NEEDLE FELT VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR

I bought this book called "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" at a thrift store for one Euro, and the Kiddo LOVES it. It's not a book I grew up with, but I've been enjoying it too. The caterpillar eats it way through various items of food and the book has holes in it for little fingers to poke through. Although, the Finnish version is for some reason translated from German (it's an American book I believe) and it's a bit weird at points (that's clearly a muffin, not cake).

But anyway! I thought the Kiddo might get a kick out of a very hungry caterpillar ornament. Ornament since these needle felting projects are really too fragile to play with.

 You take close ups and realize how fuzzy everything is. Yikes. 

Those tiny feet were a pain to make.

And if you have never read the book, this is what it's supposed to look. I think it's a pretty good likeness?

DIY Breastfeeding Pillow

When I was pregnant I wasn't sure if I wanted or needed a breastfeeding pillow. I mean, before you give birth to your first baby you really have no idea what you will actually use. There are so many things for babies and mommas, and it's like "I have no idea if this is essential or useless". Hint, a lot of it is useless.

So what I did was buy what I thought bare essentials (a bed, clothes, stroller...) and bought all the rest after we had the baby as it became apparent that we did need things (baby monitor, bottles, swaddler...)

But despite not knowing if I actually needed a breastfeeding pillow I did decide to make myself one. These things can be pretty pricey and it seemed fairly easy and cheap to make one. And with uncharacteristic foresight I thought I'd not get anything done once the baby was born. Yup.

The materials cost only about 4€ and I figured I could just take it apart if I didn't end up using it.

This is based on the popular Boppy pillow. I found the pattern for a slipcover from blog called vanilla joy. 

I used the pattern to make an insert pillow from an old sheet, stuffed it with poly-fill from an old pillow and sewed it shut.

I then made a removable (read washable) cover with a zipper from an old bed spread I found at a thrift store. The pattern had the zipper on the underside, but I put mine on the back edge.

So was it worth it? Yep! I used this a ton when Zelda was a newborn and I was just learning to breastfeed. Because my episiotomy I mostly fed her lying down for the first few weeks, but after that this was great. 

Where it really shined was when you are exhausted and hangry and the baby wants to feed. I'd just sit at the table, plop this on my lap, support the baby with one hand and proceed to eat with the other. During those first few months when it felt like the baby was feeding constantly, this allowed me to eat as well.

Totally recommended. You can also use it later on for tummy time or to help support the kid when she is sitting.

Only thing I'd do differently is to make TWO slipcovers. Things got a bit, ahem, messy at times.

Doily Lamp (in progress)

Everyone has probably seen this doily lamp from Dos Family. It’s so lovely. I really want one. The trouble is, doilies are so hard to find around here. And when I do find them, they cost a lot, and I’d like a white lamp and the doilies I’ve run across at thrift stores are usually in colours. Mainly green for some reason.

But hey, I can crochet!

There are so many lovely doily patterns floating around in the internet. I just threw “doily” in Google and picked the ones I liked. Especially the Japanese patterns are so pretty! I bought some white yarn (from thrift store, of course) and crocheted away. This is my progress so far. Not enough for a lamp, yet, but getting there.

Another Grocery Bag

I really liked the previous grocery bag I made, and when I saw another cute t-shirt at the flea market, I scooped it up.

I think this one is a bit more stylish, if you can say such thing about a grocery bag.

T-Shirt Grocery Bag

I found this super easy tutorial for a grocery bag via the DIY section at Pinterest. And, by the way, if you haven’t tried Pinterest yet, I really recommend it. It has links to the cutest things and is very inspiring.

I found the t-shirt I used at a flea market for 50 cents. Though the print was cute, I don’t really wear colour, so I thought it would be perfect for this project. And, at 50 cents, I wasn’t really losing anything if the bag should turn out unusable.

All I did was cut out the sleeves and collar and sew the bottom shut. It took maybe ten minutes, with a lot of hesitation about whether I should cut the shirt up or not.

My biggest concern was that the bag would either split because of the weight of the groceries or some product would poke a hole on it. However, I have used it for couple of times now and it has held up wonderfully. It carried my groceries, which included among other things a few kilograms of veggies (I’m trying to eat healthy), a milk carton, 15 eggs and two large bottles of Pepsi (forget that I mentioned healthy…) without any trouble at all. I actually like this bag better than my previous fabric bag. It takes less room in my handbag and the stretchiness turned out to be an asset when stuffing all my shopping into it.

I’m definitely going to keep my eye out for cute t-shirts from now on.

More Fabric Napkins

I’m really fond of my fabric napkins. I used to have just one kind, but recently I’ve made a few different kinds. I really like this! I can just pick one that suits my mood at the moment.

Ironing isn’t really my thing…

I’ve rummaged flea markets for the materials, and you can really find great fabrics there for cheap. The white with black pattern I made from a dressing gown, the black from a sheet (good for greasy or messy food), the white polka-dotted are from a night gown (I’m a bit afraid to actually use these) and the striped from a man’s button down shirt (my favourite!).

There are a lot of nice patterns in men's shirts, I think a set of different kinds of plaid patterns would be wonderful!

Cloth Napkins and a Dispenser

Every time we go out to eat to a diner, I lust after those napkin dispensers. They are so cute and practical. Well, the other day I found a dispenser at the flea market for 3€! Joy!

I’ve been using cloth napkins for over a year now. At first it was really hard, but now I’m so used to it, it seems really silly to buy disposable napkins. Money down the drain! It does cause some confusion when I have guests, and one friend calls them affectionally “pillow cases”. But they are ecological, cheap and easy. I made them from an old sheet, and wash them with towels, so they cause no extra laundry.

Anyway, I stuffed the napkins into the dispenser. The patterns don’t really match, but, really, who cares! Now, I can easily take one when I need it without having to go look for one in the closet. Also, the dispenser is magnetic, so just add magnets and you can put on a grocery list or another important note. Love it!

Magnets to Be

Today is the first day of my vacation! And it's overcast and dreary...

My apartment faces north, so in this kind of weather there is absolutely no light to do any kind of photographing. Sad.

Anyway, here are some pictures I found at the flea market the other day. On one hand they look cute, on the other - sort of retarded... :) Regardless, they are going to be made into magnets later on! Maybe it's just the baby chicken (and also the colors), but they look like Easter magnets to me... Hmm, theme magnets...

Paris and New York Earrings

I bought two pendants at the flea market today. One says Paris and has the Eiffel Tower on it, the other one says New York and has the Statue of Liberty. They cost 3€ each so not exactly cheap. I don't really wear pendants, or any other jewelry for that matter, except earrings. So earrings they became. I just attached them to earring hooks, really simple. The hooks are silver so they don't really compute... I might buy new golden hooks for them sometime. They are a bit heavy, but look too cool:)

Lace Earrings

I saw Emily of Black Apple mention these earrings, loved them and then forgot all about them. Well, I was wandering around at the flea market and saw this small tablecloth. It was kind of horrible and there was something which looked like blood spattered at one edge... But it cost only €1, so I bought it. I took out the lace circles ( and threw away the bloody(?) ones). I sew some together to form different shapes and sprayed them with hairspray to harden them. This might not be the standard way of doing this... But aren't they lovely? They also smell kind of nice because of the hairspray. The only problem is that since they are so light they tend to slip away from the hook part. Only thing I can think is to glue it shut. Or maybe put in some beads to make them heavier, like in the original.