Flat folds and Pockets and Turkey Legs

I got a box of goodies from a friend yesterday.  In it were a few different styles of all in one cloth diapers, inserts, two sizes of wet bags (one for the diaper bag and one to hang on the door), and the weirdest thing I never would've thought of that makes fabulous sense!  It's a sprayer attachment for the toilet.  It's like a hand-held bidet, but another marketed use for it is to spray out dirty cloth diapers into the toilet so you can just flush it instead of rising it down the sink or tub.  What an idea??  

Today, since we got our last refund from the electric folks (we're going into a trial billing phase while they re-evaluate usage, which means no extra checks... boo, BUT!  It also means no bills, so I can keep the house as cool as I want it this summer at least), I went to Hobby Lobby and Wal-mart in hopes of scoring some fabric to attempt my own diaper covers at the very least.  I'd like to line them, and have a few all-in-ones, too, especially since my friend was nice enough to send me the three different ones she uses as visual aids for assembling them.  

I've also been looking at flat folds, because they are supposed to be much easier to get clean, more versatile in sizing, and in purpose of application.  A flat fold is just a square of fabric between 24 and 27 inches that's folded creatively to make a diaper.  

http://fernandfaerie.com/sewing_flats.html has pictures and instructions of how to do the origami fold

http://pepperplaceblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/how-to-fold-flat-using-jo-fold.html shows something called a Jo fold.  

There are others, but they tend to get more complicated from there.  I could do either one of these two in my sleep, which is a high probability, unless I find a good deal on PUL somewhere.  I was going to get some at Hobby Lobby today, but for the price, even with a 40% off coupon, I wanted to at least be able to get colors I like.  B had the cute idea of making black ones and embroidering Jolly Rogers on them.  I can't put a Jolly Roger on pastel green or baby blue.  It's just... well, it's just not right.  That'd be damn near sacrilegious.  It's $10 a yard at Fabric.com, which is so far the only place I've found black PUL.  If my measurements are right, I'd only need around 2.5 yards to make several covers, and if I wanted to line them, an equal amount of lining material, but the lining material won't be $10 a yard.  JoAnn's has an annual Black Friday sale of $1/yd flannel, which would be perfect, since flannel is snuggly soft and absorbent.  If I line them, I might as well get a bit more fabric and do an insert to make an all in one.  Then I'd have options:  it could be used as a cover for a flat fold, or with the flat fold and the insert for double absorbency, or with just the insert as an all in one.  

I did get 4 yards of 90" wide muslin material for $1.37/yd at Wal-mart today.  If I make the diapers 24" square that gives me 21 diapers for under $25.  I will probably still buy disposables for road trips, but a small pack of disposables here and there won't break the bank.  

Now, since most of this day was spent at an OB appointment and the store, I think I better get off my butt and get something constructive done... like figure out dinner.  I haven't forgotten about the turkey leg recipe, either!  

(Yes, actually I did... but I remembered!  That's the point.)

Basically, I used the same recipe as Pioneer Woman's Caveman Pops, but instead of using the spice blend she used, I used Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning.  Also, she mentions that she pours her brine over ice, but says you can just cool it in the fridge.  Well, I chose to cool mine in the fridge, and it turned out WAY salty.  I mean WAY salty.  So, I think that when she poured hers over ice it diluted the brine to a degree that is not accounted for in her recipe.  I would either tone down the salt in the brine, or use a seasoning mix that has no additional salt in it (which Tony Chachere's does) to make it less salty.  One last note - her cooking times are short.  I have a regular gas oven, no convection or anything fancy.  I don't know if she has a convection oven or not, but her cooking time did not bring my turkey legs up to temperature or get them done all the way to the bone.  If you're like me and paranoid about the doneness of your poultry, I'd add another 15-20 minutes of cook time onto the second cooking phase at 300degrees, or maybe increase the temperature to 350.  

B loved them, but agreed they were on the salty side, so next time I try these, I'm going to have to take that into account.  But, a pack of three cost around $4, so for $8 I had enough turkey legs for three meals for the two of us.  I froze the other 4 for reheating later.  My December freezer is getting nicely stocked, so hopefully I won't have to cook much at all for the first few weeks after Little B gets here.