where we are living...

24 June 2012

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So this is the flat we moved to this spring. Its rented and its in East Dulwich {south east London}, a Victorian semi-detached, ground floor flat with garden too. Its a little bit bigger than our last flat but not much - it still only has one bedroom, so our babe will have to squeeze in somewhere.
The enamel bucket next to the cupboard {above} is my new nappy bin! I have a few more baby stuffs in that corner, waiting for the autumn.

 
Our bedroom is blue, which we initially hated, its like a baby blue, yuck! But now that we have put our things in there...its kind of grown on me. We'll hopefully only be living here for a year as we'd like to buy a place of our own if we ever find anything nice.

 
I have a HUGE maternity pillow under that duvet {below} which is bigger than me and Plimsoll thinks it is for her.

Husbondo's corner...

So that's it! I would show you the kitchen and bathroom but they are a bit messy ; )
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DIY baby - part 4

14 June 2012

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Hello! I've been covering some boxes in paper - like y'do.
We had these boxes {from Ikea} for donkeys years in the draw at work...I gave them a bit of a face lift with some wrapping paper. I'm going to use them for storing some vintage bits and bob in.


 Husbondo Nao, has made a brilliant tiny rucksack from tweed and leather...


....aaaaaahhhhhh! it even has a little detachable lead. Its going to look great on our kiddo : )
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DIY baby - part 3

10 June 2012

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Are you getting bored of this yet? ...well, anyways, I made a couple of more things today in my
shed. A long sleeve tshirt with Liberty print pocket, and a kimono style jacket made from traditional Japanese print cotton wrapping cloth. The print is meant to be fish and fishing nets. Its lined with a green/blue cotton, have no idea what to call this colour...but its more green than in these pics - Prussian Blue maybe?

Anyhow, its quite heavy and outdoory, so I hope it will come of use {I spent the best part of my sunday making it so the babe IS going to wear it whatever}

I will try and post something not baby related next...but I have to say, I'm pretty much consumed with preparations even though we got ages to go yet!! I think if I don't keep busy, I'm gonna freak out at the concept that I am reproducing a human and that its got to come out some how...hmmm... think I'll concentrate on the sewing instead!
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DIY baby - part 2

9 June 2012

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Not much to show for today's efforts to be honest. I thought I'd have a break from sewing this weekend, and try some ideas for a mobile for the tot's cot. I had a bit of inspiration from a birthday card that we saw in the morning, and I decided to have a go at making a seagull to hang from the mobile above the cot.

I drew a rough outline of what I thought a seagull looks like. Cut out two at the same time...
and stick them together and then you can bend down the wings like thus...


and after a splodge of paint, it looked like this...


but I think I'll make a mobile some other way, as maybe seagulls aren't colourful enough for babies. I'll make something out of felt instead...hmm...I'll see.


anyways, even though this seagull project required my bum to be on the sofa the whole time, it still tired me out for the rest of the day.
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DIY baby - part 1

6 June 2012

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This is the first part of many DIY baby post I hope to write. Like our wedding, I find that a way of coping with dramatic life changing events, is to take part in the production {making stuff} which I find strangely therapeutic and I might even go as far as saying, helping me to 'bond' with the squirmy thing in my belly. I now feel that it is not an eel, it is actually going be a human.

Over the bank holiday {mon & tue} I locked myself away in my shed, snipping up old clothes and tiny bits of Liberty print fabric, to clothe the little naked one that will hopefully pop out this autumn.

first attempt was some shoes made from herringbone wool tweed {off cuts from our campervan upholstery} Lined with Liberty Print. I got the pattern for the shoes from the Internet, but I'm not that happy with the shape, so I might make some more and play around with the pattern a bit more.

I made some wee trousers out of some cashmere jumper that had previously had the chop, so there wasn't much to work with! I used the cuffs sewn together to make the waist band which I reckon will be more comfy than elastic. I have no idea if these will fit, I just made it up from memory, but I seem to remember that newborns are mostly nappy shaped.

Then an ickle t-shirt. this didn't go to plan, its always the simple ones that require a lot of faffing. In the end I left the edges unhemed and I quiet like it...so I'll make some more like this but a better shape. I made it out of one of my vests that is really thin cotton jersey type fabric...REALLY stretchy, thus very difficult to hem.

I made a jumper and a pair of trousers {slightly bigger this time to accommodate some growth!} this was my very fine knit cotton navy blue jumper which was destined for the charity shop. I re-used the ribbed parts to make the neck and cuffs. It looks a bit like a mini Guernsey up close. Its very stretchy also and has a drawstring waist.


So that's about it for now! I do hope the little one appreciates my efforts...but it was good fun anyways.
Apart from the shoes, I didn't use any patterns, mostly because I cant be bothered I had limited size of scrap material to work with, but the trousers were REALLY easy to make and are just two pieces sewn together basically.

To recap...the good things about making your own baby clothes are:
A: you can re-cycle your old clothes and your kiddo gets to wear something that you used to wear.
B: you can have cashmere baby clothes, instead of paying £60 for something it's only going to wear for a couple of months.
C: well worn clothes are usually nice and soft from squillions of cycles in the wash.
D: an over-whelming sense of self satisfaction.

The bad things about making your own baby clothes are:
A: they might not fit.
B: It will probably do a poo in, or puke up on, your hard work.

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