The Handmade Home: The Anniversary Applique Illustration 'This Is Us'

Once upon a time, a red-headed girl-about-town met a rugged musician from the Midlands.  A most unexpected romance ensued between these two souls and, within months, she gave up her fast-paced life in London and moved to Nottingham, to start a new life and later, not mention a tiny bit surprisingly, their very own family.

Looking back, I can hardly believe two years have flown by in the blink of an eye.  As with every relationship, there have been hard times, lovely times and down right hilarious times!  So, for an anniversary gift this year, I decided to put my crafting head on and create something really special.

It isn't always easy to restore your relationship to its former glory, once a baby becomes involved.  It's not always a bad thing, but time for just the two of you, sort of goes out the window, especially when your other half is holding down a full time job AND working as a musician too.  So I decided, with this in mind, to create an abstract applique illustration, based on one particular snowy night in Nottingham, that I know we both hold dear in our hearts.  The result, was exactly what I wanted.

I wanted to commemorate this lovely evening!

Working with just three colours, black, white and navy; I began with a black canvas base and covered with a thick navy cotton.  I created a simple snowy scene with off-white felt and off-set this, with some black shadowy trees and two black shadowy figures.  Lastly, I created the pinnacle of my piece, a depiction of my striped umbrella, with a piece of striped fabric I had lying around, backed with felt to create more depth.

Once I had pinned these onto the canvas, I cut out more 'definite' white chunks of felt, again to add depth to the piece.  I hand-sewed each piece on with straight stitching, to create a sort of 'shabby chic' edge to the image.  Finally, to represent a 'snowfall', I stitched some simple pearl white sequins to the picture.

I called this piece 'This Is Us'; a reminder for us both really of how special we are to each other and, no matter what changes may bring our way, deep down we will always be us!

I absolutely loved doing this applique - I liked the simplicity of this design and I would be really keen to try more complex ideas with patterned fabrics.  I'm planning my next design too - I can't wait to get started!

I guess the image speaks for itself - and the only thing left to say is a big Happy Anniversary to Mr Peachy, for all that we have and all that will be!

The Handmade Home - 'A Tour of Our Nursery'

You may be aware, that as well as writing my blog, I am also a writer for the family section of PVB Daily - a really great website promoting small businesses.  I've recently written a few articles about some of the upcycling and handmade projects I undertook when I was making Daisy's nursery; so I thought I would write a post 'tour of the nursery' as I'm really proud of what we have achieved.  Some of it is still a work in progress, but I think the overall look really reflects my love of all things handmade and I hope little D loves sleeping in there!

Upcycled Welsh Dresser - You can read about our upcycling of this welsh dresser HERE; it was met with some criticism,

but I think it will go on to be a staple and useful piece of furniture for D's room as she grows older.  As you can see, she already has toys in abundance - most of the top shelf were mine from various ages (there is a photo of me as a toddler, with this Panda).  Typically we have Jemima and Peter smattered about across the nursery - including the little money box, which was bought on a 'Babymoon' trip to Wales in February.  In keeping with the 'rabbit' theme and I have to shout out my lovely friend Naomi Smith, who drew this gorgeous rabbit picture and framed it in a vintage frame and Jodie, who handknitted the little pink rabbit on the top shelf.  My Beatrix bookends were also an eBay bargain - I often find new baby items being sold for very cheap on eBay, simply because people can be a bit overrun with presents!


Painted Vintage Chest of Drawers - Donated by a friend, this gorgeous 1940s chest of drawers was sanded, primed and painted white and the original dresser mirror removed.  This type of traditional oak furniture often seeps slightly during restoration - but I like the antique

look of the drawers.  I also placed pink polkadot paper to line each drawer and help protect Daisy's clothes.  The wide top doubles up as a great space for changing if necessary. 

Cot - Purchased from Ikea, I love the traditional design and, as with all Ikea furniture, it was easy to assemble (for my OH!) and the mattresse is really comfortable for Little D.  I've found some perfect fabric for the cot bumper, though I've not yet got around to making it yet - I've heard hundreds of conflicting opinions on cot bumpers, their use and how safe they are - which has somewhat put me off!  The blanket is also a homemade sensory blanket - I blogged about this and my love of knitting HERE

 
Cot Mobile - Another handmade item, you can read the tutorial HERE.  I have found most cot mobiles on the market to be expensive and also quite bulky, so in fitting with the theme of the nursery, I made a little mobile of

Jemima and her ducklings, the overall cost of the materials came to under £10 and I made it in just a few hours.  For me, yellow is a colour that young babies really respond to - Daisy loves to watch the ducklings chasing around when she is falling asleep.

Beatrix Potter Framed Pictures - I love mismatched frames and am currently planning a collage display for our front room.  Each of these frames were purchased from local charity shops and we found a pack of vintage Beatrix Potter pictures on eBay.  The trouble was, deciding which characters were going to take pride of place in the nursery!

Selection of antique toys and ornaments - I'm already really pleased with some of the lovely toys we have been given for Daisy, the abacus will be perfect for early stages of learning and Daisy already loves Humpty, though he's almost as big as her!  The Peter Rabbit and  a selection of Postman Pat ornaments that were mine as a baby, so it's lovely to pass these down through the family. 

I love experimenting and trying new crafts - follow my blog for more craft ideas, bargain hunting and tutorials as I continue to make my Handmade Home!

The Handmade Home: Knitting in a Free World!

A few days ago, my beau's younger brother made an off-the-cuff comment about knitting.  I can't remember exactly how it was termed, but the particulars included something to do with knitting being for both the 'sad' and the 'old'.  I perked up at this, defending us young, hip knitters and I was temporarily excused for my knitting obsession as I was now a 'mum'.  I started knitting when I was at University.

 

I don't think a lot of us crafters, knitters etc would be able to pin point a moment in life that we decided to put our intrigued fingers to work, neither could we give a reason why we do it.  I've only ever answered this sort of question to one thing; writing.  I said I write because I can't not write.  I suppose I knit for the same reason; I can't not do it.

 

Earlier in the month, I published a short beginner's tutorial to knitting, in the lovely online magazine for Peta's Vintage Boutique.  It was difficult to put these actions into words, as it's been a long time since I completed my first few stitched under the watchful eye of my Nan, a keen and talented knitter for many years.  That was where I got the bug, fast forward to present day and now, I have even more reason to go 'handmade'; there is nothing quite like watching Daisy man-handling (baby-handling) the sensory blanket I made for her.

You can find the original knitting tutorial here ---> http://www.petasvintageboutique.com/issue-2.html

I chose this Val Pierce-inspired sensory patchwork blanket as my first baby-project.  The different knitted textures and the daisies are great for little grabbing fingers and will, hopefully, become something of a comfort blanket for Daisy when she is a little older.  I chose to work with pastel, light colours to fit the Beatrix Potter theme in Daisy's nursery.  I was really pleased with how the colours blended together - Peter Rabbit's Blue, Jemima's Pink and Lilac and a soft baby Cream.   It worked wonders for the first few weeks after Daisy's birth, as we were hit with such cold, snowy weather and now it's great as a sensory object that remains familiar to her.

As an intermediate knitter, I found this blanket quite easy, the bulk of the blanket is made with simple garter and stocking stitches; these make for a very classic patchwork look.  The challenge lay in creating the daisies but I'm always up for a crafting challenge!  It's a great pattern for sitting in front of the TV, especially when I needed my mind taking off impending childbirth.  I'm now looking at adapting this pattern with different sensory objects and colours.  Results to follow!


I've got the handmade bug!  More posts to follow on 'handmaking' your home and nursery on Life is Peachy!

Are you interested in commissioning a sensory baby blanket?  Email missemmaberry@gmail.com for further information, costs etc.  I would love to hear from you!