a spot of home sewing...

Where on earth have the last seven weeks gone?!

Other than keeping busy with a little freelance work, preparing for the imminent arrival of numero two (now only 3 and a bit weeks away) and surviving the first family flu of the season, it's just a blur...

I admit, third trimester fatigue has well and truly set in, so any motivation to post a blog is generally overridden by an opportunity to curl up and have a nap...

I've also been churning out a few soft furnishings (ok mainly cushion covers) as part of my nesting craze.

First job was transforming the junk/ironing room into some semblance of a nursery..  Although it's a tiny space, it's filled with morning sunlight and now with the injection of some colour, it's beginning to feel like a proper little nursery. Just add baby!

Painterly Ikea fabric & raw linen backed with seersucker 

Sewed my first curtains out of this fun candy stripe drill, also from Ikea.

 I had a little leftover fabric to revamp this shade..

Thom is quite intrigued by all this shuffling of furniture (the cot was only recently his), the new car seat, pram etc.., so as not to feel left out, his room got a little home sewn love too..

A felt, denim & cord cushion for his 'story chair'..

And a couple of strings of festive felt bunting... Felt is my new favourite thing!

And lastly our bedroom got some much long overdue attention... 

Still very much a work in progress, the room is slowly coming together. My painted bedsides are finally in, after many months gathering dust in the garage.

I also made a pair of new pillowslips (the easiest, cheapest thing in the world) from this pretty floral cotton I found at Spotlight and revamped an old Indian mirrored cushion with some coral pink drill for a pop of colour..

A dash of coral, my new favourite colour!!

Now with Thom taking his midday nap, I really should get on with sorting out the study.

Or I could just have a little lie down instead...

mid morning experiments - coffee bags & brown bananas

Yesterday morning I decided to tick off a few things on my steadily growing to do list.. First up was transforming a bunch of forgotten and very brown bananas, into some kind of banana bread/cake thing.

Having never made banana loaf before and not being one to stick to a recipe, I did as I always do.., started with a basic idea and then made it up as I went..

Then with the loaf baking away and Thom tucked in for his morning nap, I got to work on a new lampshade for a favorite vintage lamp. I've been meaning to replace the shade forever, the current one is all cracked inside and to be honest is just boring..

Awhile ago I picked up a burlap coffee sack from Reverse Garbage and then found a simple polypropylene drum shade at Ikea. After a quick google search for diy lampshades, it was a matter of grabbing scissors, spray adhesive, a bunch of pegs and voila, I have myself a spiffing new shade!! I admit it still needs couple of lengths of fabric binding to finish it off in the inside, but not bad for less than 20 dollars and 15 or so minutes of my time..!

one..

two..

three..

ta da!!

and here's the other side.

The banana loaf turned out ok too. Here's the recipe (of sorts)..

130g white self-raising flour
130g whole meal self-raising flour
40g plain flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup walnuts (roughly chopped), plus extra for the top
1/3 cup shredded coconut
2/3 cup brown sugar

2 ripe bananas (mashed)
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs (lightly whisked)
50g melted butter (cooled)
1 tsp vanilla essence

1. Preheat oven at 180 degrees
2. Grease and line a loaf tin with baking paper.
3. Add dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl.
4. Combine wet ingredients in another bowl and then add to the dry ingredients.
5. Mix together until well combined.
6. Spoon mixture into lined tin and top with the extra walnuts.
7. Bake for 45 - 50 mins or until golden on top (or a skewer to the centre comes out clean).

Cool, then slice and enjoy with a nice cuppa..