Raven is fully potty trained now, only using her super undies at night just in case. Which is sorta bitter-sweet for me. She hasn't used a diaper in over a month but I haven't even moved them off their shelf until today! I swept every single diapering item I could find into a laundry basket and just sat looking at it..

What do I do with all of this!?!

I really don't feel like photographing and listing all of this.. half of it I'd like to just give away! It's ALL still usable for something, though there are a couple things that need elastic.

Here are all of my coveted pre-fitteds. Most of these are pictured new in my pre-fitted tutorial. Some of them are well worn and in 'play condition' but all of them are all still great dipes! I think only one has shot elastic. All of these went through three of my children in some manner.. Much as I don't want to give these up, I'd like someone to use them.. and the super worn ones I'd give FFS!

25 or so prefolds, most are DSQ infant sized but there are a couple handmade hemp/cotton flannel ones and a couple regular sized ones. I used these with snappies an pins until they didn't fit and then stuffed pockets with them.

Ahh my pockets.. man I will miss these too. There are 2 BG's in here with semi-shot elastic, 2 Blueberry minkee pockets, 1 Blueberry pocket all front snapping. There are also 2 Blueberry sidesnapping AIO's with semi-shot elastic.. all still usable. The rest were all made by me, mostly side snapping, but there are a few with touchtape. There are two Ooga colorways in there, both are pretty worn as they were favs.

Fitteds, was never a huge fan of these.. just could never find a combo of fabrics that worked better than my good ol prefitteds. These were all handmade by me.

The one lone cover.. this is an original Thirsties large cover. I swore I had an orange one around here, though I may have passed it on to someone already.. and that's it, my entire remaining stash. I only know of one person I can farm some of this stuff out to. See anything you like? Make me an offer. Know of someone in need? Please let me know!! I really just want it out of the house and in use.. seems wasteful just sitting here!

It's that time again! Potty training my littlest baby! She's halfway there, pretty much day trained and wakes up dry most mornings too. I kinda slacked with her, didn't really want to let go of my last baby.. or my dipes! Which I'm going to have to do since Raven won't wear them anymore :(. She turned 2 in November and I really didn't really mention the potty until it got warmer, since she's been wearing a dress almost every day it makes going to the bathroom TONS easier! She went here and there since then, but just recently decided she wants to be a big girl like her sister :).

So I had to make some new super undies. The ones I had saved from Willow are kinda shotty, though they still do the job, and she's grown out of the ones that were Lukes. These are still from the Tinkle Time Trainer pattern, it is a modified size 4/5 (for her ghetto booty) with a lower rise in the front and custom measured elastic.. perfect fit for my Gravy.

I let her pick some fabrics and got to work late last night. These are just for day use, all lined with cotton velour and topped with cotton/poly blends. I've done something different with the soakers though, no more synthetics and I'm done with hemp as well. It's 3 layers of cotton batting quilted together and attached to the velour. I used to use zorb sandwiched between flannel for my trainers, and even microfiber, but they end up stinking and losing their absorbency over time. I've come to find prefolds and cotton batting to be the best. I did try prefolds in the trainers, but they end up heavy and take too long to dry for something meant to feel like underwear. Before Raven stopped wanting to wear diapers I was just using my prefitteds for day and stuffing pockets with infant prefolds for outings and night - they have always been the best, cheapest and easiest to wash. I'm really going to miss my dipes...

But here are the new super undies! Raven requested I use an old shirt (the black print with the heart flowers) and I'm really happy with the way they turned out. (excuse the Ninjago battle going on behind them)

I have a ton of plush white FOE and didn't even bother digging through the tangled mess of my FOE bag for coordinating elastic.. fortunately it looks nice on them all.

The old ones look tired, but they are still holding on!

Nothing more awesome than a nice stack of fluff!

What did my husband and I do yesterday? We made fresh mozzarella cheese!

The bakery my husband works for is like the most awesome place on earth. Our family has benefited from it's awesomeness a million fold since he started working there nearly two years ago. To say he get's fringe benefits is putting it mildly and I am ever grateful we were so blessed when he found this job.

Yesterday he came home with a block of milk curd bigger than both of our heads put together!

Making mozzarella cheese is surprisingly easy, and FUN! All it takes is milk curd, boiling water (and lots of it) and salt.

You chop up the milk curd.

Toss it into a bowl and pour boiling water over it. Add some salt, which we just eyeballed each time, and begin folding it all together.

I used wooden spoons to manipulate it until it was gooey and stringy.. you can use your hands, but it's HOT!

Then I pulled pieces off with my hands to stretch and shape it into balls.

We did better towards the end, clearly this is a learned art, but even the funky looking ones made yummy cheese!

We placed the hot cheese into cold water to cool.

Then after about half an hour placed it all on a towel to dry for a few minutes.

All wrapped up! Now what the heck are we going to do with all this cheese!?!

Fresh mozz anyone?

In honor of one of my favorite shows, Once Upon a Time, and in celebration of having a working sewing machine (aside from my serger) to use, I pulled Snow White's dress out of the half done stack of 'to-sews' last night!!

Finished it this morning and Willow will not take it off! She keeps twirling around and I can't get a decent picture, but I'm sharing anyway!

Not the best pictures, I know, Lucas kept jumping in front of Willow! So cute!

So this is just the same Clair pattern I've used before from Portobellopixie but this time I used the fuller skirt instead of the peasant style. Still simple, but the perfect pattern for making princess dresses that are wash and wear. I'm sortof wishing I gave the bodice an inch or two in length like I did with the Rapunzel costume, but it's cute nonetheless. I scooped the bodice a bit to mimic the Disney version of the dress, but the waist is still empire. I used red grosgrain ribbon stitched down the sleeves and down the front with some lace accents that I thought added a cute touch. I had initially wanted the lace around the neckline to mimic the Disney version collar but it just didn't look nice and was a tad scratchy so I nixed it. The fabric is plain blue and yellow quilting cotton. I also added elastic to the back waistline so that when Raven wears it, it wont fall off - even though it's too long for her she'll wear it anyway!

Oh and later (when I can peel it off of her) I'm going to spray the whole yellow skirt with glitter! Everything is better with a little glitter!!

Next up, ANOTHER Rapunzel dress because I'm sick of them fighting over it! This one will be done in costume satin.. YAY! I've got a beautiful dark purple, lavender and pink along with some fun prints..

I swear when my girls grow out of dress up stuff and wanting dolly clothes I'll be one sad mama! It's hard enough to stifle myself from making new diapers.. haha

I havn't been sharing much lately.. havn't been as crafty as I'd like either! It's a combination of winter blues and my sewing machine STILL being fixed :(.

Well this morning Pants, my cat, climbed my fabric shelves and knocked down my entire stash of stretch knits! I'm pretty sure he just wanted to sit on the shelf, but I convinced myself he was trying to tell me to make something. So I grabbed some pink velour and a striped knit and pulled out my trusty raglan pattern, which can be completely made on my trusty serger! There is a dolly version bundled up with this awesome pattern made to fit 15"-18" dolls like American Girl and Disney Princess & Me. With some small alterations I made a cute little dress for Willow's Princess and Me Ariel doll! While Ariel is a bit slimmer than the American Girl Dolls, she is the same size proportionately so I really only took it in about a half inch on the sides.. Oh, just a note for anyone with this doll looking to make or even buy clothes specifically made for the American Girl doll (and her knock offs) - her feet are skinnier than AG dolls so if you are looking to make shoes from a pattern styled for AG they need to be taken in a tad too.

I serged the edges with some pastel rainbow thread instead of hemming, which sometimes I prefer. Excuse the wrinkles in the velour.. sometimes I just need to create something without following all the rules like ironing! :) I think Ariel likes it and I feel much better.. a dolly dress a day keeps the winter blues away.. haha

I still can't rave enough about this pattern, it is my go to for shirts, hoodies and romper dresses like this one for all my kids.. and their dolls! Raglans really are my favorite style shirt and are almost as easy to put together as pants! With only minimal alterations you can create an entire wardrobe from this one pattern!