Tales From the Box

I received these lovely mugs for Christmas (thanks Harris’s) and I absolutely love them.

Essentially, they are just mugs, like any other. Granted, they are pretty, and when stacked they make a geisha doll. Adorable, no?

But there is something so satisfying about drinking my morning and evening cups of tea from them. They are so cheerful, I actually think they make the tea taste better. Well, they must be good- the husband has even taken to using them!

On another note, I am going to Ikea tomorrow, where I will scope out the fabrics – they are ridiculously cheap and very cool. Exhibit A:

(from Ikea)

Exhibit B:

(from Ikea)

And these ones:

(from Ikea)

(from Ikea)

I am very excited (so is the Widg) – I will be dreaming about new sewing projects all night!

I made pants! Cute little baby pants for the little man.

I am getting quite good at this sewing thing. Well, to my standards anyway. It’s very exciting. Every time I make something new, and it actually works out, I do a little happy dance, show the finished item to the husband and say “Look what I just made!” like a giddy little kid. Pathetic, I know. But I really am quite pleased with my efforts.

I have been scouring the net looking for patterns (there are heaps of free ones out there. This one is the best.) Then I used some of the Widg’s store-bought pants to check for size and shape, and drew up my own pattern. I made a few test pieces out of an old pillow case, tried them on him and made a few adjustments from there. And I have found the cutest little fabrics for kiddies at Spotlight. And this is the end result!

They are a little big on the Widg, but he will grow into them before I can say “cute butt”.

I love that I can make as many as I like (they only take about half an hour each, now that I’ve got the hang of it). They are really cheap to make (depending on the fabric you buy of course) and I can adjust them to fit with his cloth nappies, which is great. Plus I can easily adjust the pattern to make them bigger as he grows.

Now that I know I can make these, I might venture into something a little more complicated.

I don’t actually need any sympathy. It was just a good title. Anyhoo, I have been a busy little sewing bee. I have been mug-rugging up a storm. Ok, enough with the twaddle. My point is, I have made a few more mug rugs.

I am pleased to report that my skills are improving slightly with each new one I make.

Although I am still not going to call myself “good” at it yet. I would say “competent at best”.

However I am thoroughly enjoying the process. Lots of fun is being had. I have been using that new-fangled thing that is the interweb to find tutorials on binding and the like (here and here).

And the husband is so supportive (he indulges me) that he asked me to make some for him too. Very sweet.

Now it’s time to take a break from mug-rugging to get to a few new projects (ssshhh, it’s a surprise. I’ll tell you later). But I do have plans to make some more mug rugs for specific people as gifts (nope, not telling).

So I promised that I would provide honest feedback on the Peapods, whether it was positive or negative. Well, I have both to offer.

Bad news first.

In my previous post I bragged that, although the Peapods were a little bulkier than disposables, the Widg’s clothes still fit him. Unfortunately, this is only partly true. His onesie’s still fit, as they are stretchy anyway. But most of his shorts are made of a rigid-type of cotton and don’t have a lot of give in them, so I have found that they are a little tight in the rise. Any pants that are made of stretchy cotton fit fine.

Although this is a negative factor, I’m not really too bummed about it. Babies grow out of things so quickly that you are constantly buying bigger sizes anyway, and I haven’t spent massive amounts of money on his pants. I will simply need to buy one or 2 sizes bigger in pants for the little guy. So what.

Now for the positive. And boy, is it a good one!

His nappy rash has completely gone. I mean, absolutely, 100% disappeared. No, you don’t understand. This poor kid has had some mild form of nappy rash his whole life so far. I had tried every type of cream, lotion and concoction known to man to try and get rid of that darn rash, both medicated and natural products (I know what you’re thinking – “what about xyz?”. Yes. We tried that too). We have quite the little pharmacy going. Sometimes they would prevent the rash from flaring up again, but none of them really got rid of it. So when I say the rash is gone, it’s a big deal.

Since using the Peapods, I have not put any type of cream on him, not even once. And NO RASH! I am so deliriously happy about this. Can you tell?

So overall, I am very impressed with my Peapods. And I haven’t used a disposable nappy in over 3 weeks.