Bean Bag Compresses

A few years ago, I made a bean bag compress for my grandmother to help soothe her aches and pains and warm her up on a cold day.  When I visited her over the holidays, I noticed she is still using the bag but it has seen better days. When I got home, I made her a new one. And while I was at it, I made myself one.

The process is easy. All you need is:

Two 12-inch squares of sturdy fabric
2 pounds of dry beans
1 pound of dry rice
2 Tbsp of herbs such as thyme, mint, cloves, lavender, etc. (you can substitute 25 drops of essential oil)

With right sides together, stitch three sides of the square to form a pocket. Turn right side out. Mix the beans, rice, and herbs in a large bowl. Scoop the mixture into the bag and sew the fourth side shut. Heat the bag in the microwave for 2 to 3 minutes and use to bring comfort to the body. The herbs make a lovely fragrance!

Cloth Training Pants Part 2

A few weeks ago I started making cloth training pants for my four grandsons who are turning two this year. You can see the original post here:
http://craftersinthesky.blogspot.com/2011/07/homemade-toddler-training-pants.html.


I thought this would be a less expensive way to help my daughters get through the potty training experience with their boys, but so far it has cost me $200 and I still need more PUL fabric! I'm not complaining. With the cost of bumGenius at $17.95 each and one Fuzzibunz at $19.95, to purchase 48 pants (one dozen for each grandson) would be $864 and $960. I'm happy with the outcome.

Now if the boys will do their "job" right, we should have four happy mommies with potty trained boys, hopefully before they outgrow them or start kindergarten!

By the way, KAMSnaps.com had the size 20 plastic snaps and application device I needed.

I have plenty of the non-waterproof training pants available for purchase. They come with a separate nylon waterproof pant. Each set (cloth and waterproof panties) is $10.

Homemade Toddler Training Pants

So far I've prepared six training pants from cloth prefold diapers for my grandsons who are just starting to potty train. I will add the snaps to them tomorrow after a trip to the fabric store.

Cloth Toddler Training Pants

I'm trying out two new things with this post. One, I'm making training pants for my toddler grandsons, and two, I'm posting this from my iphone! I love technology!



So here is the inside of the training pant. You can see it is made from a 6-ply prefold diaper.









This is the outside. I wish I could rotate the photo so it faces front, but learning to do that on my iphone will be my research project another day.









I stuffed it with a plastic bag just to get it to stand up so I can show the leg holes and side flaps where I plan to add velcro, which is cheaper than the hammer-on snaps I plan to use once I perfect my technique and know the garment will fit the boys.

Here is a photo of the velcro added. I gave it plenty of room for adjustment and know the waist will fit. I wish I had my two-year-old grandsons here to try this on for functionality regarding the leg opening. I added elastic to help hold in the yucky stuff that toddlers are prone to produce and carry in their pants—that is until mommy discovers the bomb.

Now compare this creation to the plain old white ones you can buy in the store. The tot must wear rubber pants with either but the designer ones are much cuter.

Sock Monkey Baby Crib Quilt

I had enough material to create two sock monkey quilts.  The first one is the one that stays at my house:

The other is cherished by my grandson, Liam. I'll show the process for this one. Here I have cut out the pieces to form the sock monkey body for the front of the quilt. I appliqued this to the brown dotted fabric.


Here I have cut out the pieces to form the sock monkey body for the front of the quilt. I appliqued this to the brown dotted fabric.



I have the squares cut and laid out on a brown background to give me a visual of how I want the pattern to form.


Then I put the squares together with the solid brown strips between.



All three layers were basted to hold things together while I quilted it.

The finished quilt top (front)

And the finished quilt back.

There's also a crib bumper to match the quilt.

Liam has adopted it as a toy.

Football Theme Quilt

 I thought I had a photo of the quilt once I had the quilting stitches done, but I can't find it on my computer.

I made this quilt for my step-grandson, Hunter, in 2009.

Racing & Cars Movie Themed Boys Quilt

This was made for my step grandson, Jacob.

 I quilted small circles on the border.

This is the back of the quilt before the layers were put together.

Transportation Theme Crib Quilt and Curtain

This crib quilt and curtain was made for my grandson, Jonas in 2009. There is a photo of his crib bumper on this blog. See http://craftersinthesky.blogspot.com/2011/02/transportation-theme-crib-bumber.html.

First, I cut out the pieces for the vehicles and made each one individually.

I tried several layouts before I found one that worked.

Then, I appliqued the vehicles to the top of the quilt background.

Put the layers: top, batting, and backing, together with a basting stitch.

The finished quilt.

In Jonas' room with the crib bumper.

and the valance/curtain to match.

Young Girl's Flower, Rainbow, and Butterfly Quilt

This is very similar to the teenager quilt I made using the same fabric. The back of this one is solid fleece whereas the teenager quilt is pieced on the back.

Young Teen Butterfly & Flower Quilt

Turtle Theme Baby Quilt

Cars Movie Theme Quilt

Transportation Theme Crib Bumper

I made this crib bumper for my grandson, Jonas in 2009. There is another post showing his quilt and curtain at http://craftersinthesky.blogspot.com/2011/02/transportation-theme-crib-quilt-and.html.

 

Baby Burp Cloths from Diapers

6-ply diapers make a great burp cloth for newborns. They go through several in one day, so having plenty on hand is a good idea. I used the leftover turtle motifs from Lochlan's baby quilt for these.

Making a Baby Pillow

Zip-off cover allows for machine washing.





His nursery theme is sock monkey, so I made the pillow case in Nick and Nora fabric.

He has a smaller pillow that I made him at birth. He loves it—especially the soft, white "bumps", so I replicated the case to fit the new larger pillow.

Slings to Wear the Baby Hands Free

Trash to Treasure: Recycled Plastic Bags

Looks like trash to begin with. These are shopping bags and product packages.








Fuse the bags between sheets of wax paper, using an iron on medium heat setting.










A little bit of sewing required to piece together the sheets.

Green, clean, and useful as padded mailers.