adding some colour

Last night I didn't have any plans so I decided to add a bit colour to the main floor using fabric I had on hand.

First up, a new table runner.

Don't mind my dying hydrangea, poor thing

I used fabric I had leftover from the ottoman I made for Mila's room. It's a bit wonky, but already I feel like it's a bit closer to actual spring than the dreary weather we've been having (although it's quite nice today!).

Next up I made a pillow cover for my chair in the office using some old Heather Bailey fabric I had from way back when I used to make stuff more often.

Just a bit of colour to brighten things up around here!

Have a great weekend! Mila and I are off on an adventure of our own for the weekend. Hopefully she cooperates!

updating the ottoman

There is a major effort over in these parts to get rid of some brown. My house basically consists of brown, grey and some sort of white or beige. There is a lot of brown because of course, the floor is brown too.

I had some fabric leftover from my office bench so I decided to use it to cover the ottoman (which is brown) in my living room. I didn't have a big enough piece to do it in one shot, so I followed the lines of the leather and cut the fabric into six: four for the top and two for the sides. I sewed them up, covered the brown leather and stapled the fabric to the bottom of the ottoman. Then I refastened the legs. Easy peasy. I'm liking it way better than the brown.

I'm still not sure what I'll do with the matching chairs but I'd like to do some sort of colour. The problem is that not too many colours go nicely with the chair legs (I don't want to paint them).

Any suggestions?

then and now

Leo and Mila at similar ages. Love this little sweater (Poor Leo and his little cheeks!)

miss mila - eight months

Miss Mila turned eight months old yesterday. I'm sad that I'm on the other side of my maternity leave. I've been so flip floppy about going back to work but I'm pretty sure I'm going back now. I have a pretty good situation going in that I work from home most days which gives me a lot of flexibility for doing pick ups and drop offs. Also I found a daycare a couple blocks away that I really like. The only kicker is that they won't take Mila until she's 15 months old, so I'll have to figure out what to do. I'm considering keeping her home for those three months and then getting part-time care for the days I do have to travel to my office. Likely crazy but it'll only be for three months. We'll see...

Mila has turned into a champion eater - yay! Maybe I shouldn't jinx myself? She's still on purees mostly, but I did give her some chunks of sweet potato today and she seemed to really like it. She has already eaten more than Leo did at that age!

Her sleeping is pretty regular. She goes to sleep at 6:30 or so most nights and she'll get up a couple times but I just give her a soother and she'll fall back asleep until between 4-6:30 when I'll feed her. So far she's a super happy girl. Giving us lots of smiles and she's got her daddy wrapped around her finger already that's for sure!

Happy Eight Months little chickpea! Love Mama.

mini project: cork board

I actually managed to get both of the kidlets to sleep at the same time this afternoon, so I did a little project I've been meaning to do for awhile: a cork board for my office. Super simple - just some paint and tape. I wanted to do dots originally, but I have a bit of a compulsion for having straight lines so I decided to keep it straight.*

I made two boards with two different pink chevrons. I keep saying that I'm over the chevron thing but they keep calling back to me.

Et voila! I had a pair of pictures in this spot before, but I moved them to the other wall for now. I still need frames for them anyway.

*I realized looking at this picture that my top chevron is in fact not straight... This might end up bothering me, but I think I'll just tell myself I was going for a checkmark look instead.

etsy love: swallow's return

I was over at Lovely Lark a few weeks back and I spotted this super sweet little girl's top (first photo above) by Swallow's Return. I fell in love with these mini clothes and want one of everything for Mila. 

mini project: seat cover

Leo has pretty much graduated from the high chair/booster seat to sitting with us at the table, but he's almost two and a half and of course the little bugger is messy.

Our chairs are leather and easily wipe down, but the the stitching is also white and so to prevent the chairs from getting too gucked-up (that's a word right?) I made a chair cover. Or as I tell Leo, a chair bib.

I bought some oil cloth when I was pregnant with Leo to make cushions for his high chair, but I never got around to it. I had just the right amount (about a yard) to make this cover.

It just slips over the top and since it's oil cloth it cleans up pretty easily.

This took me about 10 minutes to make, even with Leo sitting beside me practically shoving his head into the sewing machine asking 'what's that?' a hundred times.

An added bonus: it has helicopters.

easter and birthday wishes

Well it seems I took a bit of a break and it felt pretty nice! Leo was sick for a lot of the time which was no fun as you can imagine.

Anyway I'm back for now and thought I'd share some Easter pics.

We had a great weekend. My mom and grandmother came up for a nice dinner on Friday at our house along with my sisters and my sister-in-law and her family. We put together a little egg hunt in the back yard which was a lot of fun. I love seeing Leo and his cousins playing and hanging out together.

I also made my first upside down pineapple cake. When I bake, I typically swap out ingredients for healthier ones, but I decided that since it was a special occasion I would make it as is. I couldn't believe the amount of butter and sugar that went into this thing! But let me tell you.... it was worth it!

This weekend also marked Mark's 37 birthday so my mom and grandmother stayed an extra day so we could go out for dinner. We went to Origin downtown Toronto and it was a lot of fun (and tasty!). It was nice to get out just the two of us. Sunday was Mark's actual birthday and although I didn't have a cake for him, I did put a candle in a bun that we ate with our pasta!

I hope you had a great weekend (and week thereafter!)