In the interest of full disclosure, my husband and I just returned from a week of warm weather, sans 4 year old son, which undoubtedly had a lot to do with my shift in perspective. Like most parents, we love our little guy immensely, but we also need a break now and then to allow that love to flourish. Being pregnant (tired, nauseous, victim to random aches/pains) during this extremely snowy MN winter had also taken its toll on my psyche, so the change of climate was a Godsend on many levels.
Organizing my ideas and fabrics so I could start sewing for the new baby's nursery today, the satisfaction and contentment settled in as I began sewing my first project, a crib skirt. The radio was on in my sunny new arts and crafts room, the space heater was cranking out warmth, and I was humming along on my good old White sewing machine, while the little guy happily kicked away in my abdomen. I was right where I wanted to be, doing exactly what I wanted to be doing! It was glorious! It was a luxury - and one well worth the other luxuries we forgo in order to live without steady income from me. It was a feeling of bliss to start giving shape to the ideas floating around in my head for this nursery. Ahhhh, satisfaction....
So what are these ideas, this master plan for decorating the nursery you may ask? Now that we know it's a boy, I picked a theme of natural linen, ticking stripes, and chenille - call it rustic/country french perhaps? I am using one of French General's new La Petite Ecole fabrics to pull together the neutral linen, cream, blues and reds of the tickings. It's vintage typography shown here:
The fabric pictured above will be used to cover inexpensive IKEA bumper pads (incidentally, I purchased the fabric from uncommon yardage on Etsy.com if you're interested in buying some yourself.) I got a roll of natural, decorator weight linen at a garage sale this summer for $4 (a steal) which I will use to sew a crib skirt. The skirt will be trimmed with a wide band of cream and red ticking stripes at the bottom, also from the same garage sale. See them pictured in the upper right corner of the photo below with my other lovely fabrics for the nursery.
My plan is to use the heavy, vintage, blue chenille bedspread I thrifted for covering the cushions of the gliding rocker in the nursery. I am a sucker for chenille! I think there's enough to also make a quilt for the crib, although babies don't really use a quilt, so maybe I'll just drape it casually somewhere in the room. I think the glider's ottoman will be covered in the fine, pale blue stripe sitting on top of the chenille in the photo. Ric rac, pom-pom ball fringe, and grosgrain ribbon are my choices for adding detail to pieces. I can't wait to see how it all turns out!
I will sew a wall hanging to go above the crib - not sure of its design yet. I'm toying with using the cream flannel squares and squares from all of the other fabrics to make a patchwork design fabric hanging resembling a quilt. It would be mounted on a metal rod, ala French General's Kaari Meng in her book Home Sewn. Or, I may sew giant letters saying, "bebe" or simply an "E" for our last name, to a large piece of linen backing and hang it behind an old window I have been dying to use in a project (the window would act as a frame.) So many ideas! Got anymore for me?
Finally, I will sew fabric liners from the various ticking stripes for the many baskets that will coral all of the baby supplies. I will pull it all together with a deep barn-red colored rag rug and a cream woven rug with barn-red stripes. (I have ideas for a mobile of sorts and some other accessories, but I need to get the basics sewn first and do a little painting - with zero VOC paint, of course.) The journey has begun, my friends! I'm happy to have you along for the ride.
May your week hold a bit of satisfaction and contentment somewhere along the way... All my best to you ~J.
