Crystal Madrilejos

Remember this guy?

In the months before Q was born, both Andrew and I had a surge of productivity. I think it was our collective subconscious preparing us for a drought. We’ve been fortunate that Q is a good sleeper now. After his bedtime and before he wakes is our free time and both Andrew and I have been able to work on some new projects.

I figured an update is in order for the projects that we worked on before Q arrived.

I should preface this update with the fact that the majority of the time Q wears Fuzzi Bunz cloth pocket diapers. We were lucky enough to have generous family and friends who bought us these fancy pants (since they can be on the pricey side).

In making the wool diaper covers I was preparing for the possibility that we might not be gifted any fancy diapers. In that case we would have to use the more cost friendly pre-fold cloth diapers that require a water resistant covering. There have been times when we ran out of the pocket diapers and had to use the pre-folds as a back up. Despite my initial skepticism, the wool covers work unbelievably well. The amazing thing about wool is that it repels water and absorbs moisture at the same time! If you want to read more about the wonders of wool, you can read more here.

Here is Q sporting a pair of diaper covers made from a repurposed wool sweater that I felted in the washing machine:

The crocheted cover and the knitted cover were also a success! The crocheted ones are still a bit large, but he’s already outgrown the Vanilla cover, so I’m in the process of knitting a larger size.

-c.

We’re hitting that time of year when the garden starts getting out of control. The bugs, the weeds, and the heat are in full force. It’s also about the time everyone realizes that they didn’t allow enough room for everything they planted to grow to their full potential. Gone are the days of neat and tidy beds. Mother nature laughs at our feeble attempts to keep her in check.

But with all that said, it’s also the time when the garden looks full of life! We have been harvesting salad greens for a good month or more now and we’re just about reaching the end of this batch. As the days grow longer and hotter, eventually the greens will get bitter and go to seed. Our greens are right on the verge of becoming inedible (some of them have already turned bitter) so we’re considering pulling them out and planting another round.

This was the lettuce around mid-June:

This is the lettuce now:

This year we planted a few rows of Mesclun but we weren’t too happy with it. Last year it was great, but I don’t know if we just planted and harvested it too late in the season or what. But there was something in the mix that got really bitter. Plus, there is arugula in the mix which normally we love. But it grows so much faster than the rest of the greens and gets tough and extremely peppery if left to grow too long. It can really make or break a salad. Next year I think we are just going to stick to the individual varieties instead of the mixes.

-c.

I’ve been hearing about Freezer Paper stencils for awhile now, but never got around to trying it. This is one of those crafts that sounds fun but time consuming, so I’ve always just filed it away in my brain for a later date. A little while ago, I came across the blog Ambrosia Girl and her great tutorial for Freezer Paper stencils. She made cute shirts for her adorable boys, and this inspired me to make shirts for my nieces and nephew for their birthdays. Using their initials, I made the designs on the computer then printed them onto the Freezer Paper. Of course, I made them super complicated so the cutting part took some time. But in the end, I think they turned out pretty well. This is a great way to make one-of-a-kind prints. Here is F in his shirt:

I wasn’t able to get a picture of the girls, but these are the designs that I made:

Hopefully, I’ll be able to get a shot of the girls in their shirts before they grow out of them!

-c.

We considered growing our own garlic, but my dad grows enough to feed a small country. This is from his garden, isn’t it beautiful? I’m continually amazed by the whole growing process, put some seeds in the ground and out comes delicious things to eat!

–c.

Andrew and Q are still sleeping (hooray!) so I figured I’d get in a quick post before the boys wake. This morning I was going through photos and found this little project that I never posted about.

I made this little guy for my friend’s son’s first birthday. The pattern is from Ana Paula Rimoli’s Amiguri Two! and he turned out pretty dang cute!

–c.

We’re bit late in posting about the garden this year. But if any of you were wondering about our little patch of veggies, we‘re happy to say that things are going well! We applied much of what we learned last year and think the garden will be even more productive.

A few of the main changes are:

1. We are sharing the garden with 6 other people (same as last year) but instead of one huge plot we divided up the garden and each couple has their own plot. Last year we were a bit ambitious and didn’t anticipate how much work it would be. I think everyone was a bit overwhelmed. The smaller plots are so much more manageable.

2. There is one plot in the center of the garden of lettuces/greens. The salad greens were the one thing that everyone LOVED last year and it worked out so well. We planted 1/3 of the amount we planted last year and still have a ton!

3. Deer fencing has (so far) been our savior! Last year the deer pretty much wrecked us and discouraged us to the point of giving up. There really is no point to doing all this work if the deer are just going to eat everything. So we bit the bullet and invested in extending the fence to about 10 feet tall. Only once has a deer tried to get in this season with no casualties to any of our plants! We’re crossing our fingers that the fence continues to deter them.

The images above was the garden a month ago, and this is the garden today:

Crazy, right?

–c.

A while back the screen door on our front porch broke. It slammed against the house and cracked. The wind was angry that day, my friends. I swear, it was the wind. Crystal and I aren’t angry people.

Aside from the crack, the door was in serious need of repair so I fixed it up. For whatever reason the first thought that popped into my head when I thought of screen doors was Tetris. So:

The goal was to not have to buy any wood for this project so I spent many minutes cutting little strips of wood from random 2×4’s and fashioning the molding that frames the opening from other odds and ends. The screened part can be removed so in the future I’m going to make a more “normal” insert. I’ll probably make other non-traditional ones as well. And by non-traditional I mean BurgerTime!

-a.

I just wanted to pop in and say “hello” while Q is taking his nap. It’s officially been almost 4 months since our last post! That’s the longest stretch so far that we’ve gone without posting since the start of this blog. Needless to say, much has happened since you last heard from us. We missed you!

Q is growing by leaps and bounds. He surprises us everyday with some new antic! We have projects that we want to share so keep you eye out for some new posts on the horizon. Until then, enjoy this little video I made of Q from his first 3 months of life. When I was shooting the videos I didn’t have any intention of making anything with it so I shot them pretty small just to save space on my memory card (this is all shot with my little digital camera). So the quality isn’t great, but I had fun editing it. Some of you may have already seen it on my Facebook and Flickr page. The song is “Radar Detector” by Darwin Deez.

Q: 0-3 Months from Crystal Madrilejos on Vimeo.

– c.

He’s here (if you hadn’t figured that from our lack of posts)!

Quil was born happy and healthy on February 23rd and he has been keeping us busy! We will probably be taking a break from posting for a little while, but we’ll be back with lots to share. Three cheers for our little boy!

– a + c

Less than a week until the baby’s due date! Whether baby will be here on said date is the question on everyone’s minds. I think this waiting has to be the worst part of the pregnancy thus far. It’s maddening!

In the meantime, we’ve been trying to keep busy. I’ve had a few projects going because I get more and more restless as the days go by and I can’t seem to focus my energy on just one thing.

I just finished this knitting project a couple days ago, the Vanilla diaper cover, designed by knitter Kelly Brooker. I found the pattern on Ravelry (and if you are a knitter or crocheter and don’t have an account, I highly recommend signing up on this site). You can find a link to the Vanilla pattern, as well as others she has made, on the designer’s website, knit.so.quaint.

I love this pattern. Since I’m relatively new at knitting, I found that Kelly does an amazing job of breaking down the process step-by-step. Not once did I feel overwhelmed or discouraged by my lack of knitting knowledge and I actually ended up learning a ton. She also has instructions for multiple sizes and the pattern costs only about $6.00 for a pdf download. I used Lion’s Brand Yarn: Fisherman’s Wool in the color Oatmeal. I’m thinking of starting another one, you know, while we’re waiting!

–c.