Work in Progress - Homemade Lavender Oil

Wiss and I have been making some lavender oil and although it takes a month or so to properly infuse it's really easy to do, and has loads of uses once it's ready.

You will need:

• A carrier oil (pale in colour and with little or no fragrance) We used light olive oil
• Fresh lavender flowers on their stalks (2 handfuls)
• A glass jar with a stopper
• A sunny window ledge
• Fine sieve/Muslin
• Jug
• Patience

Method:

Using half of the lavender, cut the stalks so that flowers heads are still attached but with no woody stems. You need to bash the flowers up a little so either crush them in your hands or use a pestle and mortar (but don't pulp them!). Pop the flowers into your glass bottle then cover with the oil of your choice. Ideally there should be no air left in the bottle, as this could cause the oil to become rancid later. Close the bottle with the stopper and give it a good shake - Wiss loves this bit!

Leave the bottle in a sunny spot for a few days to infuse in the warmth. You can upturn it and give it a shake daily to help it 'brew'.

After two or three days you will need to refresh the flowers so that the oil can get more lovely lavender fragrance. Using a very fine sieve or some muslin, drain the oil into a jug, making sure not to spill any. Give the flowers a really good squeeze to extract as much oil as possible as this will be the strongest scented.

Put the new flowers into the original bottle and cover with the oil from your jug. Now repeat the process as before: leave in a sunny spot and give a good shake daily. Check on the scent of your oil after a week or so. You can drain and add new flowers as you wish to get the desired strength. When you are happy with your oil keep it in a dark cupboard to preserve it's shelf life, and it can be decanted into smaller bottles to make great gifts.

Uses:

Lavender oil can be used to soothe itchy skin, aid sleep or just as a massage or bath oil. It can be used on pot pourri or even be sprinkled onto bicarbonate soda, which is then scattered on the carpet before hoovering to scent your home.

Wiss has been waking during the night with really bad growing pains recently, so it was suggested that a massage before bed with lavender oil could help. The lavender will help to relax the muscles as well as helping Wiss to sleep more deeply, and the massage will soothe and stretch his legs. We are yet to try out our new oil so can't say if it helps but I am looking forward to incorporating the massage into our bedtime routine and think it will be a great way for us both to relax and reconnect at the end of a busy day (especially once school starts!)

Work in Progress - Our Garden and Dining Room

This months' Work in Progress is a bit of a mammoth project, and has been 'in progress' since we moved into this house nearly 2 years ago. We are lucky enough to have a large open plan kitchen and dining room with big glass doors into the garden - this room was the clincher for me when we were viewing the house. When the sun shines the space looks fantastic and it's such a wonderful room to spend time in (which is good as we all often hang out here!)

Photo credit: Zoopla

However, things are rarely perfect and although the developer who updated the house did put this extension in he also ripped out the garden too. I have seen old property details and there was a lovely mature garden at the rear bursting with plants. Unfortunately we were left with a very dull rectangular garden with poorly laid turf, a dominating new fence, a small patio and no plants whatsoever!

Photo credit: Zoopla

Last year I made a start on the planting and even grew some tomatoes & runner beans but there is still a lot to do. While the plants take their time to establish I thought I could at least inject a bit of colour myself. The fences provide a backdrop to all the plants so I decided to paint them with Cuprinol 'Wild Thyme' from the Garden Shades range - it's actually more teal than grey as it looks in the photos below. There are so many shades in the DIY shop these days that it's really easy to liven up your fences (& protect them at the same time.)

I've also mentioned before that our dining room is a bit of a white cube. Great as a blank canvas but it just doesn't feel homely enough to me. I want to use some bright colour in here and I thought it would make sense if I used similar colours in the garden and the dining room; connecting inside and outside.

I bought this poster from a flea market years ago and it now hangs near the patio doors so using this as a starting point I echoed the pink to give a new lease of life to our old garden bench and table (Sweet Sundae from Cuprinol)

 

I got carried away with 'finishing' this little corner of the patio so stayed up late on Sunday night to sew up a cushion pad for the bench (I know I can't be the only one who does this?!) Its made using Cloud 9 Geocentric Circles in Teal which is an organic canvas fabric (from my stash) and simply quilted using 2 layers of left over batting. It's hardwearing and comfy but still easy to roll up small for storage when not in use, and can be washed too. I think I'm going to make some more of these for our hallway bench indoors - so much quicker than a boxed cushion cover. I made new envelope cushion covers using more fabric from the stash and the finishing touch was to hang the white ball tea-light holders (from Habitat about 6 years ago) on the fence.

There's still lots to do - paint the coloured feature wall in the dining room, finally get round to putting the fronts on the shelves I made (about a 18 months ago!), tend the garden and find a solution to the clothes horse that seems to be permanently up by the back doors! But we're getting there... Hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures of the finished dining room and garden soon.

What projects have you got on the go this month? I'd love to see so please leave a link in the comments below or you can tweet me a picture @thisiswiss, and we can encourage each other to finish them!

A Major Work in Progress

I had a few projects in mind for this months 'Work in Progress' post but somehow I've not even found the time to start them, let alone get progressing. My Coco pattern and fabric have just been sitting on my desk, the neon shower curtains I've been commissioned to make are just waiting for some attention. But there's been another work in progress that has been commanding a lot of my time and energy recently, so it seems silly to ignore it.

I'm 25 weeks pregnant and this baby is a major Work in Progress!
 

This blog is primarily about crafting and making - my creative life as a parent - so it's perhaps obvious that I should also write about this big creation, although I've resisted so far. When I heard about the Bloggers Bump Club hosted by Molly on Mother's Always Right I jumped at the chance to join in.

This will be my second child (but my fourth pregnancy) and although I'm getting excited now it's been quite different to my pregnancy with Wiss (now 4 years old.) There was understandable caution and anxiety at the beginning and a reluctance to get too carried away but now I have happily been deemed a 'normal risk' by my consultant. But regardless of what has happened in the past it seems that many women experience their second pregnancy very differently to their first.

With Wiss I had so much time to 'be pregnant'; I read all the books, I wrote a diary, I made time to connect with my bump and I diligently took weekly photos from 14 weeks onwards. This time around....I'm afraid to say that I've not done anything. I took my first bump picture only last week!
 

I'm hoping that's all about to change. I'll be joining up with some other great bloggers, who also happen to be pregnant at the moment too. The Bloggers Bump Club (#BlogBumpClub) will be a great opportunity for me to stop and think about my pregnancy, at least once a week and to read and compare stories with all the other fab ladies involved. I'm imagining that for me, it may be a full post or as simple as a sharing a picture, recording a feeling or even detailing plans for making things for the new little one, but I'm looking forward to seeing a whole range from everyone. If you're 'in the club' then why not join in too?

I'm also testing out a new Pregnancy App at the moment so expect a review soon. Don't worry, there will still be all the usual posts, I'm just as busy making and crafting as always, but there will be some added extra baby ones sneaking in too! I hope you don't mind :)

Work in Progress...the Chevron Quilt

 

This week's Work in Progress features the chevron quilt I am making for the sofa. I wanted a snugly quilt to throw over us while we were watching telly on chilly evenings...last winter. Yes, I've been planning it that long! I only actually started cutting the fabric at the start of this year though, and as seems to be the way, the quilt top came together really quickly.

 

 

I love chevron designs and I have pinned tons of them onto my Quilt Loving board. I think I got a bit carried away choosing fabrics and colours, because in hindsight I think I would have liked there to be one back ground colour and then I could make more of a feature of the zig zags of colours. Never mind! You learn as you go along...

 

I used diagonal half squares to make up the chevrons (rather than using rectangles) and I'm really pleased how they turned out. I was worried about them stretching out of shape as essentially they have all been cut on the bias but I was careful to press, rather than iron the seams.

 

 

The fabrics are nearly all from the Timeless Treasures Sketch range - coffee, denim, latte and lime all in cotton. The bright green has a hexagon waffle pattern but I'm afraid I can't remember what it's called. I was keen to use textured solids to add extra interest to the simple pattern.

 

 

I'm using a Sketch Flannel in Neon for the back, and the same flannel in Denim for the binding...I think! I really like the pieced binding I did on this quilt and am struggling to decide whether I should do the same on the chevron quilt, or if a plain colour will frame it better. Hmmm? (Any opinions will be gratefully received!)

 

I asked Twitter for help on choosing which batting to go for as I wanted to make sure this quilt would be warm and cosy. The answer came back as Sew Simple Eco Wadding which is made from 100% recycled material: 70% cotton and 30% polyester. I'll be quilting it myself in zigzags either side of the chevron pattern.

 

Work has had to stop for a week or so while I make some more This is Wiss stock for my upcoming markets, so it remains a work in progress for a little while longer. Although I love the sunny days we're enjoying at the moment, I have to admit I'm still glad it's cold in the evenings. If only so that we will be able to use the quilt when I finally finish it!!

 

What are you working on at the moment? Please share photos or links of your WIP so that we can all spur each other on to the finishing line!