Baby Shower Makings 5.0

I am absolutely loving this season in my life where everyone seems to be having babies! I love that I have the skills to make a gift that will hopefully be treasured and that is totally made with love!

One of my very good friends had her baby shower last weekend and I have been working away at this crochet ripple blanket for a good few weeks. It is a large bassinet/pram/floor sized blanket and since Baby is gender unknown then the light blue will work with either pink or blue!

I used Esther yarn from Lincraft and used a 5.5mm crochet hook. The ripple pattern is one where you do 2x3dc at the points and 2x dc3tog in the valleys with 3 dc between them. That should make sense if you can crochet! I can't remember which pattern I used but it is one of my favourites because the points are more defined.

I also used the leftover yarn and some extras to crochet this little guy. It is a pattern I have used about 4 or 5 times now and I love it. The limbs are long and lanky and great for little hands to grab.

I can't wait to meet this new baby and see my beautiful friend become a mum! It is such a great time and I hope the little bundle enjoys their presents!

xx

Hallway Renovation

When we bought our house 2 years ago, the first thing I wanted to do was paint the hallway. Just one look at the before photo would convince anyone to agree with me. Well 2 years went by and I grew used to it. 'Used to' is not to be confused with 'like' however. 

My initial idea was to wallpaper one side of the hallway with this awesome vintage map wallpaper I bought 4 rolls of but we didn't have enough wallpaper, and once we got painting it was much better.

It took a while to decide the colour scheme of the house, we wanted to go neutral to make it more 'sellable' and also to keep the cottage-y feel while still brightening up the place.
We chose Dulux Haast for the door trim and Dulux Half Haast for the walls. The ceiling is just plain white. Our whole house will be painted like this as we slooooowly move room by room.

For some reason, the floor boards in the hallway haven't been polished like the rest of the house. We may do them eventually, but now wasn't the time. Also the storage/linen cupboard (only one in the house) will have some bi-fold doors eventually to hide the chaos!

The bathroom and toilet were once two separate rooms but they are now combined. The previous owner didn't make the old toilet doorway flush with the wall (pun intended) - he just left it recessed.
Dave made some rimu shelving to fill the alcove and it is now a clever bookshelf.

Alcove on the left...

...Filled with books!

The storage/linen cupboard

In all its cluttered glory!

 The purple trim and green walls needed 3 coats of paint to cover their assault on the eyes! And the front door is not staying blue!!

Our Vintage Frame Gallery Wall has been a dream for a good few years. We decided to spray the frames black to keep it cohesive and mixed and matched them with some modern prints too. I am stoked with how it turned out and I get to see it every time I walk out of our room.

Once Addison is older we will probably put a little hall table in the corner with a nice green house plant, but for now we are enjoying the uncluttered space!

What do you think? Are we making an improvement on the house? Any tips or suggestions for our next room?

xx

Windmill Quilt From Vintage Sheets

Ok guys, it's been a while. This blog of mine is always on my mind and I have been secret squirreling away a whole bunch of projects that never get shown. All these little projects seem to take up so much time (along with the trials of a toddler, trying to be a good wife and making sure I get at least a little bit of me time once the kidlet is in bed). But I just did a browse of my camera and found a bunch of old (and new) projects I did manage to take photos of and I will set about sharing them over the next wee while.

First up is one of my recent completions. I had been helping a friend with her first baby quilt and it sparked an idea in my head for a quilt. As you have probably noticed I collect vintage floral sheets and use them in loads of projects. I love the mix between brights and pastels, large and small scale patterns. I also love how they look with white as the main background colour. I found a couple of brand new white sheets at an op shop for $1 each and along with the vintage sheets and an old duvet inner that had seen better days, I had the makings of a quilt. For a total of $2. Score!

This quilt made me think quite a bit. Literally. I had to do a bunch of math to figure out how big to cut each section of the windmill. I can't quite remember but I think I wanted the finished squares to be around 30cm each. So taking into account seam allowances and the rest of it, my brain turned to mush.

But after cutting and sewing, basting and wrestling with quilting a big quilt on a small machine, making some rainbow binding from the sheets and hand-stitching it on, it was finished. It aint a small task!

I really enjoy making quilts, I learn more each time and I try to do something different as well. This one will be destined for Addison's Big Girl Bed when she eventually gets to that point. But for now it keeps Dave and I warm while watching whatever TV series we are up to. (Currently Elementary)