Spring is finally here, kind of...

I have been super busy with all sorts of projects and playing outside with Jack. We are going away for a couple of months and I feel like I have a million things to do and instead of crossing things off my ever growing list, I have been reading Nicholas Spark books and making felt doughnuts for Jack. 

We finally bought the replacement attachment from MEC so we can use our bike trailer again. Jack loves it. They have been taking advantage of some of the nice spring weather we have been having.

Jackson loves whip cream and I love my Kitchen Aid

These quilt shots are horrible! It was so sunny out and the pictures are so washed out. But this quilt is  for Jack. 

This is a quilt I made for myself. It's from a line called long live vintage. Flowery red's and grey's I loved it. I thought it would go with our red couch. I used a green polka dot backing. I wish now that I had used a grey polka dots, but it's a bit late to change it. 

I tried to recreate the Jugo Juice PB & Chocolate smoothy, it was gross. They use frozen yogurt and Almond chocolate milk and natural peanut butter. I only had vanilla yogurt and coconut chocolate milk.    I think I will try again when I have all the proper ingredients  

I also need an actual blender. Our old blender's chord was left on the stoves element and burned through. Andrew claims to be able to fix it, but I would never use it for fear of dying from an electric shock or accidentally burning down the house. For now I will use this old hand blender and plastic container.

Jack is really into pirates these day's. And sneaking whole carrots from the fridge and leaving half eaten stubs all over the house. 

My good friend/neighbour is  off to Ghana to do research for a year and I am trying to be upbeat about it but I am a bit heart broken about the whole thing. Her daughter is one of Jack's best little buds.
We will definitely miss them.

So i'm off to procrastinate and not pack and clean. Perhaps I will add another ridiculous craft to my list to further put off getting ready.

Go Anywhere Bag

I made this bag with the Go Anywhere Bag pattern from Noodlehead. I had been wanting to use this bee fabric and this seemed like a perfect bag to use it on. The pattern was super easy to follow and came together quickly. I love how big it is and all of the pockets it has. I used the magnetic snaps for the first time and they were so easy. 

I am wishing now that I had used all black fabric for the exterior and used the bee fabric for the lining. It's a bit to busy I think. Jack has been using it a lot to carry his toys around.

I definitely would recommend the pattern.

Weekender Travel Bag

I started the Weekender Travel Bag by Amy Butler in November 2011 and finally completed it March 2012.

I cut all the Fabric and interfacing and made the cording and then it just sat there. I would occasionally put it on my Ironing board  with every intention to start sewing it. I think I psyched myself out. There were so many pieces and everyone on the blogs said it was a frustrating bag to make.

The frustrating part for me was definitely finding the materials. It is an American pattern and trying to figure out what Peltex and Timtex and all the equivalents were at my local fabric store was a bit annoying.

I rushed through the cording and it wasn't even. I broke so many denim needles in the end I used a leather needle to put it all together and that was much better. I found the zipper method a bit strange but I followed the instructions and it turned out really nice. I realized halfway through that white was probably not the best colour choice for a carryall bag, but what can you do? I would also add some inner pockets if I could do it again.

The handles are a bit to short for my liking, I am 5'11 though so I always need to add a little length which I forgot to do. If you are of average height they should be fine. There was much cursing and some blood shed but I am definitely happy with the finished product. I can't tell yet if I will use this pattern again. It's a bit like child birth I think. Right now my emotions are still way to raw, give it a month and maybe I will feel differently.

Jack taking his modelling duties very seriously 

It was originally going to make this for a Birthday gift but I don't think I can part with this now after all we went though together.

 Now if I could only go on a weekend trip to test this baby out!

Spring in Victoria

We went back to the Island for a week in March. So we made the long drive and made it one piece. The drive home was definitely the sketchiest winter driving so far, I was a total wreck. Andrew was a superstar driver and  Jack was a trooper. We always prepare for the worst but he was amazing. I wanted to take a picture of what the roads were like but my camera was in the backseat and I wasn't about to take my seatbelt off to get it.  I just want to forget that drive completely and never think of it again.

As per usual I forget to take my camera out and all the pictures from this trip were taken by my sisters.

Jack and Caressa on some sort of mission. I love how she dresses herself. 

Little Hen and his Dad

Lil K being camera shy

Jack's go to dance move. 

Silly sisters never let anyone take a picture

I love the petting zoo. The tiny goats are so adorable

This is one of the only normal pics we could get of Raven without her making a silly face. Only because she didn't know we were taking a picture.

So much fun playing with his Aunties 

It was a great trip. Jackson loves being around family. I love all the adult company and seeing friends I haven't seen in a long time. We also got to go on a nice John's place date while we were home. If you haven't tried there waffles with cream cheese syrup or egg's benedict I urge you to go right now and get some.

I really must make an effort to take more pictures. I am homesick already, luckily we have a few weddings to go home for this summer so it won't be long until we are back again.

Making cupcakes with Jack

We used the Betty Crocker Mix because I wanted him to be able to do it all by himself.

Which he did with minimal help from me.

He loved putting the liners in. He had picked the liners out himself. They were the Reynolds aluminum liners. They were cute and flowery and amazingly the best liners I have ever used.

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Loves the mixer almost as much as I do

I did two rows, he did the last row.

He so badly wants to grab hot things with his oven mitts.

I put the icing on for him. Jack is a bit finicky when it comes to getting icing on his hands.

He put the sprinkles on himself

Now to enjoy the delicious cupcakes. He loves helping in the kitchen so much. I wish we had a bigger kitchen, so we could have one of those helping towers.

A week in Photo's

the beginnings of a quilt for my couch

Jackson just learned about thumbs up 

We finally got a Costco card, mostly for the creme brulée and Andrew's favourite cereal. 

This is the face of a very happy man playing with our new creme brulée torch

This is why we need a baby lock for the fridge. He will eat 2 or 3 apples at a time. 

We had our neighbour over this weekend. He had so much fun with her

They were being freaking adorable!

All in all we had a pretty good week.

Sewing Your Own Cloth Diapers in Canada

I was just at Fabricland in Calgary and was shocked that they are now carrying PUL Fabric. The had cute fold over elastic and snaps and a hand press. I was impressed, they had quite the selection of adorable prints and really nice solid colours. It seems to be pretty expensive per meter but when you take into consideration how much you end up paying for things online maybe it isn't so bad. As with everything at Fabricland it definatley is worth it to have a membership if you do any amount of sewing. They often have pretty good deals for members. I might buy some for myself if it goes on sale anytime soon. The line is called Babyville.

When I made the cloth diapers for my friends twins I bought the PUL from Wazoodle a Canadian company. The pricing was pretty good and I bought a large amount of material. I used the ECO Bamboo French Terry as the absorbent Fabric, if I could do it over I wouldn't have used this material for the soakers. Maybe it was the soaker was too small or maybe it just wasn't absorbent enough. I wish I could find the fabric they use for the AMP Bamboo inserts these are the only inserts that I have used that didn't have any build up issues and are super absorbent.

I  use the bamboo fleece as the inner fabric and it was nice and soft. I have read that some people have had to deal with long shipping time and bad customer service but I had a pretty good experience with them.The shipping can be expensive but it was cheaper and faster than ordering from the States.

I also bought a heavy duty snap press online at the snapstore. That cost a small fortune but it was my birthday present and I love it. It is definitely less time consuming and the cheaper to use Velcro but speaking from experience it is better to put in the time and use snaps. Babies have a way of undoing the Velcro every single time. Jack was very good at taking the diaper off even if he had his pants on. They do have the hand snap press and snaps at Fabricland as well.

I used a diaper pattern from Very Baby. I really liked the pattern it was very well written and easy to follow, and you can just print the pattern. I hate waiting for patterns in the mail. I think the only complaint about the pattern was the size of the soakers that you would put into the pocket diapers. I made the mistake of cutting all my absorbent fabric before I made a test soaker. It was way to small and I am pretty sure my friend didn't use them at all. So if you use the pattern I would suggest making a tester first. I asked my friend how the diapers are holding up. She definitely recommends top stitching over the elastic so the inner fleece doesn't roll out. She has been having some leaking problems with them. I wish I lived closer so I could fix them for her.

O & L modelling the cloth diapers I made for them.

If any fellow Canadians are wanting to make your own cloth diapers this might be a good way to try your hand at making them yourself without having to commit to a huge order of material.

If anyone has used the Babyville products let me know how you like them and how they are holding up.

Earl Grey Tea Cookies

I made these cookies awhile back from a Martha Stewart recipe. I had just enough butter to make a half batch of cookies. They are nice and small and I just used half of the batch and froze the rest of the dough. I halved the recipe except the tea. I used the full amount of tea for the half batch. I just cut open the tea bags and put it in the dough. If I make these again I will definitely grind the tea leaves a bit more. I was a bit distracted when I was making these, and I forgot to put in the sugar and over-mixed these a bit.

Delicious Earl Grey Tea from Murchies

 I love my new little measuring cup.

I rolled them up and then saw the sugar still sitting on the counter.

These cookies were so buttery and fragrant.

I find some Martha recipes to be a bit hit and miss. This one however is very easy and turns out exactly how you expect it to. I would definitely recommend it. 

random update

I have been down with some sort of stomach flu. Since last Friday I have been feeling awful, luckily Andrew was spared so he has been amazing and keeping Jack occupied while I lay in bed watching episode after episode of Bones on Netflix. There hasn't been a whole lot of anything happening here. I think my poor child is ready to lose his mind.

Here are some random pictures...

Jackson playing in the new hot water tank box

This is what it look like when we have rice for dinner in this house

I woke up 3 weekends ago and Andrew had made waffles with homemade strawberry syrup, whip cream and bacon. He even had an Earl Grey Latte waiting for me. Such a nice treat

A couple of weeks ago Jack and I went on a lunch date to Milestones. I was really wanting the Grilled Chicken Salad. He would live on Chicken Fingers and Fries if we let him.

This weekend is a long weekend I plan on being better so we can have a better weekend than last. 

Happy Valentines Day

Jackson loves his Valentine's Day Balloon. 

6 oz Melted Chocolate all 6 squares. Chop up the chocolate. Melt the chocolate 30 seconds at time. 

Dip 1lb of Strawberries in the melted chocolate. Let cool on wax paper in fridge until ready to serve.

Don't let your two year old know where your stashing the secret Strawberries

We are going on our traditional Valentines Denny's Dinner Date with our Jack. Then home to watch our DVR'd episode of the Walking Dead. Aren't we romantic?