My Sewing Projects

It's been so long, I KNOW.

No excuses. We've been out enjoying summer, up at the cottage, at swim lessons, and trying to stay cool in 90+ degree heat with only one oasis of air conditioning in our bedroom.

Josephine at her swim lesson in her new "Boats & Fishies" bathing suit

Finally, it's cooling down, and incidentally, I have a few things to share. 

I've been SEWING!

Back in February, in anticipation of our first family vacation and Josephine's first flight to Florida, I made a sundress (In February. A sundress.). Here it is

Needless to say, she looked adorable in it. 

And that project gave me confidence that I COULD follow a pattern. This month I cracked open my copy of Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing: Patterns and How-To for 24 Fresh and Easy Projects. I bought it years ago at the Swedish shop in Chicago, and finally tackled one of the projects. 

I made two of these awesome door-stoppers! One for us and one for a friend. It was half a joke, but actually really cute. I didn't have enough lentils on hand for hers, so I poured cous cous, popcorn, and literally everything I could find. Paul thought I was nuts and wasteful. The next day I stocked up on 4 lb. bags of pinto beans.

Then, I made 2 of these draft snakes. 

One for us to keep our lovely air conditioned air in our bedroom, and one for my sister to warm her new apartment because she was moving away. I put eyes on hers. Josephine thought it was AWESOME. 

(Now Josephine talks about how Aunt Stacy moved "Far Far. It's Sad.")

My next project is a baby snuggler a'la Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing for Baby: 24 Easy Projects for Newborns to Toddlers.

This great blogger posted about the ones she made, and I just happened to purchase the pumpkin colored fabric, and it arrived today! I also received the fabric I ordered for a friend's shower gift, but I'm not going to post about that until after the shower (If I remember to post, because really, I have been so inconsistent, I feel guilty even promising to post). Anyways, they will look something like hers: 

That's all for now! Have a great week!

Photos of the door stopper and draft snake via are from Lotta's book, via The San Fransisco Chronicle, and the baby snugglers are from http://probablyactually.wordpress.com/. I have actually had that photo pinned on Pinterest for months and am glad I stumbled on her post again! 

When Your Baby's Sick

Poor little Josephine has been sick this week

First, the doctor said it was probably a virus, and when she didn't get better after a couple of days, they offered to call in an antibiotic for an ear infection. I wasn't comfortable with starting antibiotics without a diagnosis, so we went in again. They said one ear (the other one than they thought before) looked a little off, but not definitively an infection. The other possibility is that she has a UTI, and they prescribed an antibiotic that would work on both. 

She started the medicine on Thursday night, and after her second dose, I noticed a rash starting on her neck and face. She broke out in hives, allergic to the medication. Now she's on Benadryl and something new.


This is the first time she's been actually sick since her birth and those 4 days in the NICU, and it's so hard. Feeling helpless, knowing I am, quite literally, responsible for her life. I've been doing my best to comfort her, which means we spend most of the day on the couch with my breast in her mouth.

Overall it's been draining, and a little scary. I feel so bad for her. Yesterday she was well enough to enjoy some Caillou for a bit, but she's covered in hives and hates the medicine, and just looks so tired and miserable.

I've seen some articles that are critical of antibiotics, and another that said fevers were good and natural. It just got very confusing, very fast. I'd love good information on toddler health and medicines, so please share!

My Garden!

This amazing weather inspired us to clean up our yard this weekend! Josephine loved every minute outside, and we were actually able to accomplish a lot.

We moved into our home about a year and a half ago, but the previous owners built the home in the 1950's. For the garden, that means that everything has been there for a long time.  I gave it a year and evaluated what I liked (interesting variety of daffodil in the backyard), and what I didn't (hostas). See the above "before & after?" I dug everything out of that bed so that this year, I can plant anything I want!

I'm also working on clearing space in the backyard...I realized my "garden" looks pretty small in the photo. 

Baking with Josephine

I had 3 over-ripe bananas on my counter this past week. I kept wanting to bake banana muffins, but I was out of flour.

Two nights ago, in my laziness, I googled "flourless banana muffins," thinking there had to be a way to make them that didn't require a  (1.5 minute) drive to the store.

I found this recipe, calling for oatmeal and oat flour instead of regular, glutinous flour! AND, I learned how to make oat flour! It's super easy. Ready? Grind oatmeal up in a food processor until it looks like flour. There you go!

I've been trying out gluten-free, dairy-free, and other "free" recipes lately, not because I need them, but because I enjoy serving desserts my friends can eat. Pinterest has been a fun place to find recipes, although some are better than others (that fresca/white wine "sangria" was a huge disappointment). I have made this deep dish cookie pie twice already, and it's sooo good!

This morning, Josephine and I gave the banana muffins a shot. Here she is reading the recipe for me.

How adorable is she? She's standing on a chair, and she LOVED playing with the measuring spoons and "helping."

I didn't have some of the ingredients, so I merged a couple of recipes. And I forgot to add the sugar. Whoops! But drizzling a little honey over a bit of butter, they were delicious.

In the linked recipe it calls for yogurt, but I used sour cream, and I added some ground flax seed and an extra banana. Josephine and I love them, but Paul thinks they taste "healthy." Oh darn, more for me!

I'm Back!

Wow, it's been far too long since I've written, well, anything. I'm going to make a concerted effort to post here a couple of times a week. That seems like a realistic goal, right?

What have I been up to lately? Well...

• We went on our first family vacation with Josephine to Florida!
• I started going to the gym! I'm trying for 3x per week. I was doing really well until our trip to Florida, and will really have to push myself to get there this week. 
• I've started sewing! I'm not great at it, but I'm trying, and it's been a lot of fun.
• I've become a much better "house-wife," though you wouldn't know it looking at the house. I try really hard to keep the house clean, do dishes, and laundry. This week, we ran out of dishwasher tabs, and my dryer broke, so I'm behind on everything. I'll contribute that to post-vacation haze (and the cases of laundry we brought home with us).
• I'm seriously considering becoming a HypnoBirthing practitioner, so I'm sitting in on a class and getting very excited about the possibility. I'm also terrified, but I'm taking that as a good sign that I'm on the right track.
• We are hooked on Gossip Girl, and are nearly caught up with the current season. :)

Josephine is growing so fast, running now, and learning new words every day. Yesterday was "knees" and "keys."

I'm looking forward to a few "home-improvement" projects, SPRING, and a road trip to St. Louis next month to visit my best friend!