The Interior DIYer
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Hydrangea Girl turns three

Today is a special day for me and my silly website. It all started three years ago when I wrote a pretty awkward first blog post, ‘In the beginning‘. For the first year I blogged about other people’s stuff – designs, finds, homes and projects. It wasn’t until a year later that I started writing about things I designed, stuff around our apartment as well as share things I made. Blood, sweat, tears and paint have since been poured into my passion for blogging. Thanks to my site I’ve been offered some sweet effing opportunities, which I am forever grateful / in a magical state of disbelief.

My website also pushes me to write better, improve my ‘photography skills’, commit to ideas, meet deadlines and encourage my creativity. It’s my little corner of the internet machine that I’m proud to call home. I can’t write this blog post without mentioning the thoughtful and solid support from you guys. Encouraging me, being supportive and just understanding me and my stupid stuff. If it weren’t for you guys clicking away, Hydrangea Girl wouldn’t be here. Right. No more mushy stuff.
This year I celebrated with a fancy cupcake {which was shoved into my gaping face region mere moments after this photo}, and I also treated myself to a pretty awesome accessory … 

I had been itching for a custom necklace for a while. I figured, if Carrie Bradshaw can do it, so can I. I got in contact with the lovely Elise of Glitterbomb jewelry who was able to meet my custom request of a blog header necklace. She had the exact type as I use on my blog, and I am blown away by how perfect it is. It arrived just in time this morning and I will be rocking it all day today. Big time. 

To another three years, minimum. xx A

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Four

I thought  there was no better time than today to share one of my favourite paintings. My dad painted this picture in memory of our cheekiest nutcase of a cat, Colonel. It would have been his fourth birthday today. It’s not a very big painting, but since my dad used a toothpick to paint it, the detail and resemblance to Colonel and his character is uncanny and a perfect reminder of the little ball of crazy we once had the pleasure of living with. 

As you may have guessed, Colonel’s story doesn’t end well. This time last year I wrote about him and the warning signs of feline leukemia which you can check out here if you’d like. 

He was one sassy kitten, and we’ll always remember him with a smile and an almost impossible story.

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Man blanket

I was in the thralls of doubt when I set myself the task to crochet a blanket for my broseph’s birthday, which when I started, gave me less than 4 weeks to complete. But yesterday afternoon, 30 minutes before we left for his birthday events, I finished it. Massive sigh of relief …

As I wrote in my first post, broseph and I worked together on the blanket design – I wanted to make sure I was making a blanket that he actually was going to like. After many e-mails and Excel magic, here is what we came up with … 
Mucho manly. Mostly gunmetal grey with stripes of red and grey and a final black border. When I first started crocheting it I wasn’t convinced of the pattern and colour choice. It took until the very end when I added the black border, which was the certain je ne sais quois it needed, and I was convinced. I became a bit jealous as I secured it in a gentleman’s belt to hand over to broseph.

Oh, and something I failed to mention, broseph is 6’3″, so I had my work cut out for me. I was determined to crochet him a suitably sized man blanket. Here are the deets –

– size 7 / 4.50mm crochet hook
– 160 stitches wide, double crochet throughout
– 16 rows of gunmetal grey in between stripe patterns
– one row of single crochet border in black followed by a second row of double crochet also in black
– the final piece was taller than broseph, so close to 7 feet {zomg my crippled hands}
– {additional note} I used roughly 3 or 4 400g skeins of Aran wool in gunmetal grey for the main colour

It wasn’t completed without some war wounds – I developed a twitch in my left eye due to strain which is still to this moment thumping away {going 5 days strong}, and I also mangled my wrist since I had to pull some long hours to meet my deadline, but wrist is fine now. Having said that, it was thoroughly approved by broseph which is all I could ask for. And luckily, it matches his bedroom as well. Misson complete. 
xx A