Julius and Patricia are so darn cute.  Julius has been able to get hold of his emotions and has been having less melt downs.  He still has a few but he usually runs in the other room and does “snake breaths” and then runs back in smiling and hissing, all proud of himself.  He’s constantly asking Will and I “can you play with me”?  And he wants us to act out little adventures with his animals.  This morning he built his favorite little choking hazards animals two “street sweepers” and drove them around the room to “Rhode Island to get vaccinated because they went in the grocery store without a mask on and are sick now”.

A couple days ago Patricia hoisted herself up from a sitting position on the floor to standing, so she could stare into the bathtub while the water was filling.  I was completely amazed.  She is desperate to be mobile!  She hasn’t quite figured out crawling yet.  Will took a video of her doing this inch worm thing to move across the floor.  It works, but is not terribly efficient.  It is cute though.

We have started seeing people again.  I’m going to tell you right now, it is weird.  A couple people came back in town from far away, so in order to see them we had to get outside our cushy comfort zones.  It is really nice to see people again, though it makes me realize how rusty I am at interacting with people in person again.  Looking people in the eyes?  How weird.  You mean I can’t just stare at the video preview of myself while I tell my story?

So today is the last installment of Patricia’s bug mobile tutorial.  This fabric poppy would look even better if you used some kind of crumply stiff fabric… but the mobile was felt, so I stuck with felt.  I used a bunch of different crazy colors to match the Icelandic poppies on Patricia’s curtains and I’m glad I did.  It adds a happy rainbow of colors to the mobile.

Felt Icelandic Poppies

What You’ll Need:

• felt in color of choice for petals
• lime green felt
• yellow felt
• yellow embroidery thread
• needle and thread to match petal color
• stuffing
• Pattern here

1. Cut out center of poppy in green felt following pattern. Cut petals in color of your choice following the pattern.  Cut a 2″x1″ strip of yellow felt.
2. Cut slits in strip of felt about 3/4″ long and 2mm apart.  This will be the stamena.
3. Take green circle and sew a running stitch all around the edge leaving a long tail on your thread.  Stuff with a tiny piece of fluff and pull up fabric around it to form a pistil.  Tie tails of thread together.
4. Take 3 strands of embroidery floss and stitch through the unfinished edge of fabric pistil, over the top, and back through the other side.  Pull taunt.  Repeat two or 3 more times, spacing out your threads so they look like spokes on a wheel.  Knot and trim.
5. Lay your flower petal pieces on top of each other so they form an “x”.
6. Place pistil in the center of the “x”.
7. Stitch straight through the petals and pistil from back to front, loop over all the strand of embroidery thread and back down through the center again and through the petals.  Knot.
8. Place the yellow stamena piece around the green pistil by forming a rough ring.  Overlap the two unfinished ends.
9. Fold the petals up and stitch through one petal near the bottom, through the stamena, through the pistil, back through the stamena, and out through the opposite petal.
10. Repeat step 9 going back through the other two petals. Knot.

Patricia is such a silly lady.  It’s funny to see her personality evolve.  Patricia has been eating solid foods like a champ.  We started her a few weeks ago, and already she’s glomming things down.  I am pretty sure Julius didn’t start eating solid foods in earnest until 9 or 10 months.  She is a MUCH messier eater than Julius is though.  Julius would let us feed him and would open his mouth for more, taking dainty bites.  Patricia grabs the spoon while you are feeding her, particularly the end of the spoon with the food, then forces it into her own mouth.  After that she gums the spoon for a while, then drops it and smears food all over her face.  She is STRONG, so once she has hold of that spoon it’s all over until she gives it up.

The other day I went to clean her up after smearing herself with food and I ran her hands under the running water.  She got so excited that she started pumping her legs while I held her.  Since she was so excited about the water I decided to give her a bath instead (and of course Julius wanted to come too).  As we were waiting for the tub to fill up, she was squealing with joy and trying to climb into the tub (did I mention that she is almost crawling)!  She was SO EXCITED!  I don’t know if Patricia’s actions are just more obvious than Julius’s were or we are now more accustomed to baby language, but it is so much easier to interpret what she wants than it was for us with Julius.  It might be a bit of both.

On the other side of things, Julius these days is a total ham.  (Actually who am I kidding, as a baby Julius was a total ham.)  He has started singing us silly songs that he has made up.  Like “today is waffle day” and “the muffin song”  (not to be confused with do you know the muffin man).  Some of the lyrics are over the top.  My absolute favorite song I wish I had video recorded.  It had an actual tune that I cannot now remember, but the lyrics are the real gems.  Here you go,

Everybody is a bagel 

Every single person is wearing a bagel costume

Every person is dressed like a shrimp

-Julius Colton

I can’t make this stuff up.  I can however make some silly bugs.  Let’s get to it.

Patricia’s bugs

You will need:

• black embroidery thread
• small amount of stuffing
• needle and thread in matching colors of felt below
• pattern here

for bee:

• yellow, black, white felt

for dragonfly:

• white and two different colors felt for body
• light blue tulle

for butterfly:

• two different colors of felt for wings and body

Cut out all pattern pieces as directed.  Do not add seam allowance.

Cut pattern pieces as directed.

For dragonfly:

1. Take one of the colors of small circle and place the second color of small circle on top to slightly overlap.  Handstitch along the edge of the top circle segment that overlaps.
2. Overlap another circle in alternating color, and stitch as in step 1. Repeat for 4th circle.
3. Take a large circle and slightly overlap the large circle with the side of the bug with the contrasting color.  Stitch as in step 1.
4. Repeat steps 1-3 with the other half of the dragonfly.
   

   Back view of the finished dragonfly body pieces, next to a finished body.

5. Using the embroidery thread, backstitch or split stitch a mouth onto one of the larger circles.  Make two eyes with french knots.
6. Place the two halves of the dragonfly together and starting at the neck of the dragonfly, blanket stitch all the way around the dragonfly to the side below the neck, leaving an opening for stuffing.
   

   Stitch dragonfly halves together.

7. Stuff dragonfly lightly, then finish stitching the rest of the head closed.
8. Lay wings out with the top wing on the top, bottom on the bottom, slightly overlapping.  Repeat with tulle wings, overlapping the white wings.  Place body of dragonfly centered on top of the wings.
9. Take the whole piece and flip it over, then stitch the wings to the body.
   

   Stitch wings to body.

For the Bee:

1. Take one large circle and lay stripe in center of the large circle.  Stitch stripe to circle along the edges of the stripe.
2. Overlap stinger on top of large circle below the stripe, so part of the stinger hangs off the circle.  Stitch stinger to circle at the top portion that overlaps.
   

   Finished body front and back.

3. Place smaller circle on top of the body of the bee, slightly overlapping.  Stitch to body along the segment that overlaps.
4. Repeat step 2 and 3 for the second large circle (you can also repeat step 1, but I didn’t bother).
5. Using the embroidery thread, backstitch or split stitch a mouth onto the smaller circle connected to the striped bee body.  Make two eyes with french knots.  Instead of trimming the extra embroidery thread from the French knots, leave 2 inches of excess that will become your antennae.  Knot at top.
   

   French knot eye with antenna

6. Place the two halves of the bee together and starting at the neck of the bee, blanket stitch all the way around the bee to the side below the neck, leaving an opening for stuffing.
   

   Stitching the bee halves together.

7. Stuff bee lightly, then finish stitching the rest of the head closed.
   

   Stuff

8. Lay wings out and place body of bee centered on top of the wings.
9. Take the whole piece and flip it over, then stitch the wings to the body.

For the Butterfly:

1. Place a wing detail on one part of the wing in the indicated spot.  Flip the wing and place the corresponding wing detail on the back of the wing so the two details sandwich the wing.
2. Stitch through the wing detail, wing and opposite wing detail along the edges to attach the wing details.
   

   Stitch two green accent pieces on top of purple wing.

3. Repeat for other 3 sets of details.
4. Using the embroidery thread, backstitch or split stitch a mouth onto the head of one of the sets of butterfly bodies.  Make two eyes with french knots.  Instead of trimming the extra embroidery thread from the French knots, leave 1.5 inches of excess that will become your antennae.  Knot at top.
5. Place the two halves of the butterfly body together and starting at the neck of the butterfly, blanket stitch all the way around the butterfly to the side below the neck, leaving an opening for stuffing.
6. Stuff butterfly lightly, then finish stitching the rest of the head closed.
7. Lay wings out and place body of butterfly centered on top of the wings.
8. Take the whole piece and flip it over, then stitch the wings to the body.

Massachusetts lifted the mask mandate this past weekend which a lot of people are very excited about.  I’m not one of them since I still have two unvaccinated children and the chance of spread from a vaccinated person to an unvaccinated person is possible, albeit low.  That being said, it is not the vaccinated people spreading it that I’m concerned about.  I’m worried about the antivaxxers.  In the past, you could spot the people without masks from a mile off and keep your distance.  Julius makes a wide berth around adults without masks, and we do too.  Those people who couldn’t be bothered to wear masks during a global pandemic to protect others, probably are not listening to the science behind vaccines either.  Luckily many folks in MA are actually listening to science…

We are so lucky to live in one of the only countries that is wealthy enough to buy (multiple doses of) vaccines for all their citizens. While I don’t mind wearing my mask enough that I’m going to ditch it yet, I do mind the anxiety that the pandemic has caused.  It was amazing – as soon as I got that shot in my arm I felt that sense of dread lift.  I’m now even able to look back at the situation around us and reflect on it without panicking.  The reflection has brought me to a couple realizations.  The most uplifting insight is that the pandemic has brought about the mentality to “not put off until tomorrow what you can do today” (except cleaning – definitely still putting that off until tomorrow, or next week, or next month).  I mean just look at my random accomplishments!  I have finished projects I started when Julius was just born, mended items that have needed mending for years, started and finished dozens of projects and have reorganized half the house.  I’m pretty proud of myself.  I’m wondering how long that mentality is going to last when we start leaving the house and the piles of unfinished things blend into the background again…

So this post is dedicated to anti-procrastination!  The project I’m going to show you might be the epitome of anti-procrastination, or it might be some serious hardcore procrastination.  I’m not sure.  Before Julius was born I wanted to create a hot air balloon mobile for Julius and ended up buying one instead.  I love the mobile I bought him, so it all worked out.  For Patricia I again had dreams of making a mobile.  I envisioned a mobile with bees and flowers to match her room’s poppy theme.  I had a harder time finding one I liked this time around, so I had slightly more motivation to make one.  I wanted to finish one before Patricia moved from her bassinet into her crib so that she had something to stare at, but that (as expected) didn’t happen.  She outgrew her bassinet very quickly and by mid January we were sick of tiptoeing in and out of our room every night so not to wake her.  At this point though I was fully motivated.  I had a concept in my head that I sketched down and completed February 22nd.  I bought some supplies and spent many nights making tiny bugs and flowers out of felt to adorn her mobile.

When I had the bugs and flowers all ready, I spiked a fever and thought I had come down with covid from the one stranger that came into our house during the pandemic.  Will was also convinced I had covid so I ended up quarantined in my room until I got the results of my covid test.  Will and Julius left me food outside the room and I’d feed Patricia completely masked.  I was super scared and just stared at my phone waiting for the test results, which took two solid days (in the past they only took 12 hours).  Luckily my fever broke and the test came back negative, and that’s when I realized that it had probably had been mastitis the whole time.  At some point though, Will decided I could quarantine in the basement instead and I managed to finish stringing the mobile together instead of being bored out of my mind.  So mid-March I finally finished Patricia’s mobile and I’m so happy with how it came out!  I am pretty proud of myself that given a deadline I only missed the mark by 2 months, despite a toddler and infant and a fever.

Anyway, I’ll try to post the flowers and bugs in a future post, this is just how I strung the whole darn thing together.

Bugs and Flowers Mobile

What you’ll need:

• 12″ wreath ring
• 6″ wreath ring
• 12 felt flowers
• 2 felt bumble bees
• 2 felt dragonflies
• 2 felt butterflies
• 15 pom poms
• crochet thread
• large eyed needle

1. Cut a 2 foot length and three 2-yard pieces of crochet thread.  Knot the 2 foot length to form a loop then hang from a coat hanger.
2. Thread your needle with on of the 2 yard pieces of thread. Pass the needle through the center of a pompom, through the loop, and back down through the center of the pom pom.  Remove the needle from the thread, and then pull the thread so the ends hang even. Repeat for the other two 2 yard pieces of thread.
3. Hold the 12″ wide wreath ring about 6″ below the bottom of the knotted thread loop.
4. Pass one end of a strand of crochet thread through the center of the 12″ ring, around the top and back down.  This should hold loosely using the friction of the thread on the ring (I’ll call this a friction knot for lack of a better term).
5. Repeat step 4 with the opposite end of the strand of crochet thread.  Make sure the friction knot is directly across from the other one.
6. Grab a new strand of crochet thread and repeat step 4 6 inches away from the previous friction knot.  Repeat step 5 for this thread.
7. Repeat step 6 for the final thread.
8. Adjust all threads so the hoop hangs parallel to the ground.
9. Knot each thread onto the hoop so it will hold tightly.
10. Cut two more 2 yard pieces of thread.
11. Thread your needle with a piece of thread, then again pass it through the center of the pom pom, through the loop, and back down through the center of the pom pom as in step 2.  Even it out so the center of the thread sits at the pom pom.
12. Repeat step 11 with the last piece of thread but instead of evening out the thread, instead knot just below the pom pom, pass one end of the needle and thread back up through the pom pom and trim so the end of the thread is hidden in the pom pom.  You should now have 3 threads hanging down the mobile unattached.
13. Hold the 6″ ring about 5″ below the 12″ hoop.
14. Pass one end of a strand of crochet thread through the center of the 6″ ring, around the top and back down.  Repeat for the other two threads, spacing the threads evenly around the 6″ ring.
15. Knot each thread onto the hoop so it will hold tightly.
16. Thread your needle with one of the central 3 threads.  Pass through two pompoms and into the top of an insect/flower.  Tie a loose knot to hold in place.
17. Thread your needle with another central thread.  Pass through 1 pompom and into the back of an insect/flower. Tie a loose knot to hold in place.
18. Repeat steps 16 and 17 for all insects and 3 flowers, alternating one pompom and 2 pompoms and alternating different insects and flowers.
19. Using regular sewing thread stitch a poppy onto the 12″ and 6″ hoop where each thread meets the ring.
20. Adjust the insect/flower height in the larger ring so when the inner ring spins it will not hit the insects.  My insects were around 10″ below the 12″ ring.
21. Adjust the insect/flower height in the smaller ring so the insect/flowers don’t hit the outer insect/flowers when the rings turn.  These were about 10″ below the 6″ ring.
22. Knot the insects/flowers, then thread the crochet thread back through the flower or insect and trim excess to hide the thread.
23. Adjust the pom-poms on each thread so they are centered between the hoop and the insect/flower.
    

    Patricia checking out her mobile from above.

    

    Patricia admiring her mobile from below

    

    Patricia’s view

Well this is my second to last week of maternity leave.  It’s been nice spending time with Julius and Patricia, and I am sad to “go back” to work and “leave” these munchkins.  I just have to keep reminding myself that it will be nice to communicate with adults other than Will on a daily basis again.  That and not having to be a preschool teacher anymore (another job I’m really not qualified for) make the future bearable.  But boy did time really fly.  I’m sure I’ve said it before but a co-worker once told me that the first year of a child’s life is “a short year with long days”.  Once again he couldn’t have been more right!

Julius’ first year flew by and there are huge chunks that were straight up missing from my memory.  That lack of sleep really takes a toll on you, as I’m sure all you new and seasoned parents are finding out/already know.  Well I am here to tell you not to worry! Those chunks of time are not lost from your memory; they are in there somewhere!  I had made peace with the likelihood that Julius would be an only child and found some solace in the knowledge that at least I wouldn’t have to go through the sleep deprivation and baby blues/ppd again.  But when our little Patricia beat the odds to make us a family of four, I found that this time around I wasn’t in a complete fog the entire time.  On top of that, while experiencing Patricia’s newness I have been able to recall similar happenings and evaporate some of the fog from Julius’ first year.  Just another reason to love Patricia!

One of the things I recalled recently from out of the fog, is that I made a playmat for Julius… but he never used it.  We have this adorable little playmat with a piano attached (an older version of this one).  It’s great because the babies can lie on their backs and bat the toys without the toys escaping.  Unfortunately it doesn’t work as well when the babies start to sit up because they can’t get close enough to the toys while propped.  My friends Maren and Matt made a super cute version for their daughter out of PVC pipe and fittings which got me thinking.  I had some leftover PVC from a hoop greenhouse I made long before Julius was born.  I think by the time I finished my playmat proof of concept Julius was already crawling!  So I left it in a corner somewhere.

Enter Patricia!  The same things happened to Patricia that happened to Julius – she couldn’t get close enough to the toys while sitting up AND it seemed like the little hoop was inhibiting her roll over skills.  That’s when I recalled my half finished project!  Originally I made the playmat proof of concept to be attached to any blanket you had on hand for portability.  I used clip on curtain rings to attach the blanket to the hoops.  I don’t think that’s terribly safe (but you can use your own judgement) so I scrapped that this time around and added some loops to an adorable Monica and Andy receiving blanket** Patricia got from my friend Ka and has already outgrown.  It works great, looks adorable and means she can use the little blanket for longer!  Since I used scrap pvc and recycled ribbon and fabric for this project, it didn’t cost me a thing.  If you have to purchase everything new it would still cost less than $15, a fraction of the cost of buying a play gym.

DIY Play Gym

What you’ll need:

• 2 – 66″ lengths of 3/4″ pvc pipe
• 2 – 3.5″ x 74″ strip of cotton fabric (I had to stitch two pieces together to form a long enough piece)
• scrap 5/8″ grosgrain ribbon
• scrap 1″ grosgrain ribbon
• upcycled receiving blanket or 32″x32″ piece of fabric that doesn’t have much stretch

1. Cut 4 15″ lengths of 5/8″ grosgrain ribbon for ties.
2. Cut 8 3.5″ lengths of 5/8″ grosgrain ribbon for the playmat loops.
3. Fold the short end of a 74″ strip of fabric under 1/2″ and 1/2″ again.  Stitch to form a finished edge. Repeat for other edge.
4. Place a tie (15″ length of grosgrain ribbon) at one end of the 74″ strip.  Overlap the tie over the finished edge of the strip, so the tie extends 14″ out from the fabric strip.  Stitch.
5. Repeat step 4 for other end.
6. Fold a 74″ strip of fabric the long ways, right side in, and pin.
7. Fold it in half and mark 6″ from the center on either side, and 12″ from the center on either side.
8. Fold one of the 3.5″ lengths of ribbon in half, and insert inside the strip of fabric you pinned in step 3.  Pin the ribbon in place at one of the marks you made in step 4.  Repeat for other 3 lengths of ribbon.
   

   Make sure to line the unfinished edges up when you place the loop inside for stitching.

9. Stitch entire length of 74″ strip, leaving 1/2″ seam allowance and backstitching at each loop for reinforcement.
10. Turn the tube right side out.  Insert a PVC pipe into the fabric tube.
11. Repeat steps 3-10 for the other ribbons, fabric strip and PVC pipe.
12. Finish the edges of your 32″x32″ piece of fabric (if not using receiving blanket)
13. Cut 4 3.5″ lengths of ribbon for loops on the blanket.  (I used 3/4″, but 5/8″ or whatever you have on hand will work just as well.)
14. Fold under 3/8″ of the end of each loop, then fold in half.
15. Pin loop to the wrong side of the blanket in a corner along the seamline.  Turn to the front side and stitch along the seam line.  Repeat for other corners and loops.
16. Cut a length of ribbon 34″ long to secure the play gym.  I used 1″ ribbon, but you could use 5/8″ if that is all you have.

To assemble:

1. Make sure the PVC piping is centered in its casing.
2. Thread the tie ribbon on one end of a PVC pipe casing through a loop on one corner of the blanket.  The blanket should have the loop facing the ground.  Fasten with an overhand knot or slip knot (or both like I did).
3. Repeat step 1 for the opposite corner of the pipe and blanket.  The PVC should gently bow to form the hoop.
4. Repeat steps 1&2 for the other pipes and corners of the blanket.
5. To secure the two hoops, stand them upright so they are centered.
6. Drape the 34″ long ribbon on top of the play gym where the two hoops meet.  Center.
7. Tie an overhand knot on the underside of the hoops.
8. Loop the ribbons up above where the two hoops meet, through the two sides of the hoop that haven’t been secured with ribbon.  Tie an overhand knot above the hoops, then finish with a bow.
   

   Happy Baby!

   

   Look at that concentration

   

   Why yes she is chewing on the rocket ship I made!

**Monica and Andy makes some really adorable stuff.  My mother in law bought us a bunch of cute outfits for Patricia from there with several matching little hats.  The hats looked like really strange shaped gnome hats.  My mother in law usually has really good taste, but I thought these were kind of a miss.  They were really weird and ugly, so I didn’t put them on Patricia for more than a couple minutes.  Later, (read: today when I was writing this blog post) I realized that the Monica and Andy hats are supposed to be knotted at the top and not gnome hats at all.  Totally adorable, and not weird and ugly.  I think I have to write them a letter to tell them to pre-knot them or include instructions for idiots like me.

Weird gnome hat

Adorable hat…