Sort of done with this whole pregnancy thing

Cloth Diaper Burp Cloths

So, um, I've been a little busy lately.

Aside from growing a human being, I've been working hard at ALL my other jobs, one of which is with a non-profit that provides free postpartum support for families in the Hilltowns of Western Massachusetts. One of our services is the Village Closet, a donation site for baby items -- clothes, car-seats, swings, toys, diapers, anything you could need. We have a whole WALL of cloth diapers. One of our volunteers spent the day sorting through and organizing all of them, and left us with a bag of "un-suitable" pre-folds -- they are worn out and torn up. She said they might be good for "a craft project", so of course I couldn't throw them out.

Pinterest has plenty of ideas for how to use cloth diaper as burp cloths, but most of them involve purchasing new "cloth diapers" at Target and sewing on a nice border or panel.

  

The ones I have are not really nice enough to be saved by a simple border -- they need to be covered up completely. But since they're actual cloth diapers (not the fake ones from Target), even torn up they should be pretty absorbent.

I had some leftover fabric from another project, so I played around and found a really easy, but very slick-looking way to cover up the diapers and make some nice, big, absorbent burp cloths/changing pads/lap pads.

Materials:

• a real* prefold cloth diaper -- about 12x18". The idea here is you're using an old junky one that's been washed and washed, so it's not going to shrink any more. *The ones from target are fine, but won't be as absorbent as real ones.
• 2x pieces of Cotton Fabric, 16x24" - one solid color, and one either complementary solid color or patterned. If your diapers are a different size, I just cut the fabric 2" more on each side, and 4" more on the top and bottom than the size of the diaper.
• Matching/Contrasting colored thread

Other:

• Pins
• Iron
• Ruler and/or cutting mat
• Rotary Cutter or scissors
• Pencil

Instructions:

Wash, dry, and iron fabric, and iron the diaper as flat as possible.

Cut fabric into 16x24" rectangles.

On the RIGHT side (as opposed to the WRONG side) of one of the rectangles, use a pencil or chalk and draw two straight lines down at 6" from each side.

Place one piece of fabric right side down, and place diaper in the middle of it. Try to center it as much as possible -- 2" from each side, and 3-4" from top and bottom. Place the other piece of fabric right side up on top and pin all three pieces together.

Starting at about 1" down from the top of the diaper, sew a line down each penciled line, ending about 1" before the bottom of the diaper.

With Solid side up, fold sides in and over and pin to create a 1" hem. Sew down sides, starting at about 1" down from the top of the diaper and ending about 1" before the bottom of the diaper.

With Solid side up, fold top and bottom in and over and pin to create a 2" hem. You may have to trim some of the excess fabric to get it so lie flat. Following the lines from the edge hem, sew around the top and bottom hems.

Trim threads, and gift to a new mama who has NO IDEA how many times she's about to puked on. Machine Wash and Dry.

2014, In Review

Fun Fact: I took 4,150 photos and videos in 2014. Here are just a few.

January

We started the new year in our new apartment in Northampton, having moved from Queens just a few weeks before. To my credit, there were only a few boxes still around, but Christmas had made the apartment a little hectic.

I had spent New Year's Eve with the Flu, but we still got our beans in.

My new full-time job was being mama, so I spent my time trying to figure out fun things for the child (and not watching TOO much Netflix).

We had people over for birthday dinner and Pineapple Upside Down Cake!

January also saw my first Etsy sale!!! I put up Rowan's Pigeon Hat, and by the end of 2014, I had sold about 20 of them!

Even though it was winter, we started riding our bike's a lot!

I also started marketing for my Childbirth Ed classes!

February

Elephant and Piggie at the Eric Carle Museum.

And Ro starts his college search.

And I finished my last requirements for my Childbirth Ed certification!

Gramma Rita Chamberland died in early February, and after someone came to the funeral with H1N1 Flu, the rest of the Chamberland clan was sick for days. I think the total infected as 25, including Chris and Rowan. I was oddly thankful that I had had it over New Year's, so I could take care of my boys.

Did I mention that since the year had begun, it had not stopped snowing?

Rowan discovered how to take Selfies.

March

Ro and I visited the city to see friends and grab a few things still at the apartment.

We had one last meal on the floor in the living room ... which is actually how we had our first meal there too.

And then we slept on an air mattress with a hole in it.

And we got to see Emily and Zoe and Rafael!

Emily came to visit!

Then I had an In-Reel-Life meetup with some of the ladies from Attached Parents at Work in Boston.

Then remember that time baby malcolm was born 5 weeks early and I missed it by about 30 seconds?

Resurrected the annual Easter Egg Party (without Kerri of course).

April

Rowan turned three years old!!!

We had a Pigeon Party, and I made Pigeon Cake Pops!

We celebrated a few days early, because on the 11th, I went in for Radioactive Iodine Treatment for my thyroid.

I was quarentined at home for 3 days while the boys and Gipper stayed with the grandparents. I watched a lot of Doctor Who and knit a sweater.

At the end of April we got some good news!!! The co-op board approved our buyer and our apartment sold!

May

In May, Emily and Zoe came to visit!

For Mother's Day my boys went hiking and left me alone for many many hours, and it was amazing.

June

Chris and I celebrated 7 years of being married and still liking each other.

I taught my first official childbirth ed series!

July

We spent the 4th of July in New Hampshire.

I also promised myself I would start my Christmas Tree skirt over the summer.

We kept up with lots of fun activities for the child, lots of knitting for me, and lots of biking.

August

Butterfly Exhibit with Gramma

Radio Controlled Airplane Show

Dana's wedding was also fast approaching, and I was working hard on her Wedding Programs!

Also, the 3-County Fair has piglet racing.

and teeny tiny tractor pulls.

September

We spent Labor Day on the Cape with Chris's family.

Ro started Preschool!

And yes I cried.

Northampon offers many fun family activities, like the Gluten Festival.

I had also been riding my bike pretty much all summer ... so yeah, I was pretty proud of that.

Fall started to show itself ...

October

We tried out stencils for Pumpkin Carving

We had a yard with leaves it for the first time!

We went real-life door-to-door Trick-or-Treating!

November

Chris and I went up to Pittsfield, VT for Janna and Don's Wedding!!! #Lovember8th

We spent Thanksgiving with my parents ... without Power. Hello snowstorm.

And the only Day-After-Thanksgiving shopping we did was to the plant store to see Santa, who gave Ro a high five because he didn't want anything for Christmas.

December

I finally finished the Tree Skirt!

We sang Christmas Carols down town

The Grandparents went overboard on Christmas ... again.

We spent New Year's Eve in Jammies with the Kinnes and McDonalds, 8pm NYE via Netflix for the Kids, and lots of Mexican Food.

Happy New Year!