What I am up to

Blanket I made for a boy at Alex's school that has Autism

So, it has been several weeks and the weighted blanket is still working wonders for Alex. He is still off of  Melatonin and he goes to sleep within 10 minutes of laying down at night. My husband has nerve pain in his legs and he even borrows the blanket during the day sometimes to sleep with when his leg pain is keeping him awake and he says it helps him a lot. I did some research and weighted blankets have shown to help not only children on the autism spectrum, but also people suffering from Restless Leg Syndrome, anxiety, depression, or people who were abused. Some nursing homes use light ones on many of their patients with good results. I am definitely a big supporter of the weighted blanket!

Blanket I made for Isabella.

I have decided to spend some of my extra time and resources this summer making weighted blankets for families who might not otherwise be able to have them. I feel it is a very good cause, and I want to do what I can to help every child have the tools he needs. Right now I am working on a blanket for Rick's grandma who has restless legs syndrome. It is over half way done and will be my fourth blanket I have made! If you know of a family who has a child who might need one of these blankets, please contact me!

What I Did With My Spare Time Today

So, I injured myself so bad in that body shaper class that I can hardly walk. I am currently unable to go to the gym, lift Alex, or even have him sit in my lap without wincing in pain. Now that you are done smugly giggling at my pain. Lets talk about what I CAN do. I CAN use that time to be two days ahead of my homework schedule, have finished reading all of my library books, caught up on all of my tv shows, and now today I finished Bella's quilt top. It kind of looks like it was made just in time for Valentine's day.

 Isn't it a beauty? It is twin sized. She wants her blanket weighted like Alex's so I will have to go buy more beads before I can quilt this one. If anyone has suggestions on cheap places to get those beads, please fill me in! I have done okay so far thanks to coupons, but it isn't a cheap habit. I eventually want to start making weighted blankets and donating them to centers, schools, counselors, or families who might not get them otherwise. They are expensive and not everyone has the skills, tools, or time to make them for themselves. I think that is what I want to spend my time doing this summer. I already have one family at least I have promised to make a blanket for.

Weighted Blanket, Part II

Okay, I worked on this blanket all day yesterday and still did not get the binding on! But other than that I am done, so we will call it successful. 

The first thing I did after having finished the quilt top was smooth out the back I chose on the floor or other large surface.

Now it is time to add the batting. Here is the batting I chose. I also chose to use two layers of batting so that it wouldn't "feel" like there were 6 pounds of beads in there, but this also makes for an even hotter blanket, so I don't know if I will do that for my second blanket or not. 

Spreading the batting out over the backing is the next step. It is very hard because you match the corners up and then you have to try and keep the backing from wrinkling up under the backing. It can be very annoying. 

You then lay your top out over the other two layers (much easier) and pin it down everywhere. You sew three of the four sides, then sew lines up quilt on the seams vertically so that you have 10 long lines going up where your squares were.

Next you measure out your beads. I had 6 pounds or 96 ounces and I had 130 squares in my quilt. This means I need to divide 96 ounces by 130. This gave me about .74 ounces per square. I have a kitchen scale and I just alternated between .7 and .8 ounces in my squares since it doesn't go that precise, using a cup to pour in. I also shoved a broom handle down the holes so it would open them up a bit more.

Once you have beads in all 13 holes you shake them down to the bottom and I would like to suggest using straight pins to try to keep the beads where they belong. You need to sew a line along the entire row, horizontally, where your squares ended on your quilt top. The beads will try to move up on you and I will be honest. I broke 6 sewing machine needles making this quilt, and also my floor is covered in stray ones that kept flying out. It was frustrating.

After you have sewed the horizontal line, pull the pins out, and then repeat filling the next 13 squares, and sewing the horizontal lines, until the entire quilt is full of beads. This will take much longer then you might imagine. I think the pins holding the beads in place will help though. I didn't think to do that until my last row. So much for brain power. The last step is the binding, which I have not done yet because the beads were secure enough and Alex couldn't wait to sleep with his. On the bright side, he took no melatonin last night and was asleep in less than 10 minutes for the first time in several months! 

Even his sister thought it was comfy!! 

Weighted Blanket...Step 1

Today I finished the first step(s) in making the weighted blanket for Alex.
These instructions are for a blanket where the final product will be 40X52 and the weight of the blanket will be 6 pounds.

Today I cut out 130 4 1/2 X 4 1/2 squares and sewed them together, lining up the seams with straight pins. The final product is 10 squares X 13 squares big. The entire process took 3 - 4 hours.

I chose Batman material for the front since Alex is fixated with Batman, and I have chosen to use a solid piece of fabric for the back that is a very soft flannel since he also only likes "soft" blankets. Hopefully I will have time to work on it some more tomorrow.

It Has Begun!

Today I got the stuff to start making Alex's weighted blanket. I used some coupons and ended up spending about $25 on the supplies, I bought the Polly Pellets and Batman fabric, the rest of the fabric is actually leftovers I got out of my storage box in the garage. We are only going to the therapist this week and then we are taking three weeks off so hopefully that gives me some time to get him a weighted blanket and weighted vest made and see how it helps Alex out.

Also, the therapist is recommending we buy a cuddle swing for our home. She tried it with Alex in the office, and it seemed to help some. Before she tried it he was running into walls and stuff, and he calmed down afterwards. Have any of you tried any of these things or do you know someone who has? Any suggestions/advice? We are only a couple of months into our life with Asperger's, so it is all pretty new to us. Here are the swings I am talking about. One is the actual one from his therapist and the other is a similar product from IKEA that is much cheaper, but a bunch of the comments say that it works well for children with autism and sensory needs.

Little House In The Big Woods - Chapter 5

Spelling:


Deserved
Noisy
Sorrowfully
Solemn
Knelt
Ceiling

Vocabulary:


Skins:
Sorrowfully:
Solemn:
Knelt:
Fidget:

Questions:


What are the white bears Pa talks about in this chapter, do you know?

Why do you think the girls weren't allowed to play in certain ways on Sundays?

In the bible the day of rest also began at sundown the night before and this Day of the Lord had a special name. Do you know what that name was?

Did you know what naughty thing grandpa and his brothers were going to do even before it happened? How did you know?

Word Search

PE:


Go sledding (Weather permitting)

Home-Ec:


Stitch a sampler. I got a cheap cross stitch kit from JoAnn's to teach my little girl with.

Make a doll dress. 18' Doll Dress pattern


Science:


River Otter Printout

Art- Sewing Purses!

I have been teaching a sewing class at our homeschool co-op for weeks now and yesterday we finally finished our purses! I am so proud to share what these girls have done with you! We got the patterns from a book called I made it Myself which has tons of cute craft ideas for young girls and teenagers...

 

Aren't they all so adorable? Most of these girls are around 8 years old, they did a great job!

Busy Little Sewing Bee

<p style="text-align:left;">Yesterday I was so productive, I feel that I deserve a medal. I am really trying to streamline my "to-do" list and add a few more thing that I actually enjoy "to-doing" onto it, and yesterday I finally got that done!</p>
Every since we saw the latest Alice in Wonderland for my birthday last year I have been in love with the Red "Um" dress that Alice wears in that movie. I told everyone "That is the next dress I will make myself!" Flash forward 7 months and I wasn't lying because I haven't made myself a thing in all of this time. Well yesterday I decided to finally get this dress started so I can wear it to a Halloween party I am going to.

I don't have the luxury of just losing myself in a project like I used to so I had to make a list of things to accomplish each day, not just for my project, but for the other things I have going on to.

So here is how yesterdays list read:

go to church

go to Jo Anns and buy ribbon/tulle

read 10 pages of Art History book, chapter 10

Finish section 2.3 of my math book

finish folding/putting away laundry

finish the curtains I started for baby Aubrey

cut out pattern pieces for red dress

pin the ribbons to the boddess

How it went:

Well, I got all of my tasks done pretty much! I didn't quite finish Aubrey's curtain because I ran out of hook-and-loop tape 2/3s of the way through, and that made me mad, but I am so close because I just have to add that last little section and then pull the cord through the curtain because it is a balloon style curtain. Here is a picture:

I really wanted to finish that curtain before I started my own project because otherwise I might never get it done and Aubrey will be moving into her own room in just a few short weeks because she is getting too big for her bassinet! I want it all ready for her.

Here is a sketch I made up of what I think my dress will look like based on the fabrics I bought.  (A very rough sketch, I have never tried to sketch a dress before)

The next step was to cut out all of the pieces from my main fabric, which will be the red fabric:

And my last step for yesterday was to pin down the ribbons to my boddess which I will be having to sew on by hand!

Sooooooooo, I accomplished a lot yesterday, and I actually got all of this done before midnight. I would have made it to bed at a reasonable time if curiosity hadn't gotten the best of me and led to me watching the show "Sister Wives" until 1:30 in the morning (All Megan's fault). At any rate, go me!