Our Sunday Morning - Warm and Cozy

We went out yesterday (Sunday) after another snowstorm came upon us. We didn't want it to hinder our plans, so Lil C got dressed up (again) in his winter suit. We lovingly call it his seal suit. It's a doubly knit one-piece suit that was made in Iceland. We got it locally at an amazing store, Mjolk but they only had the one for sale. Too bad, i get so many folks asking me about it! They do sell adult sizes, though...

His New Room-ish

We got rid of Lil C's crib in hopes he would sleep better. While he loves his new set-up, i can't say he sleeps a lot better...but that's another story. Regardless, updating his new room to be toddler-friendly was full of fun projects for us! During the day, we just stack the two mattresses and surround them with pillows, and at night, we can fit them side by side for a comfy sleep, and a chance for mama or daddy to join him if needed.

We saved the crib mattress and brought out an old single mattress of mine to create a nice sleeping nook. So, that called for lots of pillows. I still have one more to make, and need to start that quilt i've had in my head for C, but for the most part his new room is done!
I love the bird pillow - it's from an old framed cross-stitch piece that i needed to save for 'the right project' and here it is! C was named after James Baldwin (middle name) so we had to honour him somehow. J made a shirt for C when he was 9 months old, and since he clearly has outgrown it, i thought of this easy way to keep it longer. And, since his room is Secret Garden themed, i thought of a fun way to use leftover treebark fabric - by making 2 logs!
As C is a book lover already, and we read a lot of books together. And, i really appreciate that C can reach any of his favourite books. I found this great tutorial on-line and it's a perfect solution. I added some pockets on the outside so that C can reach is board books easily. Luckily, i was also able to re-use most of the crib skirt now that we won't need it any longer.
I am also so happy to use our collection of quilts - 2 that used to be J's when he was little. I think his grandma made them both. The painted animals are adorable! And, soon we'll be using sheets/quilts for C to sleep with, instead of the sleep sacks he has now. Then, the awesome quilt our friend Suzanne made for C will be a perfect fit! Soon, i'll get to add the one i've been dreaming up, full of woodland and garden-themed prints (like his big pillow pictured above).

Our Sunday Morning - Apple Sauce

We had a lovely and quiet day at Chez JVC. After a busy weekend of seeing friends, hosting a dinner party, and having overnight friends, nothing finishes it off better than staying indoors in your comfy clothes.

While C had his nap, i took the time to make apple sauce. We get a bi-weekly food box and always get the same staples. You know, carrots, potatoes, greens, and apples. So, as C loves 'appy' so much, i thought this was great chance for him to have some homemade stuff!

There are many apple sauce recipes out there, but i didn't want to add anything, especially sugar. So we loosely followed Get it Ripe's recipe (always a good reference for healthy cooking regardless) and it is perfect. Eight medium apples to one cup of water and bowl for 20-30 min! Done.

Our Sunday Morning - Last Week and Now

As i got so busy last week with making presents and otherwise getting ready for our festivities, i never got around to upload photos, let alone post here. So, here are 2 photos - 1 from what we did last Sunday Morning and what happened today..as we are back home after a whirlwind family visit extravaganza!!

Oh, and Happy Belated Solstice to you as well....

We made truffles for the first time, and wanted to share them as gifts. Last Sunday, we finished them off after doing most of the work Saturday night. We made two kinds - Cream Earl Grey Milk Chocolate (for our non-vegan friends) and Dark Chocolate Fudge. The second recipe i got from jae steele's great book Get it Ripe. I sprinkled it with cinnamon and cocoa but otherwise i followed the recipe. Fun to make, a big process, and a bit messy. I am happy with the taste of both but definitely need to work on my coating technique.
This is Li'l C and i at my parents house this morning. He loves the camera, almost as much as he loved all the family, company, and attention he got this weekend!

Restructured Sweater Hat and Mitts

From this to....

this!

My mom felted an old sweater of my dad's ages ago and i finally found a project worth cutting it up for. As C's winter coat set is a lovely cream and beige, i thought this wool would both look lovely and be so warm and cozy. C is not a fan of most hats and mitts and i've noticed too that his neck sometimes gets exposed with just a hat and jacket. So, i crafted up a loose idea for a patten and whipped up this hat in no time. I searched on-line to find a guide, but couldn't but am quite happy with how it turned out.
I cut out the hat part, and used elves' hats as an inspiration. Then, i added longer pieces cut from the sleeves for the neck part. And, easy enough - i just sewed the neck wrap part onto the hat. Now his neck is never exposed! But, as my wee one is definitely going through some type of growth spurt, i don' think the hat will last all winter.

C's Growing Tree

As we were away this weekend, i couldn't take a photo for my new weekly Our Sunday Morning post. But, just to let you know Lil C slept in a bit for us at his Nana and Pa's place, and we enjoyed some morning giggles together in bed!

On another note, i've actually been able to be creative and crafty lately. For one, i finished a project i (ahem) started in June. It's a Growth Chart for C that i hope to use each year for his birthday, as a way to chronicle is growing pains. We also expect to use it at other times, i just have to find a good place to hang it...
I wanted to make something that plays tribute to his room theme of 'Secret Garden.' And being a boy's room, i wanted it to be a bit less 'girly' even though gendered stuff doesn't matter that much to me. But, i see C is already into gardening and trees, so that's what inspired this Growing Tree.
I couldn't truly capture the piece in the photos as it's quite long, but i think you can get the gist of it. As it's my own design, i think it was pretty straight forward to make. Here are some simple steps, if you like:

1) I just cut 3 pieces of fabric (1 for front, 1 for back, and some interfacing)
2) I then cut out some tree pieces from this great fabric - nothing too fancy, but mostly rectangular pieces
3) Then, i found some remnant pieces of fabric that match C's room colours (mainly greens, oranges, and yellows, blues) and cut them into simple leaf shapes. I found a great fabric with birds on it so just had to include it.
4) This part took me the longest, but i then sewed the leaves onto the tree fabric (that was already sewn onto the front fabric panel). I didn't fold over the fabric, but rather kept the edges frayed, as i thought it would be fun that way (like real leaves) but also i didn't want to take any longer on this project. But i would recommend trying to be more precise with your embellishments if you like.
5) Once all the leaves were attached, i then, put the interfacing on the back panel, and put the right sides of the back and front panels and sew around, leaving a 3 inch space to turn it right side out. Once down, cut 2 pieces of ribbon that are the length you want.
6) Find a piece of branch to use as a support, and add any other embellishments like i did - fabric markers are a great tool for projects like this! I then just recorded what C's height was for 12 months, and plan to keep adding the number each year.

He's So Small..

This was Clem on Hallowe'en. Does it look familiar? I know the reference may be a bit obscure, but i just love the story...
When You Were Small by Sara O'Leary. Of course, being a sewer, i loved the idea of making a simple thimble hat for him. And instead of a sword made out of a sewing needle, i made a wand out of a large 'pin' (aka knitting needle). I was so delighted to have found this handmade sweater that matched Henry in the story perfectly. Li'l C had a great time with his wand, and going up to people's houses, and of course playing with the candy. He is way to young to eat them, so luckily he had no idea what the candy was, besides a fun tool to take out of this bowl, but in this bag, and then drop back into this bowl....

As i think this may have been the last year that i got to dress him up in a costume of my choice, i loved the idea of celebrating him being small, and being able to link his story to the book's. He also love this book and carries it over to me to read to him almost daily. So i know the costume was a good choice indeed!

Our Sunday Morning (wet one)

It's a rainy Sunday here, so we plan on staying indoors for the most part, doing final Halloween/Sanheim decorations. Li'l C will also most likely doodle a bit, and we have some new leaves and gourds from our trip to the Pumpkin farm yesterday to play with.

Our Sunday Morning

I'm thinking of starting a new post entitled "Our Sunday Morning", inspired by some other blogger's weekly posts. But, as i work outside the home + in the home, i think doing something on weekends is more do-able for me. I wish i had time to do all the crafts i have on my to-do and inspiration lists, let alone take photos of them!

This will also keep me active with my blog in general, as at times life gets in the way... But i can at least upload the pictures i take, as i still am taking a lot of them weekly, and sometimes daily.

Now that Lil C is 15 months old, his adventures both in the home and outside it have increased exponentially! He is drawing, walking, dancing, singing, and helping mommy in the kitchen. Helping daddy of course too.

He has figured out how to use the stepstool in the kitchen, which is both exciting and a bit scary. But, getting moments like this photo captures is worth it - he not only helped me clean, he discovered more about himself and our home. Lovely.

Oh, and please excuse both my baggy pj bottoms and messy kitchen - we're in the middle of redoing the backsplash!

Baby Goes to the Cottage

We had a lovely long weekend at my parents cottage this weekend, being Canada Day and all. The weather was a much more respectable degree of 26 than the 40 we see now in Toronto. Yikes!

Lil C got to get his fingers and toes wet and dirty, as we all should when at a cottage. He ate better than i did, being that as usual, i indulged in some (ahem) snack food. He also slept like a log, not something he is known for. I bet the awesome clean air and record amount of time outside that he enjoyed had something to do with it.

See for yourself!
Of course, he was not the only one to enjoy himself and take a load off. We got to put our feet up, watch our wee one be loved by his Deda and Baba (so lovely to see) and Aunt K. We also had some craft projects to tend to - i got to cut project fabrics and J got to make wood blocks from our Christmas tree from last year - the first tree for C! Ah...my heart fills up with such love during weekends like this, just what we need and what cottages are good at. Lucky for me, i found this perfect stone to play tribute to our weekend.

It's Been a Whole Year

Wow, i can't believe it's been a year since Clem entered our world. We had a wee party for him today, and while i didn't tear up then like i thought i would, i am now. I'm exhausted but can't excuse it all on that - a whole year!!!!
The weather (and G20 summit- ug) was not in our favour so we ended up having the party in our backyard. Too bad, because i really wanted to go here. But, it was lovely in our garden backyard, and since the 'theme' was garden i guess it was the best setting. When C's older, the adventure park/castle playland will be a perfect setting.

I made him some birthday attire for his big day. Of course, he had to have his own crown, like mommy and daddy. His is made from a recycled green sweater that my mom felted for me. I followed Amanda Soule's directions in her great book. I hope for C to embellish it more over the years. He even wore it for most of the afternoon! But he promptly took it off when he saw the cake. I also made this cute romper from a vintage/used pattern i scored at VV months ago. I just love the bowtie and i think he'll need to wear them more often!


We made chocolate cupcakes and carrot cupcakes from THE cookbook. The carrot ones did not turn out too well lookwise, but they tasted pretty lovely. They caved in and shrunk a bit? I used spelt flour instead of all-purpose as C's still not really doing wheat. Not sure if that was the reason? The chocolate were perfect and both were covered with icing that i made green by adding a bit of chlorophyll and tumeric too. I hope you can see the look i as going for- green for grass with a few brown stepping stones and garden do-dads added in. I even made a miniature bunting banner for it - to go with our life-size ones!

As you can see, C loved his first taste.

I also tried making the chocolate icing from the Babycakes cookbook. I really wanted C's first taste of non-fruit sweetness to be agave and not sugar, but it just didn't work out. But for the second time, the coconut oil solidified as i whipped it and it turned into a nasty, chunky mess. Tasted nice but so not attractive. I've had no luck with their icings. Any suggestions folks? I read maybe to use less oil and more dry soy milk powder....
As party favours, i bought great seed packages from Urban Harvest for everyone, and topped it up with some cute toys - chocolate ladybugs, small mushrooms, and windmills. I think it was a nice touch to a sweet little party for our sweet wee one!

Building a New Summer Wardrobe

I've been spending more and more time on the sewing machine these days, whipping up clothes and more for Lil C. Luckily, sewing projects don't require the commitment of time that knitting does. I have been collecting old and vintage patterns for a long time, both for me and for the kiddies, even before C was on the radar. Mostly cuz the images are so cute! I made the onesie (on the image above) for our nephew and was so excited to make these shorts. I think i'll be making them a bunch as the pattern can be adjusted pretty well.

I also love the cape in the pattern, so i hope i get around to making it for him sometime. Maybe for when he's 2. It'll make a fun addition for our role play/dress-up bin!

Guitar Lessons

Lil C has been busy getting to know how to play guitar. He watches his Daddy play it quite regularly, and has realized he can learn how to stand up AND play music at the same time. So, as the guitar isn't the easiest thing for him to play with on his own, i made him a small softie replica. I knew just the fabric to use too - once i saw it at The Workroom months ago, i just knew i had to make something 'wood-like' from Joel Dewberry's woodgrain line. I used one of J's 5 (or is it 6?) guitars as a guide. Pretty straight-forward pattern! I added some bells for the musical effect.

As you can see, C's not the only one who likes to play guitar. My mom has been busy sewing toys too, like this owl!

If you have a moment and want to see C jam, click here to see a wee video over at Flickr. It's too big for this site, but too sweet to not share with you!

His Summer Hat

Just in time for the nice Spring weather and getting ready for Summer, i made Lil C a sun hat of sorts. I love the big visor on the hat and used light weight cotton fabric. As he hates wearing hats (pretty standard i'm sure), i also added some ties that i can bow tie under his chin.

The pattern is from Amy Butler's Little Stitches book and was quite straight forward to follow. I love that i made a hat. I'm no milliner but i think it's a great challenge for me. I made it bigger on purpose so that it can last until the end of summer at least.
Our friend, Christina, took some sweet photos of us when we had a date together at our local big city park the week the cherry blossoms were in fine form. Thanks so much for the lovely photos and gesture to capture the day, Christina!

Now if only i can get a photo of him and his daddy, as he has a hat that is coincidently (really, i swear!) just like C's.

Let's Go Swimming

Lil C and i started baby swim classes recently. I thought he'd enjoy it as he loves to play with water and bath-time is a highlight of his day. So far, i have to admit, it's not his favourite outing. But, we have cute swim diapers to wear, so he looks pretty adorable! He does like clinging (ahem) wrapping his arms around me, and loves to chase after the rubber ducky though.

I wanted to find some cute swim diapers, and after being less than impressed with the ones on hand from the usual cloth diapering companies (weird tie dye prints, too gender-specific images), i realized Etsy probably has some sellers who make them. Good idea! I found lots to chose from, but settled on this adorable suit. Rethink Crafts has a great line of fabrics to choose from, the price is right, and the work is great. Plus, they fit really well and luckily we've had no leakage issues! Check out her site to see what else she has!

Maybe by the time June comes around, C will be into the Splash Pad in our local park. We can really get use out of our swim diapers/suit by then.

Happy Earth Day

We have been enjoying some lovely books and since it's Earth Day today, i thought it was a perfect time to share them with you. You'll see the connection to today's theme i'm sure. My partner and i are avid budding gardeners, and want to model this to our wee one - of course knowing he's his own dude and all. But with great books like these, i'm sure he'll be inspired!

Here they are for you to learn more:
* In My Nest
* I am a Bunny
* Growing Vegetable Soup
* Planting a Rainbow
* Farmer Duck

As you can see Lil C loves In My Nest. It's an interactive book with finger puppet. What a great idea! It's such a sweet book and C loves to play with the cute blue birdie. I have to say though, my favourite of the bunch is Planting a Rainbow as it features Spring flowers that are in bloom in our own backyard. It makes it real for us as we read together, and i love that it is a tool to help C learn more about our own garden!

Wee Ones Booties

I love Amy Butler's book Little Stitches for Little Ones. I've made these booties twice now for Lil C. The first time, he was just about 3 months old so they really just were a cover-up to help him stay warm. Now that he's moving about, it's another story!

I got some non-slip fabric from my mother and used that as the sole. It really helps. C isn't walking on his own quite yet but he's close and good shoes help keep him steady. Wow, does he ever move fast when he walks!

I do need some support with these booties though. If anyone has made them already and they actually fit your wee one, let me know. My partner, J believes these booties must have been made for babies with 'club' feet as they're so wide. I made the 9-12 month old size and C is 9 months now. I just can't see him growing into them that well. The other problem is where the velcro is placed to close them. Looks perfect without a foot in them, and i'm sure i followed the instructions/pattern to a T. But, i just can't close them securely once his foot is in. I'm thinking of getting rid of the velcro and adding some sort of snap or at least moving the velcro to a better spot.

They're just too cut to have as display only!

Up-Cycling For My Wee One's Bottom

I think i may have mentioned this already, but we are a cloth diaper family here. I've been able to find some great dipes that work for day as well as overnight, but i'm still always looking for better. It's a bit of an addiction really. I also love all the handmade ones i see on-line (namely Etsy of course), as well as some patterns for me to make my own. But, i just don't have the time...Maybe for baby #2 (wow, i'm already there, huh?), i'll be with it enough to make my own.
I also came across some great sites to make your own cloth diaper covers.
As a vegan, i typically don't use wool myself, but as my partner isn't a vegan and nor will C be one (unless he chooses to be), i figured i could reuse some old sweaters my mom had already felted to make some great wool covers. Wool is just that much absorbent, and i love the idea of using what we have. Plus, i have been thinking more about how the vegan diet/culture isn't so organic or earth friendly as i wish it was.

But i digress...
So, after looking on-line at some great tuturiols, i made 3 wool covers for C. I have to admit, while they were pretty easy to make, and adorable, they're not perfect. I need to add elastics to the back to make them fit him better. Otherwise, they're kind of useless, right? But, they fit almost perfectly around his very bulky cloth diapered bum, except for the waist part.

In my research for finding good diaper covers, and things that are EC-friendly, i was so happy that a friend (thanks Rachel) referred to me to this find blog, Childhood Magic. So fun and a great inspiration - from home-schooling, to using wool diaper pants, and more! Check it out.

Baby on the New Blocks

I love making things for my wee one. Luckily, now that he's actually starting to interact with toys (and in fact ANYthing can be a toy these days - i love the discovery phase he's in!), i've been able to set aside time to make him some goodies. And, what fun i've had both making them and playing with them too.
I love wooden blocks, but i also love the idea of soft toys. As someone who already loves the simplicity of everyday objects as toys, I got re-inspired by great and lovely book, The Creative Family, as there is a discussion of making toys and using organic materials. I set out to make a set of 4 soft blocks. My sis went to Hawaii a while back and bought me these fabulous fabric squares - yes already cut coincidently to size - so it was easy to make them. I made some fun embellishments on them too; shapes, 1-2-3-4, and some added do-dads (cloth flower, balls).
Li'l C loves them and it's especially dreamy for me to see him reach for them. We're not shy around colours here, and it looks like he's not falling far from the tree, if you know what i mean!

Next up, some softies to help him sleep better. Hello Ms. Lovey!!!