Quick baby update

Afraid there have been no posts for a few weeks (due to the birth of baby Oscar) but here are a couple of photo updates

Megan and Oscar wearing their introducing new baby t shirts

Oscar's finished Quick, cheap, simple personalised nursery décor

How to make a simple but beautiful knitted patchwork blanket

This project is great for all abilities as you can make it as big or small, and as simple or complicated as you like!

 

 
It's particularly great for using up small amounts of wool, and if you do make a mistake or mess up a square you haven't got loads of work to unpick or to lose if you need to start it again.
 
You can also ask friends or family to contribute a square if you get bored before reaching the size you wanted!
 
I made mine using 49 squares and a pattern from a book I was given for Christmas. All in all it took me about 4 months, averaging about 1.5 hours per square.

Outline instructions...

1. Knit lots of squares! - for ideas, visit my gallery of squares, this is updated regularly so please keep checking back

 

2. Lay out all the squares in the order/pattern required

3. Tidy the squares into piles (keeping the order)

 

4. Sew each of the piles into a long strip and then sew the long strips together. When sewing the strips together, make sure that each square lines up with its neighbour. This may mean shaping or stretching certain squares with your hands as you go to ensure that they are all the same size and fit into the grid pattern.

 

 

6. Edge (see below for basic tips - full details can be found on my Full Patchwork Blanket Instructions page)

 

What you'll need...

• Basic knitting ability - cast on, knit and cast off is all that is needed for the most basic blanket, and even these look great if done in a mixture of colours
• Knitting needles - between size 3mm and 4mm, the exact size doesn't matter, but use the same size throughout to ensure that all the squares come out roughly the same size and shape
• Circular knitting needle - roughly the same size as the ones used for the main knitting. This is used to edge the work. You won't be knitting in the round, but the cable that joins the two needles is needed because of the large number of stitches that you will be working with across each edge, normal needles just wouldn't be long enough and you'd keep losing stitches off the end! (Edging isn't essential if you don't fancy it, just announce the blanket is finished when it has been sewn together and stop!)
• Wool - double knit wool, any colours, might be nice to make one of these in different shades of the same colour
• Darning needle or bodkin - to sew the squares together

Quick, simple but really effective room/nursery decoration

 

Feel like you did it, but with minimal effort!
Make a beautiful nursery without any stencilling or faffing about with borders - really cheaply too.

These wall stickers are simple to apply and are meant to last 7 years, or come off without any damage to the wall.

More detail?

Ok, first steps, choose yourself a theme - butterflies, space and stars, jungle, trains, anything, then search ebay for personalised wall stickers. There are literally hundreds.
 
Below are instructions for how I finished off my little boy's room in less than an hour whilst 7.5 months pregnant!
 
All the stickers, including personalisation cost less than £20.
 
You'll also need sharp scissors and some masking tape.
 

• Your stickers will be supplied on backing paper - initially this looks terrifying!
• If your sticker isn't in one piece, cut it into sections to make it easier to apply (e.g. in mine I removed the name)
• You can also cut off some of the excess paper. But do keep the top edge straight so you make sure the design is straight before you commit to sticking it down. 
• Stick the design to the wall (the correct way round - NOT reversed) with masking tape.
• Very carefully start to peel the backing paper away, this leaves the sticker on the thin paper at the front. Again this can be done in sections, rather than one swift movement - cut the backing paper away and gently smooth the top layer (with the design on it) onto the wall. A credit card may be useful to help smooth out any bubbles

• For my sticker, I removed did the right side first, then the left, and then this left the middle. To get the backing paper off I then had to remove the masking tape and carefully remove the middle section from the top.
• Once the sticker is applied to the wall - still on the thin top layer of paper, smooth the full sticker down one more time and then leave for an hour.

• When you're ready to remove the paper, start from a bottom corner and carefully peel back (making sure none of the design is left behind)
• Again this doesn't have to be done in one go, it's quite easy to stop and cut chunks of the paper off as you go

• In addition to my main sticker, I also added stars randomly around the room (and then stood back to admire my work!)

Finally I'll add the name - this has been faked in paint.net as we're keeping the name secret until baby is born, but the name sticker is very easily applied in exactly the same way as the main sticker.

 
Hope you enjoy decorating your room and all the praise for your "hard" work!!