Evaluation and adjustment

The wool (cashmere!) diaper covers are working well, even at night-time. Most of them have shrunk further with washing, but they all still fit.

Previously. I kept my sewing machine in the dining room, so I could sew at the table while keeping an eye on everything. Now, about the only times I can sew are when I happen to wake up especially early, or during my designated Introvert Time, so it makes more sense to put the machine in my room in the basement, which is far from the bedrooms. I can leave everything set up in there so it is ready to go. I have some low-priority sewing projects that I am kicking myself for not chugging through before the baby was born.

The neighbors gave us a coffee table left over from their yard sale. I did a (relatively) quick refinishing of the top with Danish oil left over from the armchair project...it's not perfect, but it's much better. I am thinking of painting the lower part with some old paint samples, mixed together, which would reduce the visual weight of the wood finish, and harmonize its reddish color with the rest of the living room.

A little elbow grease

I had a few free minutes in which to tackle the gorilla handprints on the dropped ceiling panels in my little room in the basement. (You'd think even a gorilla would notice that he is leaving prints, after one or two, or eight, panels, and go wash his hands at the sink ten steps away. No, he had to leave his mark on all of them.) The panels look like they have been painted before, so painting them again could be an option, but the worst of the grime came off with a little scrubbing with warm water, and the rest is hard to see in the glare of the fluorescent light.

How to get things done with a baby

Really, it boils down to two steps:

1.  Admit that it's practically impossible to get anything done while caring for a young baby.

2.  Then go on and do what you can, when you can, anyway.

Small, focused efforts will add up, over time. My current project is catching up on weeding around the yard, after several weeks of no one doing anything. I've hoed and pulled weeds with my toes while babywearing, and have hand weeded during a couple of nap times. Not much time, but the yard is starting to look a lot better.

More diaper covers for the HE washer

My mother-in-law saw some of the diaper covers that I made from scrap cashmere, and got excited about making more, from her stash of secondhand cashmere. She borrowed back her sewing machine that she had given me, and went crazy for a couple of days, emerging with a stack of very nice covers (which are also called soakers). She sewed in the tops of old wool socks for most of the leg openings, added ties so that the elasticized waists can be reduced or enlarged, lined some of them with additional cashmere, and used scrap cashmere to do cute little appliques.