Those look great! Did you use free patterns for the hats and slippers? They are adorable! I should make Olivia some slippers, she could use some bigger ones! I just ordered her a new winter hat because none of the ones I had fit her giant head, and by the time I get around to making one it will probably be spring, lol!

She wore the Mickey/Minnie soaker last night and it worked just fine despite my screw ups so I think I will just leave it how it is and count it as a lesson learned to pay more attention to those details next time, lol! I think I will be holding off on more soakers until I get my serger for Christmas. Hopefully I won't be in the hospital and will actually get to play with it a bit before she arrives!

The hats are a free pattern at this site:

http://allicrafts.blogspot.com/2011/10/free-pattern-button-flap-beanie-3.html

I have used several of her patterns and they always work great. I used the newborn size since we will only have a few months before things warm up around here...but I might make one more in the 3 month size also. These were SOOOO quick (without interuption I would think it could be done in 1-2 hours). She also has some toddler patterns as well!

The slippers were an online pattern purchase at:

http://www.makethemyourself.com/shoe.html

I thought it was worth the money since I really didn't want to try to size-up the free patterns I found and with the new baby on the way, maybe I could make some shoes for him when he starts walking. Her directions are a little difficult for use on slippers (I think they may sense for leather shoes). But, just use your sewing common sense. They are super-easy!

Quiet in here ladies! What's new w/ everyone?

Received my Kawaii diapers nad have tried them out on J. They are great! What a good value! $6.99 each...can't beat that!

I think I am done with my pre-baby sewing. Not that I don't want to do anymore, I just don't want to start something I can't finish. And really, I think I have everything I need. I will be doing some crochet gifts for friends who are due after me because w/ the two rugrats I am sure they won't get done if I wait!

It is quiet! Glad you like the Kawaii diapers! I may have to give them a try if I find myself needing more.

Not much going on here. I think my ammonia issues aren't necessarily related to my wash routine, but more so a change in her pee. The other night I used the brand new, never worn, cotton flats on her overnight and she still woke up with ammonia stink. I know for sure there was no residual urine since they were brand new and washed by themselves, so I don't think it's a matter of them not getting clean enough and just plain toddler pee.

I got my serger for Christmas and also a sewing cabinet to put my machine on and organize all my stuff, yay! Got the cabinet put together last night and got a few things organized before my back started killing me, so now I've been on the couch all day because it hurts too much to move. I want to break out the serger and do something like another pair of fleece pants for Olivia, but my back is just not cooperating. I'm not sure I'll get to use it before the baby comes which is sad because I know I won't have time to devote to trying to figure it out after that! I've been reading the manual, but it just doesn't make much sense when you don't have the machine in front of you, and unfortunately laying down is the only position that isn't agonizing right now!

Congrats on the serger! Very exciting! Ugh! Sorry about the back! Probably your body's way of telling you it's time to get some rest. After being on my feet in the kitchen for the last few days my hips and feet are killing me. I declined day-after-Christmas shopping (which I love) because I figured it was time for a little break. JoAnns is having a yarn sale I really want to hit, but it will have to wait until later this week.

I'm still waiting for my serger to be delivered to the store. It didn't come Friday so I'm hoping this week. I have a bunch of soakers I need to serge soon.

What kind of serger did you get Labby?

I skimped on the serger and went with the Brother 1034d. I didn't really want to go high end since I've never worked with a serger before, and this one seemed to fit the needs of what I would use it for and it got decent reviews. I figure if I find that I need the fancier stitches or a better machine I can always upgrade later on like I did with my embroidery machine. I don't really see that happening though since I've gone this long without one and always improvising with an overcast stitch. I just like the more professional look of the 4 thread serge, especially if I plan to sell things, which this one is totally capable of so I think it will work out just fine for my needs.

I also asked for thread for it but didn't get any, so I have to make a trip out to get some. I don't have 4 spools of any one color, so I will either need to wait until I get more thread or just play with different colors. I just can't really justify the 20+ mile trip to Joann's for a few dollars worth of thread. If I was still working it would be easier since my work is a lot closer, so I think I'll just have to wait until I other places to go in that area to make the trip more worth it. Too bad that probably won't be for a few more weeks though! Until then I will probably just have very colorful seams, lol!

I'm not familiar with that model but I'm sure Robbie is. My new serger (when it gets here) is the Bernina 1300MDC. It's definitely fancy, probably way fancier than I will ever use, at least consistently. It's a 5-thread so it's got a ton of option. I typically just do a standard 4-thread overlock on everything although I can see a lot of uses for the 5-thread overlock plus safety stitch. It's like sewing and serging a seam all in one step. I'd like to do some decorative rolled hems now that I have the ability and I'll be able to do a cover hem now (the stitching that hems a t-shirt, kinda like using a double needle). The only thing I hate is threading a serger. It always takes me a long time mixed with swearing to get it done right. LOL

I couldn't really justify the difference in cost for a 5 thread machine, especially for the amount I would actually use the 5th thread. Maybe down the road, but not for the types of projects I do now. I mainly wanted a machine that would do the 4 thread and rolled hems, which this one does so it should meet my needs, for now at least.

Mine came with a cd with videos on how to use it which I've been watching. The first video on threading actually tells you to cut the thread at the spool, tie it to the new spool, lower the tension and gently pull it through the machine. My first thought was oh boy, this must be a beast to thread if that is how they tell you to do it, lol! I did watch the video on threading from scratch and got thoroughly confused, but hopefully once I get the machine out of the box and follow along with the video it won't be so bad.

Eeeesh. I have a really old serger and have used it once. My mom set it up for me (I am that ADD person who cannot manage to sit still and figure something like that out). But, after using it, I really didn't have the energy for it. I think either the speed or tension made it really hard to do tighter turns. So, projects like mamma cloth were out of the question. And that was really what I wanted to use it for since my diapers don't really require a serged edge.

Sounds like you guys have some REALLy cool machines. I hope you get to try yours out soon labby!

My 4 bags of Ruby Moon just arrived. I was holding out on my diaper load since I was completely out and about two hours after I finally gave in and ran the hot/soap cycle on them, the package arrived! Fortunately I found a little unused sample of it in the back of the cabinet, but it was a very murphy's law moment :-). I have decided I really do like it (hence the 4 bags) and will use it as my newborn (and regular household) detergent as well.

I like Ruby Moon too, but I found that I don't really care for the Lavender scent. That was the first one I tried and I wasn't thrilled, even though the stuff doesn't have much of a scent when coming out of the wash. I finished up that bag and am now using the cucumber melon which I really like. I think it leaves more of a hint of the scent behind, and I love everything cucumber melon so I really like it. I still have the clementine (I think that's what it is) and the vanilla sugar scents to try. I bought a bag of each scent when I got them, but as of now I think I will stick to the cucumber melon.

I screwed up my diaper load yesterday, lol. I always set the washer to no spin except for the final rinse so that it uses more water for that cycle. Well I forgot to do that yesterday. DH was nice enough to move them from the washer to the dryer, but he didn't use my "custom program" that I have set for diapers and just used the sensor dry, which I found doesn't work at all for the natural fibers. When I took them out of the dryer they were still damp, and still smelled like ammonia! That is the first they came out of the wash smelling like that, so I think it was because there wasn't enough water in that final rinse since I forgot to put it on no spin for the prewash and wash. When she gets home from day care today I'm going to rewash them all (she still wears a nap time diaper there, so might as well wait for that one to come home!).

I finally broke the serger out of the box last night, but have yet to plug it in and use it. Maybe I will go do that now before she gets home and play with it a bit until I get too frustrated, which I'm sure won't take long with the mood I've been in lately, lol!

My cucumber melon doesn't really smell cucumber melon-y to me so I haven't been a fan of it. I do love the Warm Vanilla sugar scent though. I've been using Cotton Blosson for regular laundry and it's not too bad. I just ordered some more and got Lavender, another Cotton Blossom, and Buttercream Snickerdoodle to try for regular laundry detergent, Buttercream Snickerdoodle CD detergent, and Peppermint Wonderland CD detergent (which I won't see until sometime in January due to the rest of my order being backordered at Everything Birth).

I liked the cotton blossom, too. But I wanted to order just the CD kind (to use for all) so I didn't have to mess with multiple kinds of detergent. I already have different stuff for hubby's work clothes, so I wanted to keep it simple. I ordered two of the sweet clementine (hope I like it) one buttercream & sncikerdoodle (it smells okay to me) and one warm vanilla sugar. I will still miss my Method Sweet Water for new baby clothes-it was my fave w/ J but they don't make it anymore :-(.

So I broke out the serger and fought with it for a bit, but actually got something completed! I messed around with it for a bit yesterday and serged a few scrap pieces of material using the thread it came pre-threaded with. It went pretty well so I decided to try some fleece which is a bit thicker. Well wouldn't you know, a thread breaks. So I break out the manual to rethread this thing and spent over an hour fighting with it! The damn thread kept breaking as soon as I would start sewing! I was getting really frustrated and was about to give up when I decided to try routing the thread behind this one other piece instead of in front of it. The instructions and graphics weren't very clear about how exactly the thread should go. Well that was the ticket! So today I whipped up another pair of longies for Olivia so I now have enough to match our wash cycle. They turned out ok for the first serged project. My main issue was with the waistband. Apparently I wasn't pulling it enough, even though I felt like I was. I ended up ripping the first one out and redoing it because I was out of waistband and still had plenty of pants to go. The second one got a little better, but it's still not quite right. What I should have done was found the center front and back and the sides and pinned it so it would be equal all the way around, but that is more work, lol! With some more practice I should get better at it, and I'll get plenty of that once baby arrives and I have a better idea of what size soakers and longies to make for her. Here are some pics of my first serging project, done with the muli-color thread the machine came pre-threaded with because I still didn't get thread and am too lazy to re-thread!

Can't see from my work computer, but very exciting that you have it working now! I cannot imagine trying to figure one of those out with a newborn at home! Now at least you know what you're doing!

No projects lately for me. I ordered some yarn from the Joann yarn sale the other day, so hopefully when that comes I will start doing some small things (washcloths, more hats/booties, etc.). BTW-they have some SUPER COOL natural fiber yarns online (i.e. bamboo silk, bamboo wool, cashmire, hemp, etc) all pretty reasonably priced. I got a few of the bamboo blends. I hope they are as soft as I think they are :-).

I can't see pictures from my work computer either, but I'm sure they're cute!

I've been behind with my diaper sewing lately. I made an embrodered photo mat for my due date Secret Santa present and an embroidered clock for my work Secret Santa present. Beyond that I've been busy with sleep and holiday stuff. Hoping to get more sewing done this weekend as it'll be a 3-day weekend for me.

Cute longies, labby!

Still haven't used the fleece monkey butt longies as longies yet. P likes them as pants during the day.

The new wool? I'm still figuring it out. I think it's interlock wool--it is really soft and lovely, but much different than the knit wool that Kawaii sent me. The new wool reeks like wet wool and urine when damp. It's, like, disgusting. The stink stays in the sheets too. I've not had the diaper long, and I've already washed and lanolized it 3 times. The disgusting wet wool stench stays in the cover until I wash and lanolize it, and then it smells really good (like mango lime). Then Piper wears it for a night and gag city.

The cover kawaii gave me never smells like that. The cover from Kawaii is loosely knitted wool. The interlock is smooth, tight knit, double layered (triple in the wetzone). I dunno, maybe that tight knit of interlock and all those layers is just calling for wet farm animal smell. Blech. I'm going to try a lanolizing spritz that might help the stink in between wears so I don't have to wash everytime I use the stupid cover.

I'm sure Olivia would love wearing her longies as pants during the day too. I should make some that don't have such a big rise so they would fit her better sans diaper.

I'm familiar with the stink you speak of, and if you find a solution please share! I've found that while the fleece soaker and longies keep her sheets DRY, the stink still transfers over. By morning you can smell the ammonia/diaper stink through the fleece, and I can smell it on her sheets too even though they are completely dry. Maybe it's just my super sensitive pregnancy nose though, but it's still irritating.

I'm still super happy with the flat/fleece combo for overnight though. We have yet to have wet sheets with that combo. The other night I wasn't feeling well and was too lazy to put together a flat so DH put a disposable on her for overnight. What a mess in the morning. I wish I would have just dealt with the not feeling well to put the flat together because it would have been less work than changing sheets! If only I could get the stink issue resolved life would be good, lol!

Oh Bunny! They have lil Joeys on Eco Baby Buys! I've never seen Rumparooz on any of the deals websites before https://www.ecobabybuys.com/

Thanks Pam!