Saturday, June 30, 2012

Folded Fitteds. Specs and Giveaway.

So I've been seeing them around the cloth diapering world these days and I have to figure out just what these "new" kind of diapers are.

Folded contour diapers.  With or without elastic.

I started researching these diapers, and all I found is that I've made these diapers before.

So funny right?  Well after 2 years, I still loved my fitted prefolds, and decided it was time to make them again for the new baby.

Of course my favorite materials is still, and always will be flannel, but I understand, not many people like flannel.  Some people says it's coarse, I still love it.  So I made a ton for myself out of old receiving blankets(if you follow my Facebook you've seen them), made some up for my brother's baby, and ultimately decided that these are cheaper to make, and they hold well.  At least they hold well for me.  So now it's time to turn to the testing phase.

So what exactly are these new diapers I've made?  I have designed them myself from a flat square to be folded.  There is a cotton decorative print outer, and bamboo fleece makes up the rest of the diaper, this folded diaper consists of only 2 layers of fabric which makes for faster drying time.  When folded, there is approximately 5 layers of bamboo fleece through the wet zone.  To fix the "back butt issue" I have included a bonus snap in snake like insert designed to be folded up for added protection through the butt of the diaper to help with blowouts, and additional absorbency through the wet zone.

Here's some pictures of what it looks like.

All snapped together.  Each diaper will have one row of 8 snaps across the top(unless you want touch tape, always a possibility)  It will have one or 2 crossover/hip snaps, still working out those details.


And the back.



The inside with the soaker detached, now I was short bamboo so I added the cotton through parts of the center of my diaper, but in all other diapers there will be bamboo fleece through the entire wet zone.  There is cased leg and back elastic to truly make it a fitted diaper.



This is so simple to figure out, on how to fold it.

Fold one side over.




Then the other., no right or wrong way to do it!



Then snap in the insert and fold it up(The snake like inserts will be approx 4.5 inches to cover the butt space and 22 inches long(for the size 2).


And put it on the bum!


Now my son has a size 18x18, or a size 2 on.  He has it on, on the smallest setting, this diaper is a bit big on him, he weighs approximately 18 lbs.  There is a small gap in the leg elastic but he'll grow into it so I don't mind.  It fits well under a medium sized fleece soaker.

Here you can see the gap in his leg elastic, but when his legs are down, it seems to be pretty sealed..


Since I'm ready to start marketing these and selling these.  I need feedback.  I know how they work for us, but I don't know how they work for OTHERS.  Plus I have not even a guess on what weight limit a "Size 1" or "Size 2" would fit!  I know my nephew has a "Size 2" and he's in 12/18 months clothes and I heard those fit him well too.  So as you can see I need help.

If your interested, I'm giving away 2 of these beauties in left over prints I have on hand, in the size of your choice.  A small 16x16 inches, or a larger size of 18x18 inches.  There will be only one winner for each size.  I'm giving away a total of 2 diapers to 2 different people.

There is a catch though.  If you want to win one of these diapers, you need to give your feedback on how they work and the size of your baby that they fit.  I need these figures so I can change them for my bazaar tables in the fall, and you need to email me those specs in a timely manner.

Here are the prints you can choose from.  I have some cotton print bicycles left, a flannel farm print, and of course my beautiful black cherries print.

Price for these will be $10 for a smaller size and $12 for a larger size.



To enter, simply fill out the rafflecopter form below.  Your diaper will be made once the giveaway is over, in the chance that 2 winners are chosen for the different sizes and choose the same prints, you will be contacted to either choose another print or I can choose another winner!  And as of right now these fitteds are turned and topstitched, I haven't found a way to properly serge these yet.



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Spicy Lentil Soup

I really hate cooking dinner.  I mean who doesn't HATE cooking dinner when you have 3 small children.  Who has time?  Well I finally found some recipes that are cheap and easy to make and don't take much time.  And by sharing them here, I hope to bring some "love" of cooking to others.  Plus I like to think they have a lot of good nutritional value in them too.  Most are gluten or wheat free too.

So this is soup, I know soup in the summer.  Ugh, but honestly here in the PNW it doesn't always get to hot so yeah, who cares?

This is adapted from a Rachel Ray Recipe.  But I think mine tastes 100% better, because it's SPICY.

What you'll need.

1 Pack of Andouille Sausage(where the POW! comes from)
4 cups chicken broth
(need extra?  add a cup of water!)
1/2 an onion(I'm not big on onion flavor, I don't add much, add more if you want to!)(approx 1/2 cup-3/4)
3 small garlic cloves
2 or so carrots

Fresh rosemary(ok who cares? Any Italian Seasoning will do!)(1 tsp should do, add more if you want)
1 cup lentils
(salt and pepper for taste if you want it)

If you total everything up for how much it costs here's the break down

Sausage $5 ish
1 box of 16 oz of chicken broth(8oz =1 cup) $4 ish
1 onion $1? Maybe?
3 small garlic cloves $.80 cents?  Maybe?
2 carrots  again maybe $1 or $2?
seasoning you may already have in your cupboard or else it's going to run you an additional $3 or so but I'm not including it here.
Lentils are $0.44 at WINCO here in bulk

Ok so that's less than $14 if you don't need to buy some Rosemary or Italian Seasoning.

Now how to make it.

Soak your lentils in water.

While that's soaking, pour your chicken broth into your pot.

Then chop your onion and garlic and carrot(peel carrot first).

Throw it into the pot.

Cut up your sausage, throw it in too.

Drain and rinse lentils, and throw them in too.

Cover and let sit for a few hours on low.  Great time to do this is when kids are napping or when an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is on.  You can have it all in the pot before it's over and cooking.

Then sit down and relax.

When carrots are cooked through, it's done, and from simmering in that pot the whole time, it's spicy, it will burn your nose.  It's so spicy.

Pour into bowl and devour....make sure you have something cold to take the edge off.  Or maybe it's not so spicy for you!  But to me, it burns.








I've experimented too with dumping more veggies into the pot.  Right now I have spinach in there, I think it will taste good.  I just took some frozen spinach and dumped it in too.  I wonder if celery would taste good too...haven't tried that yet.  But sweet peppers wasn't as good as I was hoping.  Experiment around with veggies in your fridge or left overs.  This soup only gets better!  And everyone loves it!  I converted my husband who HATED lentils and told me I was crazy for making it, and then he tried it and now it's one of his favorites.


3 Sweet Peas: QSFW with elastic


So Katie came to me a few weeks ago and she told me that she recently extended the wings on her QSFW and she wanted me to try one.  Which I was totally game for.

First lets start off with what is a QSFW?

QSFW= Quick Snap Flat Wrap.

Katie has been making these for a while and I personally love them, but never got to try one out.  I made some up of my own and I know I love mine, so why wouldn't I love hers?  She's made some modifications to wing size and added leg elastic.  She wanted me to try the new longer wing QSFW and I jumped.

She sent me a size 1 Dino Print with green cotton velour inner.  It's darling.

First impression of a QSFW, it can look hard.  It's two layers serged together.  It's designed to "fold up" like a prefold but in wrap form.  So that there will be 8 layers of protection through the wet zone.

Fully opened it looks like this


Looks hard huh?  Well it's actually very deceiving.  It's very easy to fold.  You fold one over, then the other, and adjust it to how you want it and BAM!  It's ready to go.  You don't really have to fold it just one way either, you can fold it however you really want it.  I tried it both ways.  With the velour towards the bum, and the jersey towards the bum.  Both worked excellently.

Here it is folded
If your still confused, Katie has step by step pictures on her FB page on how to fold these beauties.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.421719824504784.106591.312514325425335&type=3

So how did this hold up? 

It actually worked excellently.  I love love LOVED this diaper.  When I put it on I could see some problems, it was a little loose in the legs, but I mean it's a flat WRAP, it's like a prefold, even with elastic there's going to be a little gap, that's what a cover is for.  So I just brushed that aside. 

The first time I used it I thought I was using it wrong or that it didn't work.  Turns out it was just me.  After using it and making baby boy stay in it for longer than an hour, it really held it's weight.  I think he peed in it two or three times and it was barely damp on the outside, all the wetness was contained.

I loved that you can fold it either way and still get great absorbency.

It was easy to figure out, even though it looks intimidating.

Washed nicely and dried fast.  Great plus!

The only negative was that I was testing this out for wing span.  And even on the smallest setting it was to big.  I kind of attributed it not so much to the larger wings span as a mix of two things.  The first being that it's jersey fabric(which is stretchy) and velour(also stretchy) which means it went on great and tight, but after a few minutes of rolling around in it, it fell off.  Which is kind of funny as long as there's not poop in there you know?  :)  Also my son has a very weird figure.  Every diaper fits him differently.  Even if I have the same brand of diapers, each one fits him just a little bit differently.  It's weird.  I attribute that to a lack of hips and butt.  But he's a guy so I'm ok with that too.  My son is almost 20 lbs and still wears the smallest setting for most diapers that are one size.  But a small is to small and a medium is to big.  He's just one of those babies that has a funky build.

Katie has told me that she has reduced the wing span a bit though on her size 1s.  After all it was my job to test it.

The other thing I worry about is the back bum area.  And I find this with all snap flats, even my own.  How can you better cover the bum area?  It's only 2 layers of fabric back there you know?  And we all know babies don't just pee, they poop too.  And if you have my son's poop, it just rolls out of everything, which with this diaper it did.  It's a problem I can't figure out how to fix, and I don't know if you can!  But this is still my all time favorite diaper and I grab it always first because I love it so much.  I definitely recommend it to everyone!  Plus they're in expensive!

So how to get one?

Currently Katie is partcipating in the Summer Cloth Diaper Giveaway Hop.  There are 2 days left to enter, and her prizes are pretty amazing!  They also include one of these QSFW, which she is now calling folded fitteds.

http://cdbooties.blogspot.com/2012/06/summer-cloth-diaper-giveaway-hop.html

She is also moving on July 8th from ETSY to HyenaCart, you can find her there.

http://hyenacart.com/stores/katies3sweetpeas/

And of course like her on Facebook.  She has so much to offer.  She makes beautiful Mei Tais, Fleece wraps, PUL wraps, and fleece covers/shorties/skirties and longies.  Sometimes she even has upcycled wool longies.  Seriously check her out!
https://www.facebook.com/Katies3SweetPeas

And here is some pictures of MAC in his diaper.  I love this.  And granted he just pooped it in again, kind of goes with having a cold.  I can't wait to wash it and put it back on!  So cute!

Here it is on the smallest setting.  You can see it's snug for the time being.

And then he rolls over.  You can see some of the gaps in the legs but I think this is unavoidable!  It's like a prefold it needs a cover!
Back shot!

And he's smiling hecause he just blew out of this.  I need to keep that in mind next time I try to get pictures of him in a diaper when he has a cold.