Comfort

Comfort food is what I need right now so you can't beat a bit of Friday baking. In the last few days my energy levels have really dropped and my hunger levels have gone up. I suppose this is normal in the last few weeks of pregnancy. It's ok, I'm eating lots of fruit and veg and healthy stuff as well as stuffing myself with cakes!

I'm still trying to work my way through my to do lists but I have to admit that progress has slowed considerably. Little F is so full of energy and a lot of chat that when he goes down for his nap in an afternoon I tend to crash out on the sofa rather than get on with things which was the norm up to a week ago. I find this very frustrating as I really want to be organised. However, I did find the energy to do some sewing this afternoon while crashed. All the knitted squares are complete and I'm slowly stitching them all together. I managed a row this afternoon so now have four rows done. Three more to go. I keep looking at it and imagining it wrapped around my tiny new born. Can't believe how close that is now. I have also been working on another little picture for the nursery to go with the other two. This one is just simple felt ABC and 123. They're all cut out but need to be hand stitched to the linen. I'll show you when I'm done. 

Have a lovely weekend.

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The View Through.......

I used to hate the view when I opened our front door. Now I love it. It used to include our very horrid kitchen and dull magnolia walls in the hall. Now I'm greeted by our vibrant yellow hall walls and the view through to our lovely new kitchen. I look up the stairs and see our photo gallery that is taking shape(sorry, I've cropped all but the very edge of that off the picture) and the jolly blue gingham curtains I've just completed. I've even grown quite fond of the twirly 1960s banister now. Somehow it sort of works in this house and with the yellow walls. 

I had a dream of living in a home decorated in shades of elegant neutrals but I've really realised with this house that you have to listen to the building. It was painted all over in neutral cream when we moved in and after living with it for a year we realised that it just didn't work that well. It's a 1960s house with no interesting architectural details and  huge windows that let in a lot of light. It was crying out for some colour. When we first started rolling on this yellow I did have a moment of mild panic. It looked unbelievably bright. But now it is finished and we have pictures and curtains up it just makes me so happy. 

You'll see from the above photo that there is some neutral going on. We've painted the living room in a Dulux shade called white chiffon but we do have a feature wall in the dining end of the room that is a deep cherry red. Despite the fact that the walls are painted in there, it's still a work in progress so I won't give you a look at that just yet. You'll see that the skirting boards are still the hideous orange wood we inherited and we're living with the horrid blue curtains that the previous owner left behind. The woodwork will get done in bits I suspect(unless S has a fit of energy during half term!) and we don't have the budget for curtains for now unless I can find some super bargain fabric or cheap but lovely ready made curtains on line. 

I'm very happy with my little kitchen now. I love to spend time in here cooking and baking. We decided to go for colour in here too as the units are neutral. I initially picked out a blue that was almost the exact colour of my cornishware collection but then decided it was too deep and was going to make the room too dark. This is perhaps the smallest window in the house and as the kitchen is north facing I didn't want it to feel dark or cold so we plumped for a paler shade of but still with the same tone as the Cornishware. I'm really happy with how it has turned out and I love the contrast of the red gingham blind against the blue. Are you getting the fact that I love gingham? I really do. I'd have it at every window if I could get away with it. In fact I'd quite like red and white in the living room but in a much bigger check. Something like a 2" square if I could get it. I haven't run this past lovely S yet though and somehow I'm thinking that he wouldn't be up for that idea. He's definitely getting better at accepted my taste but we've still had a number of 'discussions'. For example he thinks that our bedroom is too feminine and girly. It's really not. I'll share some pictures of that soon and you can let me know what you think. So I'm going to slowly work on the idea of the large gingham check in the living room.

Back to the kitchen. Here's the view from the door. Well at least some of it anyway. The view to the right was looking a lot less tidy but I was feeling impatient to write this post so you're just getting the tidy views for today! Can you spot our little 1960s serving hatch? It's still wearing the orange pine look as well so needs a coat of paint when we do the woodwork through on the other side. I hated this feature when we first looked around the house. 'How naff' I thought. But I have to say it is absolutely fab. I couldn't live without it. Because the kitchen is too small for a table we use the dining table through on the other side all the time. This hatch saves so much carrying. When preparing a meal I just put everything in the hatch then walk through hands free to collect it from the other side. And clearing the table at the end of the meal is a breeze. Just pop everything back through the hatch ready to be dealt with sooner or later.  Love it! It's also great for when little F is sitting in his high chair and I need to go through to the kitchen for something. I can still chat to him through the hatch while I'm preparing stuff. Great!

Well I hope you've enjoyed the little wander through my hall and kitchen today. See you later in the week. I'm hoping I might be able to do a baby blanket 'ta da' soon. 

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Playing with colour

I've been having fun this week creating some pictures for babies room. We're all decorated in there now but as we've gone for a neutral off white as we don't know what we're having it does need some brightening. The curtains will be going up in the next few weeks(once I've given my Dad enough time off since his last job!)  and they're off white with a little multi coloured polka dot all over. They're currently in Little F's room but as they match the linings of the moses basket he's going to be getting something new.

I have a load of picture frames that I'd had up in my flat in Kew that haven't found a home since. They all need a fresh coat of paint as they've been stored away and have got a bit scuffed and tired looking so I took four of them and painted two yellow(remains of the paint from our hall)  and two pale green(remains of the paint from our bedroom) 

The fun bit is filling them with some pretty pictures and designs. I had a sort of quilty thing that came with the moses basket that we've never used as in my opinion it would be completely dangerous to put over a baby. I suddenly decided to chop it up and create something new with it. So the fabric on one side, which is the same as the curtains has been cut into flags to add to the bunting I'm making for the room(more of that another day) and the fabric on the other side has been turned into a picture. There was a panel of cream fabric with an embroidery of an Elephant(I think he's called Humphrey) and it was just the right size to fit into the frame. There was rather too much cream above the elephant though so I've sewn a line of buttons above in a mixture of colours picked out from the embroidery. It was super quick and easy to do and looks really cute. The pictures I've taken of it aren't great so I'll wait until it's up on the wall and take a better pic to show you all. 

Next I decided I'd like to do something colourful with hearts and felt. I went through my stash of felt and found a good selection of pretty colours that hopefully don't say boy or girl when mixed together. I'm currently in the process of stitching them to some white linen and they'll be placed in one of the yellow frames. I've got more ideas swishing around involving ABC and 123. Not sure yet whether they will be fabric or felt. 

I'm so enjoying making things for baby. The knitted blanket is well on it's way to being finished. About 4 more squares to go but I've already started stitching it together. I'll share pictures once it's done. As I mentioned there's also bunting in production. 

I would have loved to have done all this kind of thing for little F in the weeks before he was born but his very early arrival and the nervous weeks prior to his arrival meant that we barely had anything organised before he came. Of course I have enjoyed creating his room since but it's not quite the same as preparing for a new baby. I suppose I am almost treating my preparations for this baby the way that most people do for their first and I'm really loving it. 

Have a fantastic weekend and I'll see you next week. 

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Little Corners

A tiny corner of our kitchen including new sweet calendar from Belgium and lovely Cath Kidston teapot.

Birthday Treats

Sorry for the little unexpected break. I started writing a post last week and either my computer or blogger were misbehaving. Not sure which but either way I got frustrated and gave up!

I said I'd share some pictures of our trip to Belgium. It seems rather a while ago now. Two weeks ago actually but now lovely S is back at work the holidays do seem like a bit of a distant memory. 

We had such a lovely time. It's no secret that S and I hope to live in this lovely Country one day. So few people seem to know just how lovely it is and we're happy for it to stay that way as it is quiet and unspoilt. So pretty and the people are so friendly. We stayed in our favourite place, Ieper

(known to most as Ypres) but stopped off in Brugge on the way. Little F had a great time too. He absolutely loved going on the ferry. He went on one three times last year but was too young to appreciate it. But this time he was beyond excited! 

As for my Birthday, I was a very lucky girl. As well as the trip to Belgium lovely S also bought me tickets to see 'The Hairy Bikers' with my Sister next month. I'm so looking forward to it as I love them. I will be 35 weeks pregnant but he has booked me an aisle seat just in case and I will take a cushion with me for extra comfort. I'm just a little worried that they may make me laugh too much! But at least we're seeing them not in our town but in the one where my Hospital is so if any mishaps happen I will be close for a quick whizz to the hospital! 

I also received a number of lovely Cath goodies. The deep blue floral back contains a lovely rain coat from my Mum and Dad. See it here. I absolutely love it but won't be wearing it until after baby arrives. The spotty bag was from my friend Nicki and it will be getting it's first outing when I go into hospital for baby. I've got a number of mini bottles of shampoo, shower gel etc that will go nicely inside.

I also received a number of vouchers for John Lewis, Next and M+S. I'll save the latter two I think to treat myself to some new clothes when I get my old figure back again. My Sister-in-law gave me this fab book. Is everyone else loving The Great British Bake off as much as me? It's one of the few things I go out of the way to watch on TV. This book doesn't disappoint. It is full of fab recipes. In each section they show a fairly simple recipe followed by more complicated ones including a show stopper. There are recipes that the contestants have cooked and also ones by Paul and Mary. It's full of gorgeous photos and has that vintage feel that the set on the show has. My In-laws bought me a selection of new backing sheets and trays that I had requested so with the Autumn and Winter on the way I'm all set for some snuggling baking for my lovely family.

I'm busy working my way through my 'baby to do' list. It's going fairly well so far. I'll write a post soon about what I've been up to. 

See you soon. 

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Nearly here....

......my favourite season is nearly with us. I've got lots to share, some lovely Birthday presents and our recent quick trip to Belgium. But for now I've got a very yucky lurgy which has left me feeling drained so I'll be back in a few days.

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