Red Baby Quilt is Finished

I needed something to do with all the leftover fabric from Andrew's bedroom, so of course I made a patchwork quilt. There wasn't enough for a full size quilt, so I made a baby one, which was as big as I had enough fabric to do. The theme is red and yellow.

The fabric from his curtains and bunting all make an appearance. I had to buy some poly-cotton for the backing fabric as I didn't have a big enough piece, but that was about £4 a metre, so all in all this quilt was a bargain.

I'm pleased with how it looks in the room, really adds a splash of colour. And even better, this is one of the only baby blankets I have that he doesn't seem to be able to entangle himself in.

Nursery Bunting

Baby Andrew's bedroom is finally finished (6 months after he was born, better late than never). I had fun making some of the finishing touches like the curtains and bunting. The room itself is quite neutral as I don't like to assign colours based on gender, so I went for a little more colour in the accessories. Here is the finished bunting.

I really hope the boy is into rockets and space and engineering in general as that is where the room seems to have gone! We got given a rocket cushion by my mother and I thought it was so cute that's what I based the bunting on.

There are loads of how to make bunting tutorials out there so I won't add another. Most of them tell you to carefully cut around a paper template, which I am too lazy to do! I just draw the triangles on to the fabric using a ruler and dissolvable ink pen, and cut the fabric that way. The only big tip I would insist on is mark your ribbon at regular intervals, unless you want the flags to have random gaps between them. Trust me, it is almost impossible to judge this by eye! I have made some wonky bunting in my time and found out the hard way.

I'm also making a patchwork blanket with the remnants of all the fabric I used for the curtains and bunting. It will be as big as the remnant fabric allows, I'm not spending money on new fabric for it. Hopefully I will get that finished before another 6 months flies by! Here's a sneaky peak.

Nursery Time

Most people I know had their baby's nursery decorated and sorted long before the baby arrived. Not so in this house! In my defence, we did a LOT of home renovations while I was pregnant with Andrew, but our house is such a project there were much more pressing needs, like my own bedroom and a room (any room!) to live in downstairs. I was up a ladder painting beams at 7 and a half months pregnant, so it's not as though we took it easy. And since we always planned on having the baby sleep in our room for at least the first 6 months, we weren't in any huge rush to complete his bedroom. We did the dining room when he was 2-3 months old as I wanted an easy floor to clean for when he starts weaning. Priorities!

So as it happens, we've only just gotten around to doing Andrew's bedroom. It isn't a terribly in-depth job - it just involves stripping back, plastering, painting, skirting boards and door trims and some carpet. That's pretty good by our standards (please see aforementioned beams). At least this room wasn't full of the dreaded artex (stucco) like so many others were. I'm pretty excited about decorating the baby's room as you can always have a bit more fun in a child's bedroom. We're sticking with a neutral wall colour, but I'm having fun picking out the little finishing touches like curtains and lampshades. We've gone with bright, light, yellow walls, and I'm thinking red for the little extras. Here are few ideas I found on Etsy which I hope to incorporate. Click on the picture to take you to the maker.

We're not spending loads of money buying new furniture, 

but I hope to spruce up some existing cabinets with new handles.

I'm quite liking the idea of red chevrons.

More chevrons! On the curtains this time!

I love the idea of a chalk board on the wall, although I'm not convinced it won't encourage him to draw all over the walls. I did that loads as a kid! Hopefully having a framed one will make it obvious where he is supposed to stop. Never helped my parents though. My childhood speciality was painting radiators. 

We'll need some pegs. I'll probably end up painting some wooden ones red, 

but if I had infinite budget, how beautiful would this be? 

And finally, some bunting, since I love a bit of bunting.

I've got plenty of ideas buzzing around my head now. 

It remains to be seen what I actually end up doing!