Luna's new sleep mat

It about time for me to go back to work and I wanted Luna to have something special to take with her to preschool. I looked on line and found an e-how tutorial called how to make a toddler nap mat. I made some modifications to the tutorial because I like to keep it simple, and because I am new to the whole sewing thing.
I used some old egg crate off the mattress that Luna sometimes sleeps on and cut it about 25 inches by 45 inches. The tutorial mentions making it 20x40 but I gave myself the extra 5 inches for room for error.



Next, I cut the minky and satin fabric at about 30 x 45 inches. I have to say that because it was challenging for me to cut the fabric straight that I'm not sure what the fabric measured at the end...



I placed the pretty sides together and surged the long sides together leaving the "short" sides open. I did this because I still needed to add some tabs and Velcro.




I just cut 4, 4x6 pieces of fabric, 2 of the minky and two of the satin and surged on three sides leaving the bottom open. I then top stitched, pinned to one of the open sides of the 30x45 inch material and surged to form tabs. Next, I sewed the rough side of the Velcro to the tab and after stuffing the egg crate (foam material) into the pink case, I sewed the soft side of the Velcro where it matched up after rolling. I had some extra foam so I stuffed it in and doubled it up as a pillow.
Here is the finished product! It cost about $15 total. Not bad. I also made another pillow with the extra material and some fill from a pillow we had around the house. I made a smaller simpler version for Luna's doll as well.

busy, busy, busy...

We have been having a super fun and busy summer so far, which is why I haven't posted in a while.
Lets see, we went camping for a few days up in El Dorado forest as part of a combined bachelor and bachelorett party. Trav Luna and I went and we had a fun time swimming in the beautiful lake up there, although there were a ton of mosquito's and we got bitten all over. I did bring my all natural bug spray made by California Baby but to tell you the truth it really didn't work. Actually, we used a combination of three sprays (the others being "Off" that has some nasty chemicals in it, and a spray made by an eco-friendly company named Badger) I'm telling you nothing worked against these suckers. I am thinking of investing in mosquito nets for our next trip because I HATED spraying that stuff on.

I would say that the best thing that we brought on this trip was a make shift portable potty for Luna that was made out of a small grey bucket and a "travel" potty seat that folds up and can be placed on top of a traditional toilet seat. This was clutch. We were easily able to fill the bucket with dirt after each use, turning it into a compostable toilet. This was also easy to clean (just dump into port-o-potty thus canceling out the compostable feature) and could be lined with a plastic or compostable bag while we were on the road.

What else...My husband also made a wedding cake for our friend's wedding that came out amazing! It was his first time making a cake of this stature and he made it out of all organic and local ingredients. As requested by the bride the cake was a layered cake consisting of chocolate cake, chocolate mousse, and white chocolate mousse wrapped in a dark chocolate "shell" if you will. Because the (non-traditional) wedding colors were green and copper the cake was also topped with a green gelee. Here is a pic.



We have also been doing some gardening...



The plants have been getting really big, and so is Luna. She is very helpful in the garden with watering and weeding and keeps a good eye on the chickens when we bring them. You can spot one just below the watering can that she is holding.

We made a huge batch of pesto from all of the basil we harvested and have had it on veggies, pasta and we're planning on putting it on a home made pizza sometime soon. We also harvested a huge squash that we baked and topped with pesto, marinara sauce and cheese. Yumm. Here is Luna carrying the squash out of the garden.

BART

Luna has been asking "Mommy ride the BART train together?" for the last few weeks so we decided to give it a go the other day. We didn't really have anywhere to go, so we just rode it for a few stops but it was such a beautiful thing watching a child experience something for the first time. As the train took off Luna stood on Papi's lap and yelled "BART train!!!" with such volume and delight that the other passengers had to smile.

super simple sewing

I have been pretty busy over the last few weeks getting some exercise in, gardening, taking Luna to the pool and learning to sew, that I haven't really been posting as much as I would like to. I feel like I begin one project and then get about half way through before I'm starting on another so I don't have many finished projects as of yet.

However, I am super excited to report that I have learned how to make very cute "yoga" pants for Luna (by yoga I mean stretchy cotton and slightly bell bottomed) out of recycled t-shirts that I had here at home. I got the idea from a site called Crafty Gemini, and found her Youtube video explanation to be very easy to understand and execute. I did make a few modifications to her original instructions, mostly using a serger instead of a standard sewing machine, and also by making a more "curvy" version.

Crafty Gemini suggests using a pair of pants that your child already owns as a "pattern". You do this by folding the pants in half and chalk tracing, and then cutting out a one inch perimeter on your fabric (which in this case is a t-shirt). Be sure to match the bottom of the pant leg to the already hemmed "bottom" of a t-shirt. Do this twice.

I then placed the "pretty" sides of the fabric together and serged the whole outer side of the pant together. I did this on each piece of fabric.






Open the fabric and it will look like this:





Match up "pretty" sides of the fabric together, pin and trim if necessary (I did most of my cutting and trimming with a rotory tool). When sewing don't stretch the fabric as this will distort the garment.

Next serge through both pieces of fabric from the waist to the crotch (remember pretty sides of fabric touching). Now it looks like pants!




Next, serge the inside of the pant leg in one continuous swoop. It is easy if you simply make the pant do the splits!

Fold down and pin waist band. Sew on serged line using a zig zag stitch leaving a gap to insert 1/2 inch elastic. Feed elastic in through gap attaching one end to a safety pin.

Zig Zag stitch elastic to "close the loop" and then sew up the gap.






Turn pants right-side-in and viola! Pants!






I made the brown pair out of an old American Apparel t-shirt and this white pair out of one of Trav's old cotton t-shirts that we were going to use as a cleaning rag.

Paper bag art

My Grandmother was a very creative and resourceful artist. When we spent time with her she always had us doing art projects with various mediums; sometimes with wet newspaper, sometimes clay, sometimes making paper with a makeshift screen and flax meal and flower petals we gathered from a walk. I also remember going on walks with her carrying large pieces of paper and charcoal and doing rubbings on leaves, tree stumps and benches and marveling at the different textures.

Seeing my Grandmother's series of paper bag sketches, prints, and painted bags reminded me of the time we spent together and also of her creativity. I am going to get a few more pieces of this series and plan to make a nice living room display. I love the simplicity of it.

Potty training!!!

I just had to share that Lunita has just turned two and is doing a fabulous job potty training! I think what happened is that I just grew sick and tired of hand washing cloth diapers and decided that it would be easier to potty train. Luna has been partially potty trained for a while now but was struggling with going "pee pee potty". I am so excited and optimistic this morning because Luna made it through nap time yesterday in her training panties without an accident, and through a whole nights sleep last night! My little girl is growing up.

She has also started to sleep in a "big girl" bed, which is really a twin mattress on the floor, and is doing a great job there as well. Trav and I think that getting her on to a "big girl" bed will allow her to get up and use the potty if she has to go in the middle of the night. I am so proud of my little girl.

Luna is also starting to recognize the difference between numbers and letters which is really cute. We were at the pool the other day and she tried to identify the numbers that indicate how deep the pool is. Luna said "this 5" when it was 1, but I was amazed that she was giving it a go. Yesterday she also tried to read the exit sign in the hallway saying "T, R,O" close enough for me!Luna is also counting to 20, and to 10 in Spanish!

Wow, it seems like the second she turned 2 she grew up!

I am reading this really easy read that is a plethora of information called Fix it Make it Grow it Bake it. I was actually fortunate enough to see the author, Billie Sharp a few weeks ago at one of my mother-in-law's independent book stores, Pegasus on Shattuck in Berkeley that sells new and used books. I love her stores!!! To check out their site click on the Pegasus link and you can even see their first commercial starring my super hero brother-in-law!

In Fix it Make it Grow it Bake it the author offers great tips about local organizations that I never knew existed such as the, Really Really Free Market and freefarmstand.org to name a few. SO COOL! Check it out for yourself!