Some pics...

Thanks to Sydney Blackmore and The Scope for the great bit about us! You can read it here. My good friend Suzanne got a mention as well, so it was an especially awesome Storefront column this week.

This is Christmas baking and tree-decorating weekend in the Mushy Peas household, so there isn't a whole lot of crafting going on... I'm trying to finish the stocking I'm doing in felt applique for Baby M. in time for him to hang it up (so far, so good).

In the meantime, I've been asked by some lovely people who read The Scope for pictures of some other Mushy Peas items. Here you go:



This is a binky (pacifier) clip- you clip it onto your baby's shirt so it doesn't get dropped. The idea for these came from my talented sister. Baby M. uses these all the time- he only takes a pacifier when he's sleepy, and spits it out just when he's drifting off. This one happens to have a skull and star, but they come in all sorts of ribbon colours and shapes. I love the pacifier in the picture (which is one of only two Baby M. will take). It's by Natursutten, and is made of one continuous piece of natural rubber. It's available at - where else? Gingersnap!


This is the infamous Munkeh! His body is made of jersey and his face is sewn with felt made from recycled pop bottles.




Last are some pictures of the embroidered onesies/t-shirts. I hand-dye the onesies myself. Janet at Gingersnap has been pairing the gray onesies with pink skulls on them with little pink tutus- so adorable!

Will post again after the weekend!

Because some sweaters just look far better on little baby butts!

When it comes to thrift stores, I have a bad habit. I sometimes feel bad for the items there. It's hard to look at a wedding dress and not wonder about the circumstances that led it being donated to charity, or to wonder the reason why a pair of shoes that seem to have once been so well-loved ended up being given away. In the cases of things like wool sweaters and baby quilts, my empathy for them often makes me buy them. I've bought sweaters simply because they were too soft or such a bargain that I couldn't leave them behind, and I've never worn them. That's how my recycled sweater baby pants came about.

It all started with a sweater in three shades of blue- too big for me, but 100% Shetland wool. I bought it, took it home and washed it in hot water to felt it, then cut and sewed, cut and sewed until it became a cute pair of pants for Baby M. A few days later came the sweetest pants in baby blue and soft red stripes. Then came gray ones, and then brown ones for Baby M.'s cousin. And then I found the *perfect* sweater for Ally's youngest daughter, Baby S., so during one of our weekly craft nights, Ally and I made them into pants.

The best part about using 100% wool sweaters (or even wool sweaters with a little nylon, but no more than 10%) is once they're felted, they're pretty much waterproof against diaper leaks. If you lanolize them (a really easy process, as it turns out), they're totally waterproof, and extremely soft.

I can get just one or two pairs of baby pants from one sweater, so they're all unique! They come in sizes from newborn up to about 2T and are available at Gingersnap or directly through me.

Here's the sweetie-pie Baby S. modeling her pants. These are acrylic, so they're not felted. Can you picture these as a sweater? I think they're so much cuter as pants.



And here's my darling Baby M. modeling his (with some help from his daddy), as well as a pic of some of the other first pairs I made...

The Scope of it all, and cloth nappies!

Mushy Peas is going to be in The Scope! I had a call from the lovely Sydney Blackmore, who had seen some of the items at Gingersnap, and decided to write about them. The piece is coming out in The Scope's "Best Of" issue this Thursday. Yippee!

I gave Sydney a few pictures, but forgot to e-mail her any of the cloth diapers, so here they are. I make two kinds...

These are the ones we use the most: all-in-ones (AIO), which are just as convenient as disposables. They're waterproof and have velcro, so you use them just like a disposable diaper, only you throw them in your diaper pail/"wet bag" to be washed instead of in the garbage. They're lined with flannel on the inside (these pictures are of one of Baby M.'s diapers- you can have almost any colour/pattern on the inside that you want... I'm making some for Ally's daughter at the moment that are pink with jungle animals)and are filled with microfibre for super absorbancy. The outside of the diaper is white. We've never had a leak with these yet (fingers crossed)! These are also Ian's favourite diaper to use- he likes them even better than disposables.

I haven't found any microfleece locally that doesn't get all pilly after a while, so I don't line the diapers with it (when I find it, I will). Instead, I make fleece liners that I place in the diaper, and when they get pilly, I throw them away or use them as little dusting rags and make more. These aren't necessary, but fleece wicks the wetness away from baby's bum- even if the diaper is soaked, you'll find the liner is almost completely dry.




The other type of cloth diaper that I make are flannelette fitteds. These are not waterproof, so you need to put a cover over them. I don't make the covers (yet- try me in the new year), but we use Bummis Super Brite covers, which you can get locally from Sarah at Sweetheart Diapers, and we love them (and they're 15% off right now, I just noticed!). Like the AIOs, these have velcro, are filled with microfibre, and are easy to use.



All diapers come in sizes small (7-13 lbs, approx), medium (14-19 lbs, approx), large (20-25 lbs approx) and extra-large, with instructions on how to wash and care for them. It's easy-peasy.

If you need extra absorbancy for nighttime (or if your baby is a little super-soaker!), I make microfibre/flannel booster pads, which you can put inside the diaper.

We also use reusable wipes with Baby M. They're the size of a baby washcloth, and are made of flannel and micro-terrycloth. They just go washed with the diapers and liners. You can use plain water with them, or Sweetheart Diapers sells aloe vera/tea tree/lavender/glycerin wipe solution cubes that you dilute in water, which are *fantastic* (shortly after Baby M. was born, he got a bad diaper rash so we switched to these cubes and are still using them). I know moms who make their own wipe solution using water, baby wash, olive oil and tea tree oil. We just put the wipe solution in a spray bottle and carry it in the diaper bag. Order a dozen diapers, and I'll throw in some wipes for free. :)

I make "wet bags" for cloth nappies, too. These are waterproof, smell-proof bags to hold the diapers and wipes in until washing, and then you dump them in the washer, too. There are two sizes: one holds up to 30 diapers; the other about 6 (perfect for the diaper bag).

You can order diapers now through me, and in the new year through Gingersnap. They'll be available only by order at the store (not in stock).

With a Little Help From Pop...

My grandfather, Fred, was an amazing man. A United Church minister, he was gentle, loving, kind, knew the answer to every question you could throw at him, even let us grandkids play his bald head like a bongo while sitting on his shoulders while he sat doing crosswords in his big chair. He had five grandchildren, and we were all really close to him (at least three of us slept at our grandparents' house every Saturday night from the time our parents would let us have sleepovers). Pop was also very good at woodworking and other crafty things, and would often help my grandmother like Ian helps me- he'd cut out and put together the wooden parts of her projects, and she'd do the painting and the rest. They sold a lot of little Christmas ornaments and other things at craft fairs and in craft stores.

Pop passed away in 1997. A few weeks ago, my grandmother gave me a box of wooden bits that Pop had cut out, but she hadn't finished- I don't know the exact reason why, but I do know that her interest in most crafts waned after he died. In the box were a couple dozen mitten shapes, which were meant to be Christmas ornaments: my grandmother would join them with ribbon, paint them and decorate them with holly, etc., and write "Merry" on one and "Christmas" on the other. They'd then go hung on doorknobs. I spent the day yesterday finishing them, although not quite how my grandmother would have... these are less festive and more winter-y. There were enough mitten shapes to do a dozen pairs, which I'm going to give to my siblings, cousins and aunts (and grandmother, of course) for the holidays.

I think they turned out nicely, although I can't say that finishing them was a 100% joyous process... miss you so much, Pop. xoxo

On another note, here's a picture of Baby M. with the original Cuddly Bunny... proof that I have at least one happy customer!

Bunny Love

A big thank-you to all those who bought the lavender/vanilla-scented Cuddly Bunnies at GingerSnap over the past month or so.... wow, they went quickly! Those bunnies started off as a gift for my then-in-utero Baby M., who is now four months old. I guess it was a nesting thing that hit me during the last two months of my pregnancy... I made the pattern for those bunnies during a tornado of baby crafts, and made one for him using the unbleached flannelette and some charcoal-coloured flowered fabric. I like to use only a tiny bit of stuffing, so it's easier for little tiny babies to handle, and softer, too. More bunnies coming to Gingersnap soon!


Besides more munkehs, right now Ian and I are working on the tabletop puppet show theatres. He does the woodworking bits, and I do the painting/sewing (this is a good scenario, trust me- I'm rubbish at woodworking and would be dangerous with a saw! Ian, however, is brilliant at wielding a saw with artistry, and the theatres look great). They're about 16" x20" (my estimate) and come with silk curtains. The pegs used to stand them up on the table can be removed for easier storing. The design for the theatres is purely Ian's, but we got the idea to do them from a tiny finger-puppet theatre I have, which I bought in Brazil. It's adorable. The little finger-puppets that came with it are gorgeous, with heads made of papier mache. I actually also bought bigger hand-puppets, made by the same man, too, and they're beautiful! Mermaid, merman, wizard, burleque lady, bumblebee, and Cruella DeVille, complete with cigarette holder. Maybe one day I'll try the papier mache puppets, but for now, I'm not quite that ambitious.... :)


Here are our tabletop theatres! We're also making ones that look like castles. They can be custom-coloured.


Having a crafty afternoon with BFF Ally and her 2-year-old daughter Amelia this afternoon (Baby M. and Ally's baby daughter, too). Ally just learned to knit two weeks ago and has got tons of projects already done, and has now moved on to Christmas ornaments, I think. Amelia's into painting. It's so cold out, I think a nice fire and some hot chocolate might be a good idea. :)