December 24, 2009

cloth diaper giveaway event . . .

As I've mentioned a few times, we've been cloth diapering with Justin. I had "tried" cloth diapering a couple times with the girls, with fitteds and covers, and hated it. But before Justin was born, I had looked into all the options out there and decided to give it a "real" try this time, but with the all-in-one kind of cloth diapers. Basically, it's just like a disposable diaper (one piece) that you throw in the wash. And because he's a nursed baby, all I have to do is put the washing machine through an exta rinse cycle before the wash cycle. Super easy. And since Justin's been born, we've discovered his sensitive skin issues, which make cloth diapering a good choice for him. I've been experimenting with different styles like pockets (that you stuff) and all-in-two's (where you snap in the liner) - both of these have quicker drying times than AIO's - and discovered all the cute colors and prints that everything is available in. It's a whole new online world when you get into cloth diapering. So I have been enjoying it, and after three months of using mostly sized small diapers, I sold my stash on an online swapping community and Craigslist, and got into size mediums and one-size diapers.

And then today, while catching up on some blog reading, I came accross a one size cloth diaper event on a blog called Take Time to Smell the Rose. Starting on January 1st, they are going to be doing reviews on 22 different brands of one sized cloth diapers and a bunch of them will be offering giveaways. And by posting about this, I get extra entries into all those giveaways. So since I'm interested in trying out new kinds, it will be great to get recommendations of what I should try next (and of course winning some would be great!).

December 21, 2009

a *little* bit of creating . . .

So I have spent very little time in the sewing room lately, it's definitely not going to be a homemade Christmas around here. But I'm not complaining, one day the kids won't want me coordinating everything in their lives and I'll have lots of time to sew and quilt. But I did manage to squeeze out a mini-sleepsack for Justin. The girls helped pick out the buttons and fabric to make it fun, and Justin even sat on my lap for part of the sewing because he loves to be held as soon as the machine goes on. I made it with buttons to close up the armholes with the intention of keeping his arms from getting out (he startles himself awake and is getting too strong for swaddling) but my design flaw was using fleece - too stretchy. I think I'll add some bias tape to the neck and see if that works. It was fun to make anyways, especially since the girls helped out.
We also made some teacher gifts for the girls teachers. We used this website for the recipe and printable gift tags and made M&M Christmas cookies (complete with red & green M&M's). A quick and fun idea. Today's plans include making our own batch :)