Beginner Sewing Project - Toddler pants

Happy Easter to everyone. Hope you got to spend it with family, like I did.

I would love to hear all the tricks that you got up to since it was April fool's day. Maybe you told the kids that there would be no Easter eggs... lol. Cruel but so funny.

We did our first Easter egg hunt with my daughter. She loved it. It was really the first time that she was more aware of what is going on.

On the other hand at the start of the long weekend, I bought myself a sewing machine instead of chocolates for Easter. I have wanted a machine for many years. A sewing machine always comes handy at home, and now with little ones...even more so.

I got myself the Brother Innovis NV180. I was told, I had the last one in the country. They were only getting more later this month. Be as it may be, I can see why the machine is so popular. When you are selling a machine as a 3 in 1 combo, it can be very attractive. It is a cute machine and functional. You can sew and embroider on it. The third function they are selling is quilting, though that never interested me. Above all, I need to be able to sew, and the added bonus for me is the embroidery function.

I got the machine and unpacked it on Friday. Ran a few test stitches through it, and was totally impressed.

I went off to the shops on Saturday to buy all the fabric and thread for the number of projects I have lined up for myself to do...as if I did not have enough already... I am planning to make my daughter a range of pants for winter and a small backpack for her. She is always grabbing my handbag, so now she will have her own bag (once I have made it).

On Sunday evening, I cut up one of her old pants and sketched up a pattern from it. I needed an extra pair of hands since, one person has to hold the elasticated part open, while the other person traces out the outline. I added 2 centimeters all around. 1 centimeter for the seam and the additional 1 centimeter growth (in total 2 centimeters). I really wanted to start cutting up the material, but it was late and dark, and I didn't want to chance the possibility of making a mistake.

Monday morning, I got stuck right into it. It is amazing how much energy one can find with a new toy in the house... I used my new blade and glided through the fleece. In 30 seconds I had my material cut. The next three and half hours were spent sewing the edges and putting the pieces together. I'm sure the next lot will go faster, now that I know what to do.

The pants also have an additional 2 centimeters to the bottom seam of the leg part of the pants, so as she grows, I can extend the pants, without having to make new ones. It does feel a bit bulky, but the extra weight helps straighten the length of the pants. With a few washes, it will become more compressed and not so bulky.

The second time around while the long side of the leg seam was still not sew together, I first sewed the bottom seam of the legs, then sewed the seam of the long side of the legs together. After that, I rolled the bottom part up again and sewed that. It was a bit of a tight area to work in, but the reason behind me doing it that way, was because when it will come to the time of extending the legs, I will not have to undo the long seam in order to extend the pants. The first time round, I sewed the long side together and then worked in the small space sewing the bottom seam and then rolling it up again, and it was tight and time consuming to work in such a small space. (You learn with experience.)

The image below is the waist band being sewn. I leave a centimeter gap so I can weave in the elastic. The best way to weave it it, is pin a safety pin to it and glide the safety pin with the elastic attached through the hoop. Once you get back to the starting point, you pull the end of the elastic band out and sew the one end to the other end. Be careful not to let the end of the elastic disappear into the hoop while you are weaving the safety pin, otherwise, you will have to start all over again.

I never took photos throughout the process of sewing but will try to add some photos when I do the next lot. In the end, I was so impressed with my very novice skills that I managed to produce a fairly decent piece of clothing. Isabella loved it! She was so proud that she was showing them off to the family and would not take them off for the entire afternoon. It made making them that much more worth it and all I want to do, is make some more for her.

Here is a picture of the finished product.

Update: I made another pair, and this time round, I took a few more photos. I also took me half the time to sew it all together. All photos have been added to the rest of the blog. I cut the pattern out multiple times, and will start bulk sewing the next colour. I have some material left over, and will need to see if I can find a pattern to make her a top.

Gynecologists and what they should say

You have got to love doctors.

For most of you who already know me, you will know that I am a firm believer of doing things as naturally as possible. That goes for everything in life. I believe that God made this world full of abundant nutrients that can heal your body and keep you healthy. I do not run to the doctor with every ailment. I do believe that there is a place for the doctors in this world, but I also have seen that they have gone beyond taking the time to know you and your history and family history. They are far too quick to prescribe medications and see you off in 15 mins at hundreds, if not thousands of rands.

So why did I start with that statement?

At my 12 week pregnancy check-up the doctor instilled fear into me. She did her measurements of the baby and got vastly different measurements of the neck flap. Immediately, she says that I need to go for a highly expensive blood test that is currently only done in the UK for down syndromes. This test would deplete my medical savings account by a third. I still have to consider all the next appointments that I need to do throughout the pregnancy and still give birth...

Well needless to say, you have got to love doctors and all their scientific gadgets and statistics.

Let's fast forward to today. I never did the test. My husband and I decided that we would not abort, no matter what. So in the end it was not worth spending all that money. I am now 20 weeks pregnant and had to see her again for the major scan. Today she checks all the "soft" markers for downs, and guess what...? The baby is perfectly healthy. It has all it's digits, everything is where it is supposed to be. I have a perfect baby growing inside of my belly.

A perfectly straight leg

"Hi Mom." All five figures.

So what doctor's should be saying is, let's look at your family history. I see that there is no case of abnormalities in your family. All the individuals in your family are genetically strong and healthy and even though I have this concern, I believe you are in good health and shape and will give rise to a perfect baby.

She did the same thing with me in my first pregnancy. She was worried about placenta previa at 12 weeks. In the end, I did not need the added stress in my pregnancy. We as mothers, need to protect our unborn children and keep them safe from the bad outside world.

In addition, any doctor that suggests to a pregnant woman to inject herself with a virus (the flu) clearly is so absorbed with science and stats, that they fail to realize that centuries have past and we are currently sitting on a population with over 7 billion people. Why would  you want to inject yourself with a virus!? My body, which was created by God himself, is a perfect haven for my unborn child. Should I get sick, it will be because I did not take good care of myself both physically, emotionally and spiritually. There are women living in worse conditions, and give birth to strong and healthy babies. I understand, not everyone is as fortunate and my heart goes out to them.

So as I say. You have to love the doctors. You also need to have nervous of steal and be steadfast in your belief, whether you are for or against western medicine. Know your facts from either side and make a knowledgeable decision.

Hosea 4:6 says "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children."

This verse is profound in acquiring knowledge about medicine and remembering how medicine should fit into the laws of God. I understand that there are fanatics out there that will sell you every bad story there is. That is why it is important to look in your heart and work through the rubbish and see the truth. One such truth if you look between all the Christian preaching is the truth in what they put into the vaccines. This is but a small portion of our medical development. I will not dive into that here. I will simply leave a few links with you. I pray that the truth will set you free (so to speak) and you can make a decision that is not based on the fear which was instilled into you by the doctors of today.

I enjoy the science and the statistics of today. I also know when things have gone overboard. I will thus love and leave you, till next time.

Links:

1. The Truth about Vaccines - A powerful series of documetaries on vaccines

2. God Does Not Support Vaccines - A Christian view on how the laws of God have been broken in developing vaccines.

3. History of Vaccines - Regular articles are published with news and information about various vaccines

Daily Planner

This past week, I have tried to get my life a little bit more organised. I have always loved using a diary, but over the past few years, I have just not had the time to buy one, or I start in the new year and the momentum of using it quickly wanes, like all new year resolutions. I have tried using an electronic version, but I'm a paper and pen type of lady.

This time around, I have to be diligent. I have so many projects and To Do things, that everything is simply starting to fall apart and my frustration levels are rising fast and furious together with the pregnancy mood swings and thus affecting my marriage.

I'm no expert at daily planner beatification, and there are plenty of people out there that will tell you how to create a planner and maintain it. I feel this is personal and should work for you. I need some colour and some element of fun. I'm not at the point of using highlighters and pictures or simply converting the planner to a mini scrapbook.

I also didn't have the time to sit and create my own planner so I hunted around the internet and found some free printable pages for a planner. These pages can be found on DIY Home Sweet Home. All the pages where printed on an A5 sheet of paper as I don't have the space to carry around a large book. I didn't have A5 paper, so I simply cut an A4 page into half and printed on them as if they were A5 pages.

I found an old folder lying around and it now houses my planner. I still have to find a binding method that I like and one that is actually sold in South Africa, hence why you will see string weaved through the pages to keep them together. I believe the importance is the content...the pretty will come with time and last a long time. I'm open to any suggestions that you may have, so send me a message.

I love the fact that you can plan your weekly recipes (and you don't have to stick to it but use it as a guide.) It helps me use up the groceries that are in my fridge and thus minimize the amount of waste, and we use to throw away a lot. (I hang my head in shame...) I also printed out the cleaning house schedule. My domestic comes to clean my house twice a week and I need to make sure I stay on top of the big jobs, rather than land up guessing what needs to be done next.

I bought printable white vinyl and downloaded some free pictures of stickers online. The vinyl came in a roll that was too large to feed into my printer. The sides of the vinyl were slightly longer than the length of an A4 page, so I measured out the width of an A4 page and cut the vinyl to match the width. It made the printing onto it easier. I then used my silhouette to cut out these images. A huge learning curve with the silhouette is do not remove the cutting mat after you have printed your designs. For some reason, it tries to cut the images far larger than they are even though you have the registration lines. So keep the mat and viola...you have perfectly cut out stickers.

I won't lie, it took me some time to find what I liked, and select the images I wanted to keep. If you are not new at this, you would have probably created a library of images that you could refer to. I'm in the process of building up my library. However, if you are like me, just starting out or just simply need some additional inspiration. I have listed some of the webpages I have used at the bottom of this post. An alternative is google images and use the words "Daily Planner Stickers". Loads of options to pick from. In your search options, you can set your settings to large images and you will find many better quality images that you can use. Remember to use this for your personal benefit and not to do this for resale purposes.

I needed some numbering for the pages and the names of the months, so I created my own labels.

This is what the pages looked without stickers.

What the pages look after adding in some stickers:

Stickers on the Monthly Planner:

There is still some work to do on the Daily Planner, but already, I am starting to feel a sense of accomplishment as I have started crossing off the tasks on my very long To Do list.

See you next time.


List of images to get you started:

Motivational Quotes: www.beautyholicsanonymous.com

Planner Stickers:
cutedaisy.com
amberdowns.net

Planner Stickers and how to use your silhouette: www.studiocalico.com

A Long Time

It has been a while since my last post. Quite a while!

I got married. Tried changing career paths. Got retrenched. Dealt with a car theft - such an invasion of privacy (all of these will be in later posts) and now I have the most beautiful toddler daughter and I have another baby on the way. We have also been busy with renovations in between all of this. Talk about a whirl wind, but at the same time, a real blessing.

My baby girl, Isabella has been a true blessing. As most mom's out there will know, having a toddler and being pregnant at the same time is quite a challenge in itself. That's a picture of the two of us.

This ball of energy running and squealing around the house, and I mean squealing like only a little girl knows how; while you are trying to get supper ready and maybe, just maybe, you can try to find a break to put your feet up.... pretty much impossible with a busy toddler. Not to mention, the first few months of the second pregnancy were filled with morning sickness. (Whoever called it morning sickness did not realise that, it can be a full day occurrence and not just a sickness in the morning.) In my case I was worse in the late afternoon. The nausea was debilitating. I felt so useless. I had to lie down most evenings and almost every second day, the flood gates to the water works would open up. Talk about losing your self control.

I tried so many things to help the "morning sickness". I couldn't stand the thought of ginger (over did that in my first pregnancy). I eventually came across mint. I tried mint sweets, had to find an alternative as I was worried about tooth cavities. I came across Halls mint and they helped, but I was worried about the chemical composition and the effect it would have on the baby. Eventually, I started drinking mint tea. Not only is it soothing to the soul, but the tummy was soothed as well. The nausea never disappeared, but it became bearable to deal with.

After week 17 or was it 18, I was starting to feel more like a human again. Still tired, but capable of at least getting my house back into some semblance of order. Was able to make a toddler stand in the last 2 weeks - with the help from my handy husband. (Another post for another day.) Now I am just needing to gather the energy to tackle my daughter's cupboard and make some space in her room for additional furniture that we need to buy, in preparation for the baby's arrival and having to move Isabella to a big bed.

So many things to do and so little time. Until next time, take care and if you are in the same boat like me, try to stay awake.

Running in Crazy Shoes

Over the weekend, after moaning that I needed to get fit and lose some of my flabby tummy, my friend managed to convince me to start running with him. To start small we will start to run on the track. As a warm up exercise we will run 2.5 km. In my mind I am screaming, "WHAT the hell!!!" Already I am coming with every excuse as to why I cannot run. I suffer with exercise induced asthma. The terrible stitches in my side that I will for sure experience. I keep playing in my mind: "What have I gotten myself into?"

Needless to say the day arrived. I got home from work with enough time to change. The weather was not particularly good. I phoned my friend to find out if we are still doing this, or we are cancelling due to the rain. To my avail, no such luck. We go running. To my surprise, the weather holds up.

He picks me up a little later. We arrive at the track. No stretching, no nothing. We go straight into it. For the warm up, we ran about 800 meter (I am guessing the distance because it was not on the track but to a gate and back.) I was relieved about not having to do a 2.5 kilometer one. Needless to say. I could not maintain a run throughout. I thought I was going to die and my lungs were on fire! My asthma kicked in on the silly warm up. I started to worry. How am I going to survive the entire training when I can barely run 800 meters? Thankfully I have a stubborn streak in me, and pushed myself through it all. I may not have run, but I did the distance alternating between a run and a walk. We get back. I try to ease the burn in my chest. At this point I have given up all regard to looking good. Red in the face, heaving away.

Finally stretching begins. The instructor goes and starts asking the newbies how much running they do. The lowest I heard was 5 kilometers. Boy did I feel like an idiot when it was my turn. I raised my hand and showed a big fat zero for me. To my surprise, he was completely unperturbed by it.

Once the stretches and skipping were done, we all were given a task. Mine was to run around the track 4 times. Four times 400 meters! Talk about a task that felt extremely daunting. I thought to myself: "This guy has got to be nuts!!". Other members had to run 10 times round. I guess 4 versus 10 was not so bad.

Once again, thanks to this stubborn streak, I decided that I will give it a good try and hope to not collapse halfway. Off I go. First round. Run half the field, walk a quarter, run the rest. Rest two minutes. Second round. Run 3 quarters of the field, walk the rest. The muscles are warm at this stage. They were feeling glorious. I cannot remember a time when they felt so good. Like they were finally doing something they were designed to do. After the three minute break, time for the third round. Run half the field, walk a quarter, run the rest. Fourth round. Run three quarters, walk a small section and run the rest. I arrived to the group and collapse on my back.

"Uh," says one of the ladies, "You must still do 10 push-ups and 10 sit-ups."

I'm like "WHAT!! Have you lost your mind??"

Needless to say, I did it. I survived. I slept like a baby that night. Now, I am even contemplating going back.

PS: If I can do it, so can you.

I came across this today, if you are thinking of running and need to ease into it, unlike me :-)

Neila Rey's From Walking to Running in 30 days.

Blogging

Since I started with my new blog (just click on the Scrapping tab above to go check it out), which is all about scrapping, making cards, albums, etc. I feel like I have received a new sense of life. I am bursting with the excitement and the large amount of posts I can/could share. I am limited though, that I cannot share the photos that will be on these spreads on the blog. I will need to protect the innocents from the world wide web. Though that will not stop me...from sharing my ideas.

I'm wondering on how far I should take it...Since I did call the blog Scrapping Collection... I don't know if it would be appropriate to share my soap making experience and the various DIY projects.

Bugger, should have thought of this more properly...Oh well, I guess that means another blog... lol

Anyways, this is a whole new journey. An exciting one at that. Hope to see you all at the other side.

With Love
Ania

Scrapping

I started up a new blog where I will be sharing my scrapping projects. Why don't you come and visit the site at http://scrappingcollection.blogspot.com/

I have also placed the link on this blog, however some of you that are receiving the mail feedbacks just might miss out on the new posts at scrapping collection.

Come and see the cool stuff, I create.

With Love
Ania