The Lady Beekeeper

We spent this past weekend in Miami for our friends Joe and Natalie’s wedding!  (You may recognize my friend Joe from this blog as my occasional guest photographer… in actuality he is one of my best friends from college.)  The wedding was so much fun and we were overjoyed to be able to celebrate with them!  Congrats Joe & Natalie!

Will, Julius and I flew into PBI since flights were cheaper and direct, then drove down to Miami.  On the way to Miami we stopped at a Walmart to pick up some disposable diapers for Julius (first time we’ve used disposables in months!) while Will & Julius sat in the car.  There was a grandmotherly looking woman in the diaper section sitting at a podium advertising Pampers Pure.  I thought she might be giving out samples or coupons, which would be fortuitous for the one time I buy diapers in 4 months, so I sidled over.  She must have thought I was a creeper without a child because I had to ask her what she was advertising.  She handed me a fact sheet of paper (great…) then asked if I had a child.  I said, “yep, he’s in the car, I just came in to grab some diapers quickly”.  I swear her jaw dropped, and a look of horror spread over her face.  I could almost see the gears turning; it was 86 degrees out and she must think I left Julius in the sweltering car.  So I quickly amended, “he’s with my husband, in the air conditioning”.  I kid you not, she almost fainted from relief.  Her only response was, “can you even imagine?!”  Clearly I could not imagine any such thing, or I wouldn’t have said to her “I left my son in the car” with no follow up.  After that incredibly uncomfortable conversation I didn’t even get any free diapers.  On the bright side though I also didn’t have to discuss my phrasing with the police.

On a lighter note, my co-worker Roger requested another project.  Unfortunately he requested this project about 5 days before my maternity leave ended, and if you’ve been reading my blog you know that the days aren’t as long as they used to be.    So 5 months later I finally finished it!  One of the managers in our group works on a part of a product that made her declare in a meeting “I am the manager of the North”.  That sparked a lot of discussion among all the Game of Thrones fans in my group.  Roger then asked me to make a “Manager of the North Banner”.  After a few iterations someone asked me to add a pineapple (that’s a longer story).

Here’s what I came up with:

This is actually the most complex embroidery pattern I have designed.  In addition, I started over several times due to computer issues and suggestions from co-workers.  I’m pretty happy with how it came out though.  If you want the pattern, feel free to send me an email or write me a comment and I’ll send it your way.  Otherwise, you can screen print, stencil, or embroider whatever you want on your banner.  Below are the instructions on how to construct it!

DIY Banner

What you’ll need:

• 1/2 yard of fabric
• 15″ length of 3/8″ dowel
• 2 – 3/8″ button plugs
• wood glue
• 1 yd of ribbon to hang your dowel
• pattern here

1. Cut out banner front and back using template.
2. Pin front to back, right sides together. 
3. Stitch around the sides and bottom leaving top opened.
4. Trim the points of the banner. 
5. Turn banner right side out, press flat with iron.
6. Fold the top of the banner over 1.75″.  Press.
7. Fold 1/4″ under.  Press. 
8. Pin and stitch at the fold leaving a gap to insert a hanger in. 
9. Glue the plugs to either end of the 15″ dowel.  Let dry.
10. Insert dowel into banner and attach ribbon ends to either end of dowel.

Guys, I received the best compliment ever the other day (seriously thank you, you made my day).  My co-worker stumbled upon my blog and informed her brother that she had found the real Leslie Knope.  I told her that comparing me to Leslie Knope was the highest praise I could ever hope to receive because, if you hadn’t noticed, she is one of my idols.  The comment was followed up with a question about how I find the time to do blogging, motherhood and work, to which I responded (semi-seriously), “I don’t sleep”.

Well I used to sleep, some point before I had Julius, but lately I have re-discovered caffeine!  I don’t know if you guys have ever tried this stuff but it is pretty darn amazing.  Honestly I didn’t drink much caffeine at all before I was pregnant (except for the occasional cup of tea or rare mountain dew code red while in college), and I had sworn the stuff off since finding out I was pregnant.  Several weeks ago I hopped off the wagon.  I’m still nursing but I’ve convinced myself that if I have a cup right after I pump it doesn’t affect my milk.  The jury’s still out.  Good news is that blogging, motherhood and work doesn’t leave much time for me to google paranoid parenting blogs, so I may never know!

I may have to start sleeping a bit more though since I don’t think caffeine can solve all my problems.  Today I got up, got Julius dressed and fed, then got ready myself and threw on some clean pants and a shirt.  I was pretty proud that I did all this with enough time to get Julius off to daycare on time, and myself to work “early”.  When I got to work I realized the pants I was wearing didn’t look very familiar.  They were certainly my pants and were certainly very comfy.  I decided not to care.  Several hours later, in better lighting, I realized that they were one of the pairs of pants I’d retired into painting duty.  I thought to myself, “I can totally own these pants with their giant blotches of white paint”. Maybe someone would think they were meant to be paint stained.  Paint stained is still a style right?  Another hour passed and I ran into the bathroom to double check the crotch of my pants.  I’d realized that my retired painting pants usually have large unsightly holes in the crotch.   Crisis averted, no holes. I went through the rest of the day working those paint stained pants like it was my job.  When I finally got home I told Will the story of the pants and how I was able to pretend they were purposely paint stained.  That was when Will pointed out the giant 6 inch hole in the seat of my pants, through which you could see my underwear.  I’m not going back to work ever again.

Since I’m too mortified to show my face in public again, Julius is going to have to take himself to daycare tomorrow.  While he may not be able to drive himself to daycare this week, one thing’s for certain – Julius is growing up fast.  In just the past week he has gotten really good at standing.    Last Saturday he could balance for ten seconds or more at a time and he’s improving that number daily!  He’s really proud of himself too (and so am I of course).  The first time he showed me his standing abilities he had on the biggest grin.  Now he stands while going about his tasks like it ain’t no thang.  In no time he’ll be making his own lunches and ironing his own shirts.

Julius is standing! (Without a hole in his jeans.)

Speaking of ironing your own shirts, I finally got around to making something that has been on my list for years!  A seam roll (or sleeve roll) is a cylindrical, firm, pillow type device that you use to iron out wrinkles in difficult to iron places like sleeves.  The roll allows the iron to press tight areas that would normally cause a crease when pressing.  The sleeve rolls needs to be filled with a material that can withstand high heat.  My friend Amy gave me a whole pail full of sawdust from her woodworking projects, making this project both free and upcycle!

Seam rolling

DIY Seam Roll

What You’ll Need:

• about 1 cubic foot of sawdust (not compressed)
• 10″x15″ piece of strong natural fiber fabric (cotton, linen, etc)
• funnel for stuffing the roll
• Pattern here

1. Fold fabric in half (right side inside) to form a 5″x15″ rectangle.  Stitch along the long end of the fabric leaving .5″ seam allowance.
2. With the template lined up along the fold, mark the corners for stitching.
3. Stitch along the lines on one side of the seam roll, closing one end of the roll.
4. Stitch along the two corners on the opposite side, leaving a gap where the dotted line is.
5. Trim the corners and edges of the closed end of the roll, clip the corners on the open side.
6. Turn right side out.
7. Using a funnel, fill with saw dust.  Periodically stop and pack down the sawdust by pushing in and down on the edges of the roll.  You want the roll to be as hard packed as you can get it!
8. Continue filling until you are about 3/4″ from the edge.  Turn the edge under along the 3/4″ mark so the unfinished edge of the roll is inside the seam roll.
9. Slipstitch/ladder stitch the fabric together along the fold to make your stitching invisible.  (Or you can do the weird suture stitch I decided to do because I thought it looked neat.

Finished roll!

Over the past 2 weeks Julius has gone from army crawling to pulling up.  And now he even alternates between army crawling and legitimate crawling.  It is amazing how quickly he has progressed.  Every day you can see the progress he has made!  It’s funny, I watch all the videos of my nephew Finnegan beginning to try to control his hands and that all seems like a lifetime ago for Julius.  Looking back that is where I can pinpoint the start of the transition from Julius going from squish to grown up baby.  Babies really are amazing!

Speaking of amazing, Will and I celebrated our seventh anniversary a couple weeks ago!  I planned to make us eggplant parm and homemade ice cream, but we were so tired that I ended up making a breakfast-for-lunch type dinner using a hodgepodge of things I had on hand.  It ended up being so delicious that I have made it several times since then.  I’ll be posting about it later, but sadly my anniversary gift to Will was just as much of a shortcut.  I had about a thousand ideas for what to make (and I may make them yet – after all it’s a whole year until our next anniversary) but once again I was limited by time.

Since it was the copper/wool anniversary I decided to make Will an engraved penny from our lucky year.  I already have a set of metal stamps from Christmas a couple years ago, but I needed to invest in a larger heart stamp.  As always, be sure to use safety equipment while you’re working on a project.  In this case, copper/zinc shards can be hazardous.  I guess I should add something about not destroying legal government tender, but since those penny press machines exist I hardly think this project is a huge deal.

Lucky Anniversary Penny

What you’ll need:

• A 4mm jump ring
• A key chain
• A penny from your anniversary year
• metal stamp set with letters, numbers and 5mm heart
• 1/8″ drill bit and electric screwdriver
• 1 permanent marker

1.  Position the heart stamp over the year on the head of the penny, then make a few swift raps with a hammer to engrave a heart around the year.
   

   Hammer heart over year on penny.

2. Engrave the month and day in numbers with a ‘.” between them.
3. Flip the penny over and in the center of the penny’s tail side engrave a ‘+’ or ‘&’ surrounded by the couples’ initials.
   

   Hammer letters and numbers for date/initials.

4. Using a nail, hammer a starter dent into the top of the penny where you want the hole to be.  (If you have an awl you can use this instead of a nail)
   

   Hammer pilot hole into top of penny to use as a guide for the screwdriver.

5. Place penny in vice, with pieces of wood acting as a buffer.  With an 1/8″ drill bit, drill a hole in the penny using the starter dent as a guide.  Using fine sandpaper, remove any sharp edges from the drill.
   

   Drill the penny at the pilot hole.

6. Fill the engravings in with permanent marker, rubbing off any excess markings on the face of the penny with a cloth.
7. Insert jump ring through the hole in penny and pinch closed with pliers.  Attach key ring through jump ring.
   

   Back of penny.

   

   Front of penny.

So Julius started getting separation anxiety for a brief period last week.  I’d drop him off at daycare or hand him to daddy and he’d cry until I took him back.  While it is frankly adorable that someone seemingly needs you so much they cry, it is actually more torturous than you may imagine!  Really tugs at those heart strings.  Good news is that he really only cries for a few seconds, and as soon as I’m gone he stops.  Learning how to push those buttons I guess!

Another interesting habit Julius has learned is also slightly ridiculous.  For several months now I haven’t been able to read or do anything at all while he is eating because he is super distracted.  At one point he decided to never again eat in front of people, around any noise whatsoever or while I am holding something.  He especially likes to flail his free arm around, grabbing at anything that is in reaching range – a cell phone, a kindle, my hair, my clothing, his hair, his clothing, etc.  Once he obtains an object, he continues to flail until it whacks me or him in the face.

For a long time now he has enjoyed stick his hand in my mouth.  I’ve seen other babies do this, so I know this isn’t as weird as it sounds.  Problem is I always pretend to eat his hand when he sticks it in my mouth and he finds this hysterical.  This means when he blindly sticks his hand in my mouth while he’s eating he immediately starts giggling and looks up at me.  I then have to coax him back to eating.  So now to prevent this, I clamp my mouth shut so he cannot possibly pry my lips open, stick his hand in and giggle.  He has found a work around.  He now discovered that if he simply sticks his fingers up my nose it eventually elicits a laugh from me which causes even more laughter on his end and the stoppage of eating for several minutes. What a prankster…

The craft I have for you today will keep your hands (nose and mouth) free while shopping.  Long enough to hang off your shoulder, but not too huge, this sturdy canvas tote bag is stylish and durable.  I used white duck canvas fabric from Joann fabric that was 100% cotton so I could easily tie dye them.  And the best part?  The bags cost about $1.50 to make.  

Shoulder Length Market Bag

What You’ll Need:

• ~ 1/2 yard of 59″ wide cotton duck canvas (will make 2 bags)

1. Cut a 3.5″x59″ strip of fabric for the handles.  Cut a 13.5″x29.5″ piece of fabric for the body.
2. If desired, tie dye the disassembled canvas fabric as in this post.  I dyed only the fabric for the bag body and left the handles white.
3. Fold under 1/2″ of fabric on the short edge of the body fabric .  Press.
   

   Fold fabric under 1/2″ on short side.

4. Fold fabric under again by 1″ to form a finished hem.  Press.
   

   Fold fabric under another inch to form a hem.

5.  Repeat step 3 for second side.
6. Fold the handle fabric in half lengthwise.  Press.
   

   Fold handle in half lengthwise, press.

7. Open out.  Fold the unfinished edges to the inside of the handle.  Press.
   

   Open out, fold unfinished edge towards the fold. Press.

8. Stitch along the edge forming to form a handle.
9. Cut strip in half forming 2 29.5″ pieces.
   

   Finished handles.

10. Pin the edges of the handles to the folds from step 3, about 1.5″ from the unfinished edge.
    

    Pin handles to canvas bag.

11. Stitch close to the fold of the hem edge step 3.
    

    Stitch along side near the folded under edge

12. Stitch close to the folded under edge of the hem in step 3.
    

    Stitch the edge of the fabric along the fold.

13. Fold bag so right sides are together (folded seam is on the outside) and stitch along the unfinished edges.
    

    Stitch 1/2″ from the unfinished edges.

14. Serge the edges you just stitched above.
    

    Serge the unfinished edge

I really didn’t realize how sad my last blog post sounded until several of you commented!  Thank you for keeping an eye on me, it makes me feel loved!  This past weekend was Danycon 2.0 which I will write about in a future post!  It was the first time Will and I met our nephew Finnegan!  He is an adorable little fellow and we can’t wait for him and Julius to be best buddy cousins!  So far Julius has tried to grab Finn’s toes, but there has been minimal interaction otherwise.  (Finn is still a squish right now, and though it seems it happened so quickly, Julius is a fairly sturdy, busy baby. )

Julius is playing with Finn! Or maybe he’s just stealing his toys. Hard to say.

After my last blog post, Julius seemed to get over the funk I mentioned.  In fact, several days later he even gave me baby kisses again!  This age is definitely the most fun so far.  Every day it seems like he is learning more and more.  You can almost see the gears turning.  Most people warned us that it is a pain when babies are mobile, but right now we just find it fun.  Julius likes to explore, but he is equally happy to sit and play.  The cutest thing he does is scoots over to where you are standing and tries to climb up your legs until you pick him up and give him a hug.  After that he’ll let you hug him until you put him down again whence he goes on his merry way.  I am loving every minute!

One thing Julius finds fascinating now is drinking glasses.  He always wants to drink out of my glass when I’m holding one.  I’ve started letting him drink out of them, and though he doesn’t have the technique down, he has gotten better.  Well for this Danycon I decided to make Danycon pint glassses.  They were a hit and as an added bonus cut down on waste from cups.  I used folk art multisurface paints that I had from my paint night ladies’ night, but you can use any paint suitable for painting on glass.

DIY Stenciled Pint Glasses

What you’ll need:

• glass paints (I used folk art multisurface)
• spouncer
• pint glass (I got mine from the Dollar Tree)
• contact paper
• X-acto knife

1. On a piece of paper print or sketch your desired design.  Designs with solid shapes work best.  Those with negative space in the center are difficult to create.
2. Place your piece of paper on top of the contact paper and on a cutting surface.  Cut around the design using the Xacto knife, pressing hard enough so it transfers through to the contact paper.
3. Remove the backing from the contact paper and stick it to glass in your desired location.
4. Using the spouncer, dab paint on the stencil on the cup.
5. Remove the stencil immediately.
6. Let the paint dry 24 hours then place glass in a cold oven.  Bring the oven to 350 degrees F then cook for 30 minutes.  When finished, turn off the oven and let the oven cool completely.  Glasses will be top rack dishwasher safe.