Sunday, April 26, 2015

The Highchair



Here's the fabulous vintage highchair I bought for "Granny's House" (I'm putting that in quotation marks because I haven't decided if I want to be called Granny).




I bought the chair from Frank over at Avenue Antiques.  The wee bunny on the back of the chair is still mostly intact, which is impressive, but what's more impressive than that?



Well, the chair folds down into a play table!  Fabulous! 



The oval beads on the side of the play table were originally pink and blue and, most likely, painted with lead paint.  So, I carefully sanded them down and primed them and re-painted them with a bright red.  Pretty swish, yes?



Here's a shot of the tray turned round to the back...(this shot is a giveaway as to when I finished this project - there's still snow on the ground, which has been gone for weeks)...



and look at this adorable little adjustable foot rest...


...no, no... just look at it!  It's fantastic!



Since these chairs don't have any safety straps - it was made in a simpler time when children weren't the crazed daredevils they are now - I made a seat cushion to tie the baby down.


It's got elastic around the waist...


...and ties to the arms of the chair with big fat grosgrain ribbons in teal.  Please also notice the vintage turquoise buttons I used to secure the quilt batt padding.


This doll is quite a bit smaller than a highchair-sized baby, but you get the idea.


And, with the tray down. 

Nigel finds this doll a bit creepy, so I made sure to place the highchair just behind where his chair is at the kitchen table.


She's watching you, Sweetie!

Also finished recently...


...a bib!  I purchased one of those pre-made bibs that you embroider, but I didn't care for the pattern it came with (dancing elephants),


so I bought a pattern off etsy that I knew would appeal to Elly, and used that instead.


The pattern wasn't quite big enough for the bib so I added the hearts on either side and the "om nom nom" across the bottom.  Very Elly!

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Elly's Peter Rabbit Shower


 
 
Let's take a step back in time, shall we?  Say to March 21st of this year, when we hosted a baby shower for Elly - who requested a Peter Rabbit theme.
 


Before the party got underway, I snapped a few photos of the décor that I'd spent ages putting together.  We had specially decorated water bottles - I do believe Ian took leftovers of these to University with him, and Nigel carted the odd one off to the gym.  I wonder what people thought!


Here's a link if you want to purchase this PDF for yourself.



I strung up a clothesline of doll clothes across the hutch in the dining-room.  Nigel remarked that it looked like a tenement.  He's such a charmer!



Also in the dining-room, dangling from the chandelier, were small cut-outs from a book of Peter Rabbit.  Now, I don't generally approve of cutting up books, but this was a somewhat battered thrift store find, a Peter Rabbit Pop-Up book that had lost quite a lot of it's pop.


The grand centerpiece of the book was a giant pop-up Mr. McGregor, who (after a good deal of cutting/pasting/reinforcing), became a grand centerpiece to watch over the trays of nibblies.


Big poufy tissue paper flowers, along with a fabulous thrifted chenille bedspread in hot pink roses thrown over the sofa.


An old bassinet to hold gifts.


Peter rabbit picture frame...


... Beatrix Potter books along the mantle, along with Jemima Puddleduck and Peter Rabbit knitted for Elly by my Mum a while back - quite a while back!


Another shot of the gift bassinet...


...balloons...


... family portraits...

and the rest of the Beatrix Potter books (mixed in with the Graham Greene).


in all the excitement of the day, I failed to take pictures of the actual guests.  So, documenting the party - fail, decorating the party - success!