The Lady Beekeeper

Guys, I received the best compliment ever the other day (seriously thank you, you made my day).  My co-worker stumbled upon my blog and informed her brother that she had found the real Leslie Knope.  I told her that comparing me to Leslie Knope was the highest praise I could ever hope to receive because, if you hadn’t noticed, she is one of my idols.  The comment was followed up with a question about how I find the time to do blogging, motherhood and work, to which I responded (semi-seriously), “I don’t sleep”.

Well I used to sleep, some point before I had Julius, but lately I have re-discovered caffeine!  I don’t know if you guys have ever tried this stuff but it is pretty darn amazing.  Honestly I didn’t drink much caffeine at all before I was pregnant (except for the occasional cup of tea or rare mountain dew code red while in college), and I had sworn the stuff off since finding out I was pregnant.  Several weeks ago I hopped off the wagon.  I’m still nursing but I’ve convinced myself that if I have a cup right after I pump it doesn’t affect my milk.  The jury’s still out.  Good news is that blogging, motherhood and work doesn’t leave much time for me to google paranoid parenting blogs, so I may never know!

I may have to start sleeping a bit more though since I don’t think caffeine can solve all my problems.  Today I got up, got Julius dressed and fed, then got ready myself and threw on some clean pants and a shirt.  I was pretty proud that I did all this with enough time to get Julius off to daycare on time, and myself to work “early”.  When I got to work I realized the pants I was wearing didn’t look very familiar.  They were certainly my pants and were certainly very comfy.  I decided not to care.  Several hours later, in better lighting, I realized that they were one of the pairs of pants I’d retired into painting duty.  I thought to myself, “I can totally own these pants with their giant blotches of white paint”. Maybe someone would think they were meant to be paint stained.  Paint stained is still a style right?  Another hour passed and I ran into the bathroom to double check the crotch of my pants.  I’d realized that my retired painting pants usually have large unsightly holes in the crotch.   Crisis averted, no holes. I went through the rest of the day working those paint stained pants like it was my job.  When I finally got home I told Will the story of the pants and how I was able to pretend they were purposely paint stained.  That was when Will pointed out the giant 6 inch hole in the seat of my pants, through which you could see my underwear.  I’m not going back to work ever again.

Since I’m too mortified to show my face in public again, Julius is going to have to take himself to daycare tomorrow.  While he may not be able to drive himself to daycare this week, one thing’s for certain – Julius is growing up fast.  In just the past week he has gotten really good at standing.    Last Saturday he could balance for ten seconds or more at a time and he’s improving that number daily!  He’s really proud of himself too (and so am I of course).  The first time he showed me his standing abilities he had on the biggest grin.  Now he stands while going about his tasks like it ain’t no thang.  In no time he’ll be making his own lunches and ironing his own shirts.

Julius is standing! (Without a hole in his jeans.)

Speaking of ironing your own shirts, I finally got around to making something that has been on my list for years!  A seam roll (or sleeve roll) is a cylindrical, firm, pillow type device that you use to iron out wrinkles in difficult to iron places like sleeves.  The roll allows the iron to press tight areas that would normally cause a crease when pressing.  The sleeve rolls needs to be filled with a material that can withstand high heat.  My friend Amy gave me a whole pail full of sawdust from her woodworking projects, making this project both free and upcycle!

Seam rolling

DIY Seam Roll

What You’ll Need:

• about 1 cubic foot of sawdust (not compressed)
• 10″x15″ piece of strong natural fiber fabric (cotton, linen, etc)
• funnel for stuffing the roll
• Pattern here

1. Fold fabric in half (right side inside) to form a 5″x15″ rectangle.  Stitch along the long end of the fabric leaving .5″ seam allowance.
2. With the template lined up along the fold, mark the corners for stitching.
3. Stitch along the lines on one side of the seam roll, closing one end of the roll.
4. Stitch along the two corners on the opposite side, leaving a gap where the dotted line is.
5. Trim the corners and edges of the closed end of the roll, clip the corners on the open side.
6. Turn right side out.
7. Using a funnel, fill with saw dust.  Periodically stop and pack down the sawdust by pushing in and down on the edges of the roll.  You want the roll to be as hard packed as you can get it!
8. Continue filling until you are about 3/4″ from the edge.  Turn the edge under along the 3/4″ mark so the unfinished edge of the roll is inside the seam roll.
9. Slipstitch/ladder stitch the fabric together along the fold to make your stitching invisible.  (Or you can do the weird suture stitch I decided to do because I thought it looked neat.

Finished roll!

Over the past 2 weeks Julius has gone from army crawling to pulling up.  And now he even alternates between army crawling and legitimate crawling.  It is amazing how quickly he has progressed.  Every day you can see the progress he has made!  It’s funny, I watch all the videos of my nephew Finnegan beginning to try to control his hands and that all seems like a lifetime ago for Julius.  Looking back that is where I can pinpoint the start of the transition from Julius going from squish to grown up baby.  Babies really are amazing!

Speaking of amazing, Will and I celebrated our seventh anniversary a couple weeks ago!  I planned to make us eggplant parm and homemade ice cream, but we were so tired that I ended up making a breakfast-for-lunch type dinner using a hodgepodge of things I had on hand.  It ended up being so delicious that I have made it several times since then.  I’ll be posting about it later, but sadly my anniversary gift to Will was just as much of a shortcut.  I had about a thousand ideas for what to make (and I may make them yet – after all it’s a whole year until our next anniversary) but once again I was limited by time.

Since it was the copper/wool anniversary I decided to make Will an engraved penny from our lucky year.  I already have a set of metal stamps from Christmas a couple years ago, but I needed to invest in a larger heart stamp.  As always, be sure to use safety equipment while you’re working on a project.  In this case, copper/zinc shards can be hazardous.  I guess I should add something about not destroying legal government tender, but since those penny press machines exist I hardly think this project is a huge deal.

Lucky Anniversary Penny

What you’ll need:

• A 4mm jump ring
• A key chain
• A penny from your anniversary year
• metal stamp set with letters, numbers and 5mm heart
• 1/8″ drill bit and electric screwdriver
• 1 permanent marker

1.  Position the heart stamp over the year on the head of the penny, then make a few swift raps with a hammer to engrave a heart around the year.
   

   Hammer heart over year on penny.

2. Engrave the month and day in numbers with a ‘.” between them.
3. Flip the penny over and in the center of the penny’s tail side engrave a ‘+’ or ‘&’ surrounded by the couples’ initials.
   

   Hammer letters and numbers for date/initials.

4. Using a nail, hammer a starter dent into the top of the penny where you want the hole to be.  (If you have an awl you can use this instead of a nail)
   

   Hammer pilot hole into top of penny to use as a guide for the screwdriver.

5. Place penny in vice, with pieces of wood acting as a buffer.  With an 1/8″ drill bit, drill a hole in the penny using the starter dent as a guide.  Using fine sandpaper, remove any sharp edges from the drill.
   

   Drill the penny at the pilot hole.

6. Fill the engravings in with permanent marker, rubbing off any excess markings on the face of the penny with a cloth.
7. Insert jump ring through the hole in penny and pinch closed with pliers.  Attach key ring through jump ring.
   

   Back of penny.

   

   Front of penny.

So Julius started getting separation anxiety for a brief period last week.  I’d drop him off at daycare or hand him to daddy and he’d cry until I took him back.  While it is frankly adorable that someone seemingly needs you so much they cry, it is actually more torturous than you may imagine!  Really tugs at those heart strings.  Good news is that he really only cries for a few seconds, and as soon as I’m gone he stops.  Learning how to push those buttons I guess!

Another interesting habit Julius has learned is also slightly ridiculous.  For several months now I haven’t been able to read or do anything at all while he is eating because he is super distracted.  At one point he decided to never again eat in front of people, around any noise whatsoever or while I am holding something.  He especially likes to flail his free arm around, grabbing at anything that is in reaching range – a cell phone, a kindle, my hair, my clothing, his hair, his clothing, etc.  Once he obtains an object, he continues to flail until it whacks me or him in the face.

For a long time now he has enjoyed stick his hand in my mouth.  I’ve seen other babies do this, so I know this isn’t as weird as it sounds.  Problem is I always pretend to eat his hand when he sticks it in my mouth and he finds this hysterical.  This means when he blindly sticks his hand in my mouth while he’s eating he immediately starts giggling and looks up at me.  I then have to coax him back to eating.  So now to prevent this, I clamp my mouth shut so he cannot possibly pry my lips open, stick his hand in and giggle.  He has found a work around.  He now discovered that if he simply sticks his fingers up my nose it eventually elicits a laugh from me which causes even more laughter on his end and the stoppage of eating for several minutes. What a prankster…

The craft I have for you today will keep your hands (nose and mouth) free while shopping.  Long enough to hang off your shoulder, but not too huge, this sturdy canvas tote bag is stylish and durable.  I used white duck canvas fabric from Joann fabric that was 100% cotton so I could easily tie dye them.  And the best part?  The bags cost about $1.50 to make.  

Shoulder Length Market Bag

What You’ll Need:

• ~ 1/2 yard of 59″ wide cotton duck canvas (will make 2 bags)

1. Cut a 3.5″x59″ strip of fabric for the handles.  Cut a 13.5″x29.5″ piece of fabric for the body.
2. If desired, tie dye the disassembled canvas fabric as in this post.  I dyed only the fabric for the bag body and left the handles white.
3. Fold under 1/2″ of fabric on the short edge of the body fabric .  Press.
   

   Fold fabric under 1/2″ on short side.

4. Fold fabric under again by 1″ to form a finished hem.  Press.
   

   Fold fabric under another inch to form a hem.

5.  Repeat step 3 for second side.
6. Fold the handle fabric in half lengthwise.  Press.
   

   Fold handle in half lengthwise, press.

7. Open out.  Fold the unfinished edges to the inside of the handle.  Press.
   

   Open out, fold unfinished edge towards the fold. Press.

8. Stitch along the edge forming to form a handle.
9. Cut strip in half forming 2 29.5″ pieces.
   

   Finished handles.

10. Pin the edges of the handles to the folds from step 3, about 1.5″ from the unfinished edge.
    

    Pin handles to canvas bag.

11. Stitch close to the fold of the hem edge step 3.
    

    Stitch along side near the folded under edge

12. Stitch close to the folded under edge of the hem in step 3.
    

    Stitch the edge of the fabric along the fold.

13. Fold bag so right sides are together (folded seam is on the outside) and stitch along the unfinished edges.
    

    Stitch 1/2″ from the unfinished edges.

14. Serge the edges you just stitched above.
    

    Serge the unfinished edge

I really didn’t realize how sad my last blog post sounded until several of you commented!  Thank you for keeping an eye on me, it makes me feel loved!  This past weekend was Danycon 2.0 which I will write about in a future post!  It was the first time Will and I met our nephew Finnegan!  He is an adorable little fellow and we can’t wait for him and Julius to be best buddy cousins!  So far Julius has tried to grab Finn’s toes, but there has been minimal interaction otherwise.  (Finn is still a squish right now, and though it seems it happened so quickly, Julius is a fairly sturdy, busy baby. )

Julius is playing with Finn! Or maybe he’s just stealing his toys. Hard to say.

After my last blog post, Julius seemed to get over the funk I mentioned.  In fact, several days later he even gave me baby kisses again!  This age is definitely the most fun so far.  Every day it seems like he is learning more and more.  You can almost see the gears turning.  Most people warned us that it is a pain when babies are mobile, but right now we just find it fun.  Julius likes to explore, but he is equally happy to sit and play.  The cutest thing he does is scoots over to where you are standing and tries to climb up your legs until you pick him up and give him a hug.  After that he’ll let you hug him until you put him down again whence he goes on his merry way.  I am loving every minute!

One thing Julius finds fascinating now is drinking glasses.  He always wants to drink out of my glass when I’m holding one.  I’ve started letting him drink out of them, and though he doesn’t have the technique down, he has gotten better.  Well for this Danycon I decided to make Danycon pint glassses.  They were a hit and as an added bonus cut down on waste from cups.  I used folk art multisurface paints that I had from my paint night ladies’ night, but you can use any paint suitable for painting on glass.

DIY Stenciled Pint Glasses

What you’ll need:

• glass paints (I used folk art multisurface)
• spouncer
• pint glass (I got mine from the Dollar Tree)
• contact paper
• X-acto knife

1. On a piece of paper print or sketch your desired design.  Designs with solid shapes work best.  Those with negative space in the center are difficult to create.
2. Place your piece of paper on top of the contact paper and on a cutting surface.  Cut around the design using the Xacto knife, pressing hard enough so it transfers through to the contact paper.
3. Remove the backing from the contact paper and stick it to glass in your desired location.
4. Using the spouncer, dab paint on the stencil on the cup.
5. Remove the stencil immediately.
6. Let the paint dry 24 hours then place glass in a cold oven.  Bring the oven to 350 degrees F then cook for 30 minutes.  When finished, turn off the oven and let the oven cool completely.  Glasses will be top rack dishwasher safe.

Well I think the tides have turned.  This is a heartbreaking week for motherhood.  Julius won’t nurse consistently for me.  It has been a struggle for a while, but it was mostly due to distraction which I could handle.  Over the past few days though things have progressed beyond distraction and he will go 5 hours without nursing.  To prevent him from starving, we finally have to give him a bottle, which he takes mostly happily.

Along with that awful blow, Julius hasn’t been his ecstatically enthusiastic self for mama either.  Saturday Will went to another bachelor party and gave Julius a big hug before he left.  When Julius was handed back to me he actually sobbed!  AND he hasn’t given me baby kisses in nearly a week!!!  What is going on?!  Forget any hopes of being a mama’s boy, I just hope he hasn’t outgrown mama already.

All this seriously makes me regret ever heading home from work late!  What was I thinking?!  Who cares if I get fired, I could have had so many more baby kisses and snuggles!  I miss them already…

Enough mama drama – I have a crappy project to show you!  Okay, okay, it is a really bad pun (but that won’t stop me from making it the title of this post!)  I’m going to show you how to make the cloth diaper cover that Julius has been wearing for a couple months now (not continuously). I wanted to wait until we’d used the cover for a while before I posted it.  I can tell you it works great!  Just like a normal diaper cover!  Plus it was exceedingly inexpensive to make (I think it cost me around $4 for materials with a Joann Fabrics coupon).  What’s the catch?  Well, it was fairly time consuming to make.  I’ve been meaning to make more for months.  This diaper making procrastination may have become worse than my curtain making procrastination.  The cover, while re-sizable, runs a bit large.  We use pre-folds instead of inserts, and it comfortably accommodates these.

Here let me get that shirt for you.

Multisize Cloth Diaper Cover

What you’ll need:

• 1/2 yard of PUL material (plus more for seam binding)
• 1/2 yard of 1/4″ elastic
• Plastic snaps
• Diaper pattern here

1. Following the pattern pieces cut out the diaper cover, two gussets, inside cover top and two inside cover sides.
   

   Cut out pattern pieces.

2. Make bias/binding tape by cutting a 2″ strip, so if you pull the edges of the strip it has the most give.  (For the knit PUL I have, that is NOT on the bias).  Or you can use this tape, which I am going to try on my next diaper project!
   

   Make bias tape.

3. Pin the top cover to the inside cover top and sides, shiny waterproof sides together.  Stitch along edges of the diaper cover.
   

   Attach diaper cover to diaper cover lining, wrong sides together.

4. Cut a 3.5″ piece of elastic for the front top of diaper cover.  Cut a 6.5″ piece of elastic for the back top of diaper cover.  Cut a 4″ piece of elastic for the inside of legs.  Stretch each piece of elastic and stitch, fully stretched, between markings on pattern using a zig zag stitch.
   

   Attach elastic, fully stretched, using zig-zag stitch.

5. Cut a piece of binding material so it is slightly longer than the straight edge of your gusset.
   

   Cut binding material slightly longer than gusset.

6. Pin right sides together along the straight edge and stitch.
   

   Pin right sides of gusset and bias tape together and stitch.

7. Cut a 4″ piece of elastic for the gusset.  Attach a piece of elastic to the seam allowance using a zig zag stitch.
8. Fold the bias tape over the seam allowance as you would double fold bias tape (hiding the unfinished edges). Stitch outside the elastic.
   

   Fold bias tape over edge of gusset and elastic.

9. Pin the gusset to the diaper at leg markings, wrong sides together.  Stitch.
10. Repeat steps 5-9 with the second gusset.
11. Attach bias tape right sides together all along the edge of the diaper, stitching just inside of where the elastic is.
    

    Attach bias tape around edge of diaper cover.

12. Flip bias tape to the inside over seam allowance, tucking in the unfinished edge of the bias tape.  When you get to the leg gussets, encompass the unfinished edges of the leg gusset bias tape inside.  Stitch at the edge of the bias tape, outside the elastic.
    

    Enclose the unfinished edges of the leg gusset bias tape.

13. Mark placement on diaper for snaps, following pattern.
    

    Mark placement for diaper snaps.

14. Attach snaps according to instructions on package.
    

    Attach snaps.

     

    

    This picture was taken over two months ago! He’s gotten even bigger since then!

    

    Back

    

    Front view on smallest setting.

    

    Back view of cover.

    

    Is it cool if I suck my fingers?