Pretty Me & Make Me Challenge ~ April

Regular readers of this blog will know that I have committed to stop my procrastination and commit to a 'Pretty Me' project and a 'Make Me' challenge each month.  I've been working on these in between managing my health and it has been good to give me a little direction and to feel that I am being a little productive - even if I am still a couple months behind my target challenge!  I'm not pushing myself to overdo things even creatively but it is working for me and so I'll keep setting myself the challenge and sharing them with you here!

Pretty Me

Little Lady has been experiencing headaches, poor sleep and general fatigue for a good few months... behind the scenes she's had lots of blood tests, an MRI of her brain and a special tonic.  During this time we've tried to be proactive in eliminating any obvious sources; she's been prescribed iron due to being anaemic (brought on by a bought of illness and growth spurt), medicine to help relieve migraine, and we now practice many relaxation and meditation techniques together - but thankfully nothing more serious has been found.

Obviously, as a mother if your child is generally not 100% you want to do all that you can to help.  So, what else could I do? For the past few weeks I've been researching small double (4ft) beds. Little Lady had a 2ft 6 bed - approaching 9 and above average height I felt a bigger bed may well aid the much desired sleep process. I had a strict budget of £150 all in (bed, mattress, delivery etc) and mistakenly I thought this would get me what I had in mind. How wrong was I?!!  Over time I searched ebay and surprisingly found that I could get a vintage bed for the same price - if not less than a new 'less solid' model.

After two months searching, early one Sunday morning I won the auction on a black, cast iron bed. It was all dismantled so I have no pictures to share as a before. Sooo exciting; this bed is cast iron and the frame was in the family I bought if from since at least the 1930's!! The mattress was unused and both were sat in a guest room.  The couple had decided to reluctantly sell it as it was just not getting used!  I had found a similar bed painted cream on another site for hundreds of pounds... way outside of my budget. Oh yes, I have a plan.

I have to purchase some slats to support the mattress as it literally is the outer frame only so will need to build a slatted base.  I also want to soften its look with a paint job and so can't wait to complete this promising project!  This image gives you an idea of how it looks pre makeover.

 

Make Me

I've mentioned in a couple of posts (here and here) about the progress on my Coastal Target Squares Blanket.  I'm working on the border now and the completion of this blanket will be my April Make Me Challenge.  This is a big blanket and has been a joy to work on.  I really love the colours and can't wait to share the completed project with you.  I'm really enjoying the border making process too - it's the first time I've properly tried, frogged and reworked different crochet stitches and colours to try to get the look that I have in my mind and that compliments the squares themselves, rather than follow someone else's pattern.

I think both of these projects are going to be really rewarding to complete.  Both are focused on a desire to nurture my family and I am super positive about the outcome of each of these!

I look forward to sharing the finished items with you later this month.  I hope you are having a wonderful week.  

Thankfully my health is starting to improve gradually.  I've been taking steroids for just over a week and these are dampening my immune system and associated inflammation.  I have two more weeks of the course to take and hope that the relief will continue to come.  THaNK YOU all for your wonderful messages of support on my recent posts - I can't tell you how much your comments help to lift my mood and ease my negative thinking.  I really appreciate all of your Bloggy friendships - I truly do.  So much so that next week I'm planning a little giveaway!  So please do pop back to this little space to see what goodies you could win.  

Take care until next time,

J9 x