Jakey's new swing

Our hammock swing from Nicaragua finally gave out, so we got this awesome dolphin swing as a replacement. I got it off craigslist for $5. Can't beat that. Jacob loves it. He was having a fussy day, but he spent about 30 minutes happily swinging away. In the background you can see his diapers drying on the line. The nice thing about the swing is that Nate can be watering the plants and taking care of the garden while Jacob is in the swing.

MintBasil: Pay It Forward

MintBasil: Pay It Forward
Check out this site for a cool giveaway.

Little cruiser

It took so long for Jacob to crawl that we thought it would take him a while to start standing and walking. He is already pulling himself up and starting to cruise and it seemed like he only started crawling a month ago. Here is our little cruiser.

The first finished quilt!

Here we are with the first of our 5 finished quilts for Refuge House. (27 more to go) It was amazing to actually finish one. The team is leaving tomorrow for the grand opening. Fortunately for us, they will not be using all of the beds in the beginning, so we will have time to complete more by the time they are using more of the beds. The backing is one of my vintage sheets that I have been collecting, and for the binding we used some blue fabric that I found already cut and rolled into strips. G. spent almost 2 hours ironing it in half so that it would be ready to bind the quilts.

Fabric Hunting and breakfast at Pancake House

The Refuge House quilters decided to spend a day shopping for fabric at estate sales and starting off with breakfast at the Pancake House. For more photos of the day, you can look here. It was supposed to be more of an exploration of local estate sales, but in my search for estate sales, I found a sewing guild's yearly fabric sale. We couldn't pass up that opportunity. Sometimes things are advertised to sound better than they really are, but this sale did not disappoint. They had tons of fabric in the front and back yard and most of it was around $1/yd. Most of the fabric pictured here is from that sale. We also hit a discount fabric store on our way to the estate sales and got a few more yards of great fabric to use on our quilts. All in all, it was a great day for the fabric search.

The ladies at the sewing guild's sale were floored that a group of girls would travel together in search of yard sales and they were also surprised that we bought so much of their fabric.

the Mei Tai

After trying out the rebozo, I wanted to find a wrap that would be easy to use for back carrying. I found this pattern for a mei tai wrap that seemed pretty simple and easy to use and also easy to make. I made it with cotton on the outside, a blue flannel for the inside and some thick cotton flannel on the inside. I did not line the straps although I might for the next one I make. Some of the instructions were hard to follow, but with trial and error I think it turned out how it was supposed to. However, after making this, I feel like it is either too big for me, or too big for Jacob. I've tried adjusting it as much as I can with the wrap, but it feels like he is not secure and could fall out of the sides. I'm not sure if I am wrapping him too loosely, or if I need to adjust the pattern. I may take it apart and take a bit off the corners to see if it fits better. Otherwise I am pleased with it and it's not too bad as a front carrier because I feel a little more secure carrying him that way at least until I make the adjustments.

Gifts from Peru

The Panama hat(which is actually not from Panama) is not for Jacob. Heidi brought them back for her dad and grandpa, but he looked so funny in it, I had to add it to this post. Heidi also brought back a few hand woven rebozos, and here we are trying it out. They are pretty comfy and easy to use which made me curious about some other wraps.

Tia Heidi is back!

Jacob met his aunt Heidi for the first time when she stopped over in LA on her return from Peru and her 2 year stint in the Peace Corps. They had some great times laughing and playing and eating together. Maybe next time she comes he will be ready for a trip to Disneyland (since she used to work there and has all the hookups).