Look what I've been doing...

Between being a full time student and a more than full time mom I haven't been sewing much....until this weekend! YAY!! I've got just a bit of finish work & photos left to do then I'll be adding 2 boy sets, 2 girl sets and 2 neutral sets of g-tube pads to the shop. If you look closely at the photo you can get a sneak peek at the patterns available too. ;)

A few diapers are next up!

New listings-Diaper making kits

I have decided that in order to get more fabrics, for my kiddos new things and thin my ever-growing stash of fabric, I am going to offer "diaper cut kits". These will be large sized diaper cuts of PUL and an inner fabric. All you need is the type of fabric you prefer for the center soaking part, notions like thread & elastic, and a pattern. If you don't have a pattern I'll be more than happy to suggest a few I've tried and LOVE! I figure that this will allow my stash to thin and you to have tons of different prints and colors on your little one's bum. If you are sewing for a larger child, tween or adult-let me know. I can make a custom larger sized cut for you. I know those can be quite hard to find.I'm also going to offer cuts of soaker fabrics like hemp french terry and plush microfiber (way better than the auto towels we get at the discount stores!).

Recent News & temporary changes

OK, my surgery went fine but it's been a LOT harder to recover this time. You'd think it would be simple since it was just a laporoscopy-a few small incisions and a few stitches. HA! No such luck. Now I'm swollen and can't climb the stairs very well so I can't even get to my sewing machines. I have 1 downstairs-it's my older one and it needs serviced. I thought I'd be "cute" and go upstairs anyway and use my new one. Bobbin threads everywhere when I sew. It's a computerized sewing/embroidery machine and it looks like it needs to be taken in too. I've cleaned them as well as I can but.....GRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!
I'm gonna put this down to God telling me to take a short break and give myself some more time to heal. I'm just going to stop taking custom orders and sewing diapers for a few weeks. Hopefully that will allow me to heal and get these machines worked on. They really don't like the thicker/plush diaper fabrics very much. I'm considering a commercial machine instead of another less expensive one. Maybe I can find one gently used.
Well anyway I hope to start taking custom orders again in November-we'll see. Have a wonderful weekend!

FOE finally here-YEA!!!

OK so here's the deal. I didn't get hardly any diapers ready & posted for the promotion we did at the end of September. :(
I just didn't have enough FOE. It was on order but didn't make it here in time. The foe (elastic binding) is finally here! Better late than never. :)
I missed having a bunch of diapers posted for the Real Cloth Diaper week but now I can finish all the ones that are cut out and waiting for FOE. Now I can also finish the trainers I've working on too. Yippee!
Now I just need to find the time to get all this sewing done. I suppose this means that I will have plenty to post over the next few weeks.

Enough about that-it's too much planning for this late at night. I will also be MIA during the middle of October. I'm due for (a relatively simple) surgery but it will keep me in the bed for awhile and doing only easy things for a bit after I'm allowed to get up. No sewing then...grrrr...after I finally get my supplies and the momentum and some "free" time......

Ahhh well it's past my bedtime and we've got church tomorrow so I'll update as I can. I'll also post here when I get the new stuff listed on Etsy. Have a wonderful night everyone!

We're finally home!

OK, I didn't have any time to get this posted before or during this ordeal so here's the scoop. Mikayla got sick-sinus infection on 8/19 then Nikolas "couldn't let her have all the fun" and got sick too. Well he was throwing up anything we gave him, including his medicines. Not good since they are for seizures. Well the Peds doctor sent us to St. Vincent on Wed 8/20. We figured-over night IV fluids to prevent dehydration and we'd be home. HA! No such luck. His usual shunt series (to be sure it's working & not the cause of the illness) showed one of his cysts in his brain had grown. WONDERFUL!! (grrrrrr...) That meant that we'd be staying over the weekend and have brain surgery on Monday. PEACHY!! Now we're here 'til Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. Nope. He's now classified as a "slow metabolizer". In other words the narcotic pain medicines he got (tylenol with codeine) cannot be processed by his body like they should and almost killed him. Well he come thru ok and we got to leave Friday early afternoon.
On a much sadder note. Please pray for the family of Jacob Brokering (preschool aide's nephew). He had surgery at the same time on Monday and passed away on Wednesday from complications. He was 15 and also special needs. Also please pray for the family of Kelsey and Aaron Mock. Aaron was 38 & a single dad of a 12yr old girl in my daughter's grade. He died very unexpectedly this past Wednesday. I found out because on of my closest friends was his ex-fiance. My daughter found out at school because Kelsey was absent for the last few days.

What's new??

Well the mini-vacation was nice but way too short! Oh well, next year we'll try for another 1 weeker.

I've added a new style of diaper to all of my sizes. It's based on a Rita's Rump (THANKS!!) with a few modifications. It sits a bit under the belly and a bit higher in the back. I'm offering it in flannel or with a PUL (waterproof) outer layer and birdseye or flannel inner. It has either hemp/cotton or microfiber terry for the soaker based on preference & availability. I will also have additional soakers with velour tops available. I've got the infant thru youth pattern ready and adult sizes are almost done. I'm hoping to have some sewn, "ready to ship", and listed by this weekend. I'm also nearly finished with several g-tube pads that will be ready to mail as well. I'm cutting back on the custom orders, but not stopping, until school starts again so I can spend more time with the kiddies. Have a great week everyone!

So distracted.....sorry

I've been so busy with life and family that I've been really bad about keeping my shop stocked. There have been a great deal of challenges hitting our home recently. We've had health problems with both my mother, my children and my mother-in-law. My son's 2 1/2 yr old dog (who we were training to help us with him) got very sick and passed away very unexpectedly. We miss you so much Maximillian (Max the wonder doggie!). I know some don't see the reason for such sadness-"it's only a dog". Not for us-Max and our other pets are family members. They are loved as much as our children. I've planted a beautiful rose bush for him and another will go in (if it ever stops raining here) for our other lost doggie-Sadie Mae. She passed during my pregnancy with Nikolas.

I am working on a current order and getting ready to get some instock items finished. I am adding several new cloth diapers in a range of sizes. I am also happy to add a new diaper "Nikolas" in honor of my son. This diaper is higher in the back, slightly lower in the front and comes with an additional snap in soaker. It works wonderfully for those wheelchair bound kiddos and doesn't give "plumber rear" for those who lay on the floor and scoot around. :D

I've take the best parts of several different patterns I've seen, used or simply just like the look of and meshed them all together. This diaper will come in several sizes but I am getting the large, XL, and youth ready first. Larges will fit about a 2t-3t, XL will be 3T-5T and youth fits sizes 5-7/8. They have multiple snap settings across the front for a lot of adjustability. Please remember all sizes are approximate since we are all shaped a bit differently. I will post measurements to help when selecting a size. These will be available for custom orders and I will also have some listed that are ready to ship. If life stays calm, I'm hoping to have these ready and listed on both Etsy and Ebay in the next 4-6 weeks.

Please pray for the calm times! We could all use them right now. Wishing for peace and tranquility for all of you-
Suzanne W. :D

I've gotten a new serger!!

YEA!!! I've finally gotten a new serger so I am working on adding LOTS of new items to my shop. I had hoped to have more in before now and it just didn't happen. Life got in the way-of course. Nikolas had an outpatient procedure last week, which went very well, and I got really behind in my homework for college. I'm caught up now and working on a few custom orders as well as getting ready to restock the shop. Be sure to check back frequently because I'm getting ready to add some "ready to ship" clothing and cloth diapers in larger sizes as well as more g-tube pads. These things will be already complete-just packed and shipped to you!

Reopening my Ebay listings too

After much deliberation, I have decided to begin listing on Ebay again in January 2008. The Etsy store will remain open for my custom work and some ready to ship items. My Ebay will be listing for ready to ship items for special needs such as weighted blankets and snap-crotch pants in children and youth sizes (maybe some Adult sizes too). I will be selling my Ebay items under the user ID kittypal10. Sometime during the spring I have plans to open a store on Ebay but not immediately. I am hoping this will allow more people to access the items I create and sell for their special loved ones. I am hoping to start a once monthly newsletter with information about my specials and other shop related topics. Keep an eye open for lots of new items on both places!

It's Christmas time

I really love this time of year! Everyone is trying to be nice to everyone else and things are looking brighter (even if they really aren't). Maybe it's just the thought of all the good times and family gatherings we all are having.
I love to give the gifts to my friends and family (hate shopping-crowds aren't my thing). I think my favorite part are the decorations and the music. I love seeing all the lights and all the hard work people put into making their place special for everyone to see.
I haven't gotten the first decoration up yet :( which is really unusual for me. Normally,by now if it doesn't move it's decorated! But we're painting (YEA!!) after the remodel so I'll have to wait a bit longer. I told Jim that I'm decorating by the 17at the very latest so we've gotta get on it.
I have to say, just having all the drywall up and the basics done has really got me feeling better. Now that the bulk of the remodel is finished I can see that light at the end of the tunnel.
For those who don't know-we gutted the entire house and have been remodeling and living in it at the same time. I DON'T recommend that! We made the entire main level handicapped accessible for our son and my mother-in-law. Tore out old plaster (this house is 100 yrs old) and put in new wiring and drywall, widened doorways, and reshaped rooms. That is a horribly messy job. Remodeled the main bath and put in a new second bath with roll in shower to accommodate both wheelchairs. Now mil doesn't need her chair and has gotten to move back to her house so it's mainly for our son. He's still a little small but this will be nice as he gets older.
It's finally beginning to be at a point where I can put things away in their real "homes" and get this place organized. Which has now become my current project, aside from the custom orders on Etsy.

I decided that it was time to join the 21st century and start a blog. I plan to make this mostly related to my shop but it will also contain things outside of Etsy. Since it's getting closer to the holiday season it's time to begin putting all the fun holiday things into my shop. I started putting in my Halloween totes today and hope that they are well liked. They were a blast to create. I love all the cute fabrics available for the holiday seasons. I have tons of Halloween prints and lots of ideas but would love to get some custom requests for the kids.