Marquis Lane

Wearing: Beanie hat: Made in Home (blogged here); Vintage earrings, thrifted;

Scarf: Made in Home Refraction Shawlette (blogged here); 

Denim Jacket: Marlboro light (very old, similar here on sale);

Cardigan: Jigsaw (old, but love this version)

Shorts: Made in Home (blogged here, also seen here);

Mustard lace tights: New Look (last year but similar here);

Wellies: Hunter (in aubergine). 

Vintage and Stylish Interiors | Inspired by INSIDEWAYS

Thanks to Bloglovin I have found it much easier to tidy up my blogroll. Every so often I go through the list, just to make sure I am spending time on blogs I actually love. I don’t necessarily comment on all the blogs I follow, in fact it is quite relaxing to follow blogs just to look at the pictures and be inspired by them.

Of course, I also find new blogs all the time – through other blogs, Pinterest, magazines. And I thought it would be fun if I were to share with you some of the new blogs I will be following.

I want my sewing room to be like this!

Insideways is Jen Bewerse’s lovely blog. It is mainly about home décor and of course covers DIY projects, thrifting, recycling, and a lot of photography tips. I tend to be quite attracted to interior designs blog – which is funny as my house does not feature that much in my blog, and maybe this is something I need to reflect upon.

She has some cute DIY projects that have totally inspired me

1.Cross-stitched QR code; 2. Updated Ceramic Vase;  3. Handmade Tablet cover

Macrame Plant holder

Apart from that she is a talented musician. How awesome!

DIY Scrabble tiles and reupholstered counter stools

I am a new and keen follower! You can follow Jen’s blog on Bloglovin and instagram.

What blogs have you recently found and be inspired by?

*Don’t forget to enter my giveaway here*

Thrifted and Updated {Wood Bead Necklaces}

Many thanks for all your lovely comments on the book clutch, there will be a tutorial soon, so stay tune. 

You will remember the wood bead necklace I was wearing for my Kew Gardens styling post. I mentioned it was thrifted and updated. And it is probably the laziest DIY project I have ever done, but it is quite nice sometimes to have a quick solution handy. 

So here is the necklace I bought for less than £2 at my local charity shop. I have been on the hunt for a wood bead necklace since I pinned this inspiration picture (the homepage picture for one of my DIY boards). I could not believe how many beads I could get for that price, and I also loved the fact they were of different sizes. 

It stayed untouched until I found some leather string at my local John Lewis. 

I decided for the Kew Gardens styling not to paint the beads as I did not want too many colours and wanted to keep the look natural. So it was a case of getting the beads, choosing the biggest ones, and make a new necklace, et voila! Yep, I love to be lazy too. 

There may be a golden version coming soon though... I have been doing some painting today and beads were given a golden glow for a future styling...  

It is amazing what you can do with a chopstick and sellotape! 

On a side note, I am catching up with all the posts of the weekend as I was in Paris - first weekend without Baby MiH!! More on what I came back with later this week! Hope you are all having a great start to the week!

Kew Gardens

Mixing (my) handmade and high street...

Wearing: Top: Sud Express (bought here on sale, similar here); 

Shorts, Made in Home (blogged here);

Necklace (thrifted, not blogged yet); 

Clutch: Made in Home (blogged here); 

Shoes: Free People; Earrings: Azuni (bought here)

May Day

Makingthe collage I just realised that my sewing this month has been quite limited ... But I did have a go at EPP and made Happy Feet! Anyway here is a summary of this month's makes.. 

1. {crochet} Easter Bunny Hat (I also made the Baby, does it count?); 2. {crochet} doily;
3. {Quilting + embroidery} Happy Feet Cushion; 4. {DIY} Blue Connection (a little bit of sewing involved);
5. {Knitting} Pearl Tassel; 6. {Crochet} Bookmark; 7. {Baking} Double Choc cakes

So more sewing next month, and maybe a bit more colour as well... it is amazing how attracted I am to greys and neutrals... 

For more sewing makes, check out Fresh Sewing Day at Lily's quilts. 

I will be on le challenge later today to talk about my inspiration for this month's theme: wings!

Blue Connection {Thrifted and Updated}

In January, Marlien Reentmeester* posted the picture of an amazing necklace in emerald - chunky, bold yet simple. Since then the necklace has been in the back of my mind - if I saw one, it would be mine. As if I needed a reminder, she posted again recently about a golden version of a similar necklace. And then, I saw it... in a charity shop - calling me in.

I did not buy it then and there - I had the pram and could not get in the shop (prams are so annoying like that). I waited the morning of the next day, put Baby MiH in the baby carrier, and I was on a mission - it was still there, phew! I had my own chunky chain necklace for £3.00 (actually a bit 'pricey' for a charity shop, but I wanted it)! 

The original was a bit bland - very unlike the emerald or the golden one I had seen. At the same time, I could wear it with everything - decision, decision. I knew the tie at the back had to go, it was stretchy and dirty. Once I checked I could separate the chain links - I was on a roll! I wanted one chain of a different colour to match my Liberty Lifestyle Bloomsbury Gardens Woolf. 

I also purposely removed broke a couple of chain links so that it fitted better around my neck. Sprayed one chain link in blue, and made two inch-wide ties.

Et voila! A new colourful necklace - quirky yet simple.

Not too bad for a couple of quid... 

* Le Catch is the blog of Marlien Reenmeester - a former Conde Nast fashion editor - my daily fashion fix, combining high ends pieces with high street gems. Full of inspiration!

Vintage Concertina Hanger {thrifted and updated}

A little while ago we bought a vintage wooden concertina hanger at a French flea market, and it has been in a drawer until recently. It was supposed to go into the bathroom but it is really too small. However it is not too small for Baby MiH's room, that really needs splashes of colours now. We had a plan, clean the hanger, repaint some bits and varnish it - oh and thoroughly clean the rusty screws and washers. And we would have a very funky hanger.

So not exactly upcycling but cleaning and updating the hanger.

So you will need:
- A vintage concertina coat hanger (from Etsy, Ebay or flea market)
- Rust remover solution
- A pot of primer, and different paints (go for paint testers, you do not need that many)
- Some masking tape (depending on the effect you want)
- Optional: a varnish spray

Forgot to take a picture of our original one so here is one I found on Etsy 

So we had to mark down all the different bits and pieces, and how they fitted together (take a few pictures to make sure you put it back in the right order). 

The rusty screws and washers were removed and  the parts were cleaned (I used wipes to get rid of the dust and the blackness of some bits, Mr MiH removed a layer of orangey varnish by scraping it out with scissors). I used the masking tape to make the pattern.

We left the screws and washers in some HG rust remover solution that worked overnight.

Started painted all the little bits and pieces (we used a primer first, and then two coats of paint) - the drying is the tricky bit.

And one purple one finished - although a bit too mat a finish for out taste. So we bought a varnish spray (Plastic-Kote Projekt Spray - Fast Dry Enamel), and sprayed the whole structure and left it to dry in the afternoon and overnight.

 A new cool hanger for the little one's towels.

All I need is Mr MiH to put it up!

The other life of a blanket {thrifted and upcycled}

I thought of a new series for the blog - the One Hour Project, and this was supposed to be my first project, except that it took me all afternoon, and evening to make it - and that is for one cushion only, when I need two. An hour project I don't think so - thrifted and upcycled definitely!

I bought this pure wool vintage blanket probably 6 months ago - and yes, it had been sitting at the top of the stairs for that long. And now that I am on a cleaning drive (but still sleeping loads), it had to be made into what I always had in mind - new cushion covers for our spare bedroom. 

**Don't forget to enter my giveaway - open until Friday night**

I bought the blanket for the blue stripes on the side - thick and thin stripes next to each other which provided a lovely pattern especially if it was to be seen on a smaller item. 

You can find two for sale on Ebay now

I was expecting the project to take an hour because the concept was simple:

• To cut out two squares out of the blanket with the same pattern (55 x 55 cm for a 50 x 50 cm cushion)
• Sew an invisible zip on the side (the one with the blanket stitch that ran around the whole blanket),
• Sew the two pieces together on the right side, 
• Hand stitch, and have a blanket stitch outside the cushion cover as the fabric frays.  

So nothing special, except that the thickness of the blanket as well as how the fabric frayed made it rather difficult. My sewing machine played up whilst sewing the invisible zip. 

I used some lace yarn for the blue hand stitch

But I did get there in the end, and I really love it, so simple, but so stylish for the second bedroom - and well as the blanket cost £10.00 to start with, and I had all the other material needed.  

So I added a touch of warmth to the spare bedroom - just need to make the second one, hopefully I can use what I learnt for the first one, and make in less than 6 hours.. There's a challenge!

Jigsaw {sewing}

It seems that every Wednesday I am hoping for more progress. Despite work being hectic (I am writing this post in between working on a document), I have made some time for my projects, and in fact some significant progress (yes, there is a finished project!). 

So let's start by the most featured project on these WIP Wednesday posts, the Totally Groovy QAL. More curves were done, more blocks were made (I am still not piecing it line by line), and there are still piles of lines to be pieced together. I think next week, there will be a quilt top, yes it is written on the internet - so there is no way back now. It is like a jigsaw, honestly that is how it feels when I piece it together! It is fun, except that I should have been a bit more careful about the pattern, and how it works - I had to remake a few pieces for the curves to match the pattern of the fabric. 

The thrifted cross-stitch panel I bought on Ebay has now been washed, and I have spent a few hours unpicking the border that had been made who-knows how long ago. I have selected some possible fabric for the backing (it will be a cushion cover!). I am not sure whether I will use one fabric OR make a simple quilt pattern OR a quilt pattern based on the cross-stitch.. Decisions, decisions. Anyway, it is nice to think this cross-stitch will be used again. 

Which fabric to choose?

So it can only mean one thing, the triangle cushion cover has been quilted and finished. As I love it I think it deserves its own post, later this week. But just for you here is a little sneak peek. 

The little mice family is so cute!

 So I have not that badly for a Wednesday. I am making sure that work actually slows down so that I can finish some of these projects and move on to more important things (like relining the Moses basket for the little one, could be useful)!