the safety and sturdiness of a floor. The bathroom floor was cool and comforting - but tight for a birthing mama, a doula and a midwife and her student. Miss b and papa hung out in the living room and made a welcome banner. She was very calm through the whole process. I remember her coming in a few times and stroking me gently. She listened from downstairs for my sounds changing. I was LOUD and VERY FOUL MOUTHED. It hurt alot and I tend to panic. We used lots of homeopathy and it calmed me. Through transition I moved back to bed. I didn't want to lie down anymore, and the cold floor wasn't doing it's job. I found the word "out" and used it frequently. He came rather quickly after transition - only 15 minutes of pushing. The back-up midwife made it just at the end. My boy got stuck just past the shoulders, which is unusual (they usually just slither out). The student asked if she could pull him, and he came out with a tug. He was a very big, chubby boy. The biggest cheeks you can imagine. 9.5 pounds of him birthed at home without any drugs. Oh my!

Then...


Now...

Will this make it happen????

I am less than a week away from my due date, and I am so ready to have this baby. He's so heavy! And I am so bored. I have finished 95% of my projects. (I can't finish them all as it gives me the heebee-jeebees - I am oddly superstitious that if I finish them all that I won't be around afterwards). I'll show you the projects that I have finished. The quilt that needs to be hand quilted and the home-made fitted diapers and wool sweater diaper covers that need snaps are to left to the imagination for now....

But before the projects, I have to show you this cute picture of one of my snuggle-bug cats, Simon. He has been super clingy all through this pregnancy. When I am at the computer he insists on being held like a baby in my lap, or up on my shoulder like you would burp a baby. If I sit on the couch he is magnetically attracted to my big warm belly. At night he sleeps on my belly/back, as I sleep on my side. This is me sittin gon the couch cross-legged and knitting, with a belly warmer:


Knitted Wool Diaper Covers


I forget which pattern these are, but I know I got it from Anna! They are lanolized and ready to go. I hope I did the lanolin correctly. The process is simple, but I have never done it before. It is so hard to tell if they'll work. I'll just have to try them out and hope for the best. Jumping into cloth diapers and wool covers is a new thing for me. We used disposables for Miss B. Now we know better and plan on keeping all that plastic out of the landfills.

Home-Made Pre-folds


I made these small pre-folds out of a stack of old t-shirts. The inside centres are padded with the pink t-shirts that I just can't put on a boy bum. I kept the more neutral colours for the outsides. They sure are soft. They were amazingly simple and easy to make. I love my serger!!! I hope they are absorbent enough.

I made some larger ones, too. Home-made tie-dyed t-shirts will look so cute on a baby bum, especially this summer!


I made some black ones too, but they didn't look good in the pictures. I can't wait to see them on. A little punk rock bum!

Dyed Indian Cotton Pre-folds


These were unbleached indian cotton prefolds that I bought from a local diaper retailer. I wasn't going to dye them, but after I dyed the motherese from the last post, I just couldn't stop myself. The colours ended up more muted than the motherese, but I think it has to do with the colour of the unbleached cotton. It could also be that i only washed the pre-folds 10 times before I dyed them and there may have still been some oil left on the fabric that prevented it from absorbing as much colour. Oh well, still cute!

Another Pair of Longies


I love this pattern. It is so simple - a great brainless activity. I must make more....

The Bag


I made this bag out of nothing. I made up the pattern. Well, actually, I didn't even use a pattern. I just cut out pieces that I was hoping would fit together. The dark grey corduroy came from remnants of a project from before Miss B was born. We had inherited a car seat from a friend, but the cover was ghastly. At nine months pregnant I had decided to recover the car seat with the lovely grey cord. I tried and tried, but I couldn't make it work, so my pregnant self resigned to paying a dress-maker $100 to finish what I started. I should have just bought a new damn car seat! But it did turn out beautifully and we are going to use the car seat again for this baby, so I guess it was worth it. Anyway, the leftovers are the outside of this bag. The inside is a really great 1970's sheet that I found in our co-op's share-closet. I made lots of pockets on the inside. I tried to take a picture of the inside, but the pattern and all the pockets were too hard to figure out visually. I added a quick-release buckle to the strap after a few different attempts at making the strap. It isn't adjustable for size - I'll leave that for another time when I am not pregnant. Other than that, I am quite happy with it. I guess it will be a diaper bag. It looks like a diaper bag. I did buy a diaper bag (well, actually, it is a really cool bag from Lululemon), but one can never have too many bags, non?

Art Books


This project has been years in the making. My very artistic daughter draws all the time. She started taking paper from the printer as soon as she could draw on her own. I have collected all those pages of printer paper over the years and wanted to do something with them. I did some research and found a lovely little company on the North Shore that does binding of small projects. I organized the drawing by date and they bound them like real books. Miss B was so thrilled with the result. She sat and looked through everything. I tired to name all the drawings, especially the ones she gave me titles for. She seemed to remember them all. She even knew what the non-descript blobs of early drawing were. We plan on doing this every year. It is totally worth the $50/book.


So this is the end of the projects! I did make some slings - a few stretchy, a few woven. I also made a wrap. They are not worth photographing until they have a baby in them! The diapers I made are really cute, too, but they need snaps. I really need to find a snap press to borrow to do the plastic snaps.


I cleaned off my work table in my bedroom. It has nothing on it. No more piles of projects, no more sewing machines. Just a lamp. It is all ready for the midwives to put their gear for the birth. So what am I supposed to do now? How about get a pedicure with my darling daughter?

Baby Jaguar Toes

Cherry Blossom Toes

And now we wait. And wait. And wait. And wait..........

Catching Up

It has been awhile....

I'll start from where I left off - The Craft Shows. Well, they didn't go so well. The first one (at the Midwives) was busy, but not a lot of buyers. The second one (at Roundhouse) was quiet as it was a snow day. I got lots of compliments on the hats, but not any buyers. I did sell most of my Sweatergans (adult sweaters and turtle necks altered into cardigans), which felt good. All in all, it was disappointing and I learned that I don't like doing craft shows. It seemed like such a waste of time to sit there and smile at people going by. I'll just post things online from now on. Etsy will be the only place to buy the hats (or whatever else I end up creating).

Next is Christmas!

This is my vintage tree. It originally belonged to my great-granny's neighbour. She gave it to my mom in the late 60's. I inherited it when I was a teenager and wanted my own tree in my own room. Since then, I have used it every year and it is starting to look it's age. This year we found some beautiful LED lights at Ikea that change colour. The tree shimmered in pink, turquoise, green, red, blue....

I could go into all the family politics of Christmas, but I'll just leave it at the beautiful tree.

Next...

Happy New Year!


Since the new year began (and a bit before, over Christmas) I have been in nesting mode. Projects are getting finished, and hopefully more space is being made. I went through my fabric box and took out the things I knew had real projects attached. I kept some of my favorite fabrics for future projects, and the rest was donated. I attacked my wool too. Anything that was not "wool" was discarded. I used up left over balls of cotton to make these bibs (inspired by Anna):


I used up my two bags of felted sweaters to make bum sweaters for the baby and Miss B. A sample:


The left overs went into making Caterpillars:


The Caterpillar idea started as a toy for the baby, but I had so many scraps that I brought some to the Homelearner's drop-in and we made some there. Miss B made her own and she was so proud! There were still some left overs from that so I made a whole bunch of them, some of which were kept and some we gifted to friends.

I have really enjoyed the purging. I am happy to see things organized and the excess given new homes. Don't get me wrong, my house is not ready for the baby yet. There are still piles of projects that need to get done in the next two months. Diapers need to be made. A bag needs a handle. Diaper covers need to be finished and lanolized. Baby carriers need to be designed.

It will get done, it must!!!

I have been knitting too. I made a kimono sweater and hat (quite awhile ago - in the early fall):


And (more recently) my first pair of longies (thanks to Anna again!):


I bought a whole bunch of new wool at the Three Bags Full belated Boxing Day Sale to make more longies and soakers. That sale was INSANE! I went just as the store opened and within minutes the store was packed. I waited in the line to pay for 2 hours. There were some fun ladies around me and we chatted to make the time pass. I didn't think I'd make it as I started getting dizzy at 1.5 hours. Pregnant people should not be made to wait 2 hours standing. I sat on the floor for most of the rest of the wait.

My big project this last weekend was dyeing. I was given a whole whack of Motherease diapers from my dear friend Lisa. And I was inspired by my neighbour Jennifer who dyed her diapers in some bright jewel tones. Here are the spectacular results:


I can't wait to use them. They are so pretty! But I will have to wait until the summer, at least, as they are medium sized diapers and will not fit a newborn bum. I have some Indian prefolds on order for the newborn stage, but I am going to leave them the natural brown-ish colour.

I threw into the dye pots some of Miss B's old baby clothes that were too nice to sell/donate and too pink for a boy, but the results were not so spectacular. Most of the clothes turned out blotchy - which makes no sense because the diapers turned out great. Who knows? I don't dye as the science it can be - I just do it and hope for the best.

Here is another of my new obsessions - iron-ons. I found these odd pieces at a craft surplus store and made t-shirts for husband and baby:


I enjoyed it so much that I went back to the store and bought out everything I could so that I can decorate some of the boring boy shirts and pjs that I have for the baby. Who doesn't want a reflective baby?

And this iron-on came from a promo pack from husband's ex-work. It feels weird to promote a company, but the logo is small and the picture is so cute. The whole family has Fruitabu t-shirts now. This is for the baby:



And blankets. Blankets galore!!!

This quilt I made awhile ago, but forgot to post it. It was dreamed up when I was a teenager. I saved all my flannel pj's (and a floral duvet cover) to sew into a quilt one day. One day turned into many years and I finally just sat down and did it. It is not perfect. The lines are not straight. A few of the squares frayed in the wash and I had to put more patches on top. But it is so warm and girly. My special couch blanket:


I have another long-lost quilt that I am going to finish. I started it my second year of university when I was a tour guide at London Farm Heritage House in Richmond. I was dressed in Victorian costume, so I could easily get away with cross-stitching in quiet times. I made 9 pictures from the story of Peter Rabbit. I sewed the patches together with crazy vegetable fabrics. I started hand stitching the quilted parts and then stopped. I think I stopped because the edges weren't finished and the creeping polyfil was driving my crazy. Also, hand quilting is not quick or fun or easy. I finally bought some satin blanket edging and finished the edges (which are also not perfect, but I really had no idea how to do it and just winged it). And now I have 10 squares to hand quilt. I will do it!!!! But this is not a baby blanket. Too much work went into this. I think it might hang on the kid's bedroom wall. I'll give you a sneak peak:


Notice the cat hairs? That is another thing that bugs me. I needed to get the edging on so that I could wash it. Three moves and many years of cats sitting on it have taken their toll.

Here is a blankets for the baby that I whipped together from my fabric stash:


The jungle side came from my mom. I am not sure if it is vintage or not. I think she got it at a garage sale or a thrift store. The floral side is a vintage sheet from our co-op share closet that has been very useful. It is the backing for this blanket and the interior for the bag I made (which is not finished yet). It also made a few bean bags and there are left overs for future projects.

One last thing - the nursing pillow. I followed the only pattern I could find from the internet but it sucked. It made a VERY LARGE pillow. Me and my daughter can fit inside it. The nice thing about its size is that it can be stretched a bit. I'm hoping it will still work as a nursing pillow, but right now is it much loved as a pillow on the couch. The cats make nests in it, and so does Miss B. It is great back support for me at this stage of the pregnancy. I packed it pretty full, using the wool I had processed last summer. Not the nice slivered grey wool, but the white wool that had too much vegetative matter to process into slivers. I used up all the white wool filling this pillow and refilling all the couch pillows. They are now so firm and warm. Wool makes such a difference. Never poly again!


The only reason this post was possible today was because of the snow day. Snow makes me happy! It gives me energy. And the light is so beautiful I was inspired to take pictures of the things I have made. Miss B burned off some beans playing outside and now I can post. Happy Snow Day!!!!

My Very First Craft Show - EVER!

I am very excited to be selling my knitted bonnets at the Maternal Creations Craft Fair on Friday and Sunday (Saturday is the Vancouver Waldorf Christmas Fair and we just can't miss that!). This is the poster for the Craft Show:


Right now I am printing up tags that need handwritten details of each piece. And prices... I am so bad at pricing things. I like knitting and have a hard time charging for it. This experience will have its own learning curve, I guess. It will also be very strange to be sitting in one spot for more than a few minutes without a small child asking for something. I get to knit for hours on end - such fun! It will all be worth it just for that. I wish I had more variety of things to sell, but I lost my momentum once pregnant. I have so many ideas - just a lack of time. And now there are baby things to make. Diapers, carriers, blankets... We'll see where these craft shows lead me...

Just For Fun

I saw this meme on the Nature Moms blog and couldn't resist. It made me giggle.

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car)
Minka Ford

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie)
Caramel Ginger

3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name),
Abjo

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal),
Pink Kitty

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, hospital where you were born)
Leigh Grace

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)

Bjoal

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink)
The Turquoise W(h)ine(r)

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)
Gordon Franz

9.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names)
Ann Ferdinand

10. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter)
McDonald Maine

11. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower).
Autumn Violet

12. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”)
Strawberry Pjammy

13. HIPPIE NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree)
Toasted Cherry Blossom

14. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”)
The Knitted Thunder Tour

Pain & Prettys

I had surgery yesterday. If you read my meme a little while ago, you'd know that I had jaw surgery about 12 years ago. They put 4 titanium screws in my jaw. About 5 years ago, one of the screws started making its way out of the bone and polked through the skin inside my mouth. Over the last five years it has pushed farther and farther to the point where it became wiggly - like a loose tooth. It had to be removed. So I went back to the surgeon who did my original surgery and with only local anesthetic, he cut the gum and pulled the screw out of my jaw bone. Without all the gory details, I'll only say that the local anesthetic didn't work and I felt everything. I have two stitches, a very swollen face and a screw. Here is the screw - it is about an inch long:


I was crashed on the couch feeling very sorry for myself, when a very obnoxious UPS guys banged on the door more than necessary. He delivered a package from my mom - good timing! She gifed me a collection of very beautiful vintage hankies.


I am loving these hankies. But now I have to decide what to do with them. I thought I could make something pretty, like a skirt for my daughter. I did just buy a serger a few days ago that I have yet to crack open. But I think I am going to use them. Yes, use the hankies as hankies are supposed to be used - to blow your nose. For many years now I have given up my addiction to paper towels and we only use rags. Hankies would be a next step, since we are also planning on cloth diapers and wipes for the new baby (hence the purchase of the serger). I just don't think I could ever go so far as to have cloth wipes for the bigger people instead of toilet paper. Maybe in the very crunchy future...but not now. And I promise not to offer a hankie to you - unless you really want to try....