I made a baby

This one is made of cloth. I think I made this for Angelo for the Christmas of 2010.  I think I wasn't happy with the pictures, so I didn't post about it.  Or, maybe it just got away from me. ;0)

Pattern pieces for the clothing.

Pre-sewn muslin doll I tea-dyed, stuffed and embroidered.

Felt diaper with velcro tabs

Made from the back of a front stained baby tee shirt.

I wanted him to be able to diaper and dress the baby for fine motor skills and encourage nurturing.

He was much more interested in trains and blocks when I gave it to him, but now he hugs and gives baby a ride in the stroller.

The Train Bag

It became clear that the train bag for Angelo had to take top priority. So, I made it! It was really fun and I think it turned out pretty cute. The pictures pretty much explain it, but I'll add some details.

I haven't measured the pieces, but I used a paper bag/lunch sack as the inspiration for the shape and size. I cut off a bit of the length and used half of the side for the width of the sides and bottom of the bag. Using the other side of the lunch bag, I free handed the geometric shapes for the train and used those pieces as the pattern for the engine and cars. The wheel I traced is from one of the many wheels Angelo's taken off of his wooden name train. I took a measuring tape across Angelo's shoulder to his hip to get an estimate for the strap length. It is made from wool felt I got from A Child's Dream Come True. I got the wool felt quite a bit ago and am so happy to be making use of it. And I'm really glad that Angelo is enjoying the bag so much. I had plans of doing a decorative whip stitch around the edges, but he grabbed it as soon as I brought it back from the sewing room and put his trains in right away. :)

Speaking of stitches, I appliqued the train on first (tacked the pieces on with non-toxic tacky glue). The stitches around the train on the front are whip stitches around the window and wheels and a fake blanket stitch around the rest. (I did a whip stitch one direction and a running stitch the other direction. If you want to learn how to do a real one, here are directions. I've never done a blanket stitch and thought this might be quicker than learning a new stitch and getting enough practice in for it to look nice. I was right. I tried the blanket stitch a few times, and it wasn't looking so great, so I went with plan A. I'll practice the blanket stitch for later... :) )A chain stitch makes the connections between the engine and cars and the smoke.

I'm sure there are other ways to go about this, but I machine sewed the sides to the front, then the bottom. Then I sewed the back to the other three pieces. I overlapped the two pieces for the strap and zig zagged around in a square for strength. I did the same zig zagging in a square to attach the strap to the sides.

Need to get going...

DIY Alphabet Swing Toy

I just watched a really cool episode of B. Original on DIY! It's normally on Mondays, but we DVR it. :) Anyway, the segment I really loved was on making a wooden alphabet swing toy. you know, the frame with blocks of letters/pictures that spin/swing? So cool!  I haven't done any wood working since the 6th grade, but would be willing to try this! That is, if I can't convince my Mom to do it. :) she's an amazing carpenter! I'll have to post the cart/riding toy she made Angelo for his birthday! 

here's the link to the instructions.

Natural toy sites

A friend just asked me to recommend some natural toy sites and thought I'd share:

i've ordered mostly from www.rosiehippo.com and www.hazelnutkids.com  they have a range of prices; some not too expensive, some expensive. I've also ordered from www.threesisterstoys.com you get free shipping in the us with code MOTHERING ... from Mothering magazine ad 

the place where I've found the best deals on safe, non-toxic toys was the most recent order for Angelo's birthday (so I was looking in the 2 year old range instead of baby range, but probably still will find some good ones). I bought lots of Melissa and Doug toys (guaranteed non-toxic coatings, lots of wooden toys. really cool options haven't seen in other lines. occasionally there's a plastic piece, but are really good over all- pic is of Angelo with his M & D "Pets" chunky puzzle) from www.fatbraintoys.com They have a natural/organic _section_ with lots of M & D toys. be sure you stay in that section because they also sell "regular" toys. 

Hopes and Dreams

Hola!

I'll fill out my profile shortly, but I thought I'd introduce myself. I started belly dancing in 1993 and practicing yoga shortly after. I got my Masters in Occupational Therapy and my specialty was in pediatrics, though I've also worked in Rehab and in Nursing homes. I quit my full time OT job when symptoms from Hashimoto's disease rendered me poorly functional. I went professional as a belly dancer since it gave me energy rather than draining it. My husband I were married in 2000. We were lucky enough to get two lab-shepard-husky-rotti mix pups about 4 1/2 years ago when my sister's dog had puppies (that's Dana in the picture.) The showed us how to love unconditionally and prepped us for the biggest job we'd ever know: parenting! We were blessed with a beautiful boy, Angelo (also in the picture), in 2007. When one of our dogs, Tara, was killed when a mountain lion came up on our porch, we were devastated, completely traumatized. We experienced our greatest joy and our deepest pain all within 9 months! I got my Reiki II attunement shortly after she died. It was absolutely necessary for healing not only myself, but the whole family. I got my Reiki I for the dogs and baby in the first place. I'll never stop missing her, but we have "settled" into a new normal. I teach a couple bellydance classes a week and perform. I'll be going to at least one workshop a month until June and then am sponsoring one myself!! (will post more on that later...)

I'd been thinking for some time that I should start a blog for several reasons: I wanted to share certain experiences that might help other people (especially pregnancy, vegetarianism, belly dance, natural parenting, yoga, Reiki) to share my development in the mixed media/collage/shrine arts (because all humans are artists and should be encouraged to be artistic), keep people posted on my belly dance happenings and my thoughts on belly dance topics, to share my efforts to live green and inspire others to be environmentally friendly... I'm sure I will have more things to discuss here, but that's a start.  I have to say that there was "universal intervention" in getting me to finally get this started. I'd thought about it for a while and was also meant to search the web for Moms who did arts/crafts so I could get ideas for how they fit all that in. Then I got my most recent issue of Mothering magazine featuring 5 crafty Moms who have multiple kids, cook from scratch, sew for the home and family, craft, and blog all about it. some even home school their kids and managed to write books!  That was the inspiration I needed! So here we are!

some links to check out:

My websites: www.TribalBellyDance.net and www.EarthMovement.org

Mothering Magazine: www.mothering.com

Yoga Journal: www.yogajournal.com

more later...