nappy rash...

open air nappy changing, with a long break in between nappies! thanks to air, sunshine, caldesene and bepanthen, her nappy rash cleared up quite fast, it's the first time she's had it (at 7.5 months) so i know i can count myself lucky...

happy fathers' day!

spray paint might work?

i 'found' this lamp in a photo from germany, it might be the right kind of green to go with the new throw? with a bit of spray paint to cover up the chrome bits i think it would be quite a cool lamp!

Strawberry Buns

last week's, with a butter-cream cheese icing (the butter/strawberry/icing sugar mix didn't combine, so i added philadelphia, yum!

today's, this time i didn't give in and kept beating the icing with the liquidiser until it turned into perfectly pink butter icing (thanks jo!). then i added some more strawberry pieces, blitzed it briefly, done!

Plans for the bedroom

After buying something purple for the first time in years I've chickened out of the plan for a soft purple feature wall, I am too scared of purple!! Instead I will go for a (maybe even scarier) purple and green combination! The cushions might lighten up a little if i wash them a few times and should nearly match the curtains then. The material for the throw has flecks for purple in it, and I love the fact that it will be handwoven in Ireland. It's a bit of an investment piece but I think it's timeless, and such good quality, for the same price as most synthetic bedspreads! Unfortunately the weaver can only do 140cm width on his loom, but he will make it 220cm long, so it'll cover the width of our king size (153cm) bed nicely. It'll be a few weeks before it's going to be finished, so I have time to look for a nice watercolour or painting of lupins or other purple flowers, which should pull the colours together nicely.

I don't know what it is with me and purple but there are VERY FEW shades of purple that I like in the first place, (it has to be warm and muted, not too pale, not too pink, not too blue...) and I got quite excited when i got the curtains. But I've had the tester tin of paint for the feature wall sitting on my chest of drawers for ages and I just couldn't bring myself to paint the test patch! i think any more than one shade of purple wuld be too much for me!

lemon cup cakes for stitch'n'bitch

yumm...
we sat outside until half eight or so, then it got too cold! it's such a pity, the minute the sun has disappeared behind the house it got chilly. It's something I've noticed in Ireland, even in the middle of a hot day, it's always cold in the shade, it's not like that in Germany, as far as I remember. I wonder is it latitude, or the fact that it's an island, or is it like that at any coast?

the swing seat, our favourite place at the moment

a few days of sunshine

this place is like a different country! everybody's in a great mood and determined to make the most of the time, i think the day after tomorrow the rain will be back... we went to 2 BBQs at the weekend, had one at home and had another evening of al fresco dining. it's nearly like summer at home!

stitch and bitch birthday

chocolate and peach cake
my friend c made these! how cute! see the letter 'p' that's a hank of embroidery thread? there were balloons at the door, too! nice to get a little attention for a birthday, even though i've pretty much stopped counting!

as you can see, c, who's hosting, is a big emma bridgewater fan!

better bib - success!

yes, it's definitely working! so tonight at stitch and bitch i'll be finishing the edges!

breadsticks for the baby!

i made these with

1 cup water (250ml)
1 tblsp oil
1 tsp dry yeast
1 tsp date syrup (instead of sugar)
1/4 tsp salt
and enough white spelt flour to make dough.

the breadsticks and mini flat breads i baked for 15 min at 200C, but the flat breads could have done with less, they are more like teething biscuits now. the rusks (zwieback) i baked for 20 min at 200C, then cut into slices, then baked again at 100C for about half an hour. (i think i'll have the rusks myself, with milky coffee in the morning!

i know we're not supposed to use salt for babies, but with the amount of salt i put in she could eat the whole lot over a day and a half and just about reach her salt limit. even i couldn't eat that many breadsticks! next time i might actually put 1/2 tsp salt in, they could do with a little more... (she'd never eat that much in 3 days either!!)
the rusks i might make again, with a milkier and sweeter dough.

better bib project....

today emm decided to have some of my carrot soup and destroyed the sleeves of a lovely top, so i decided to try my hand at making a better bib. i made a raglan pattern using one of the tops that are still to big for her for reference. i got some lovely fluffy cupcake tea towels in penneys (aka primark), 2 for 3€, so if i can make 4 bibs out of them, that's not too bad! for the sleeves i'm using an old top of mine, the embroidery actually matches the colours of the tea towel!



the sleeves are deliverately long, so i can roll them up a little, the idea is that they will push up the sleeves underneath it and hence keep them clean! BLW safe!


as the little one is asleep, i just attached two fabric pieces as ties for now, and left the edges unfinished. we'll try it tomorrow morning for breakfast, and if it works well then i'll finish the edges and make ties using bias tape!


i could see these working with slightly puffier sleeves, with elastic in the cuff!

summer is here!

oh dear, those birkenstocks need cleaning... how do you clean suede??

new curtains for emm's room

i am planning to trim the curtain to just below the top of the radiator, or should i leave them long? i was thinking of usingthe leftover fabric for cushions, and the pink and turquoise bird fabric (on top of the trunk) fur either bedlinen for emm (maybe some appliqué on plain white bedlinen?) or also cushions? or to cover a notice board? the bird fabric was the inspiration for the curtains in the first place!

new curtains for the bedroom

hopefully these 'aubergine' coloured lined cotton curtains will make it a little darker in the mornings, so emm might sleep a little longer! i B&Q'd it for these curtains, after trawling some curtain shops and getting depressed by the choice of dowdy beiges, old fashioned florals and tacky taffetas and deciding to wait for ikea to come to ireland! looking for storage boxes i accidentally wandered into the curtain isle in the big hardware retailer, and low and behold, decent prints and lovely coloured plains! i chose the purple for us, to go with the 'tarnished bronze' bedstead, and for emm's room i chose 'hot pink'! it'll be gorgeous with her aqua walls and white woodwork.

our room will need painting, the 'buttermilk' walls are scratched and grubby, and really don't go with my decadent luxurious bronze and purple colour scheme! i still had the bedlinen and dark purple cushions (dunnes). i'm thinking a plain off white for most walls, like the 'shimmering' we used in the kitchen/dining area, and a soft warm purple for one feature wall, (have a sample of crown's 'warm velvet armagnac' and shade cards for dulux 'mellow heather' and 'twilight cinders'. or would that be purple overload? hm, is there a contrasting colour for purple?

i hope i'll be able to get this room finished without going to 'boudoir' like, i do like simple lines and contemporary design... but i also like pattern and colour, i wouldn't mind some embroidered cushions... i'd like an interesting bedside lamp (and a different ceiling lamp, too!). yeah, then i'd also like nicer bedside tables (once emm has moved into her own room), a painting or print, i should keep a book just for my room ideas so i stay focused and can be let loose at flea markets and car boot sales without buying lots of uninspired junk!