Bye, Bye, Girly Nursery!

As time goes on, my little girl keeps getting bigger and bigger. She doesn't seem much like a baby anymore, and is now a little person. Before she was born, I had a lot of fun sewing a little quilt for her and crocheting a coordinating afghan, and dreaming up what her nursery would look like once we moved to a larger home and had the space for it. That happened when she was about two months old, and in several months after moving, her nursery was finally finished. Now she is a little over 1 1/2 years old, and is ready to move up to a big-girl room with a toddler bed. She will be getting a little brother in August, so she has to vacate the crib for his use in the coming months. So I am now looking back and remembering how much fun I had putting together her nursery, and I thought I would share some pictures.

This is the quilt I made for her, about two years ago. When I was looking around JoAnn's fabric store while I was pregnant with her, I saw that cream-colored fabric with the little roses on it, and instantly fell in love. I found the red gingham and green calico fabric minutes after, and I loved the combination. This was my first quilt I ever made, so the pattern I made for it was quite simple, and it has many flaws. I'm not too worried about it, though. It was a very good learning experience, and it was made with lots of love. :)

I crocheted this cream-colored afghan around the same time as I made the quilt. I have been crocheting since before I was about 12 (thanks to my Aunt Joy for teaching me!), and wanted to make a nice soft afghan for my baby girl to snuggle with. It is also quite simple, but I love it just the same.

I have had this upholstered rocking chair for a little over 5 years now. I bought it while away at college from a second-hand store for $20, and have never regretted it! It fits me perfectly and is very comfy. I have rocked my baby girl to sleep in it so many times, and look forward to rocking my baby boy in it, too.

This little birdcage hangs above the rocking chair, with a pretty little ribbon on it and plastic birds inside. I liked the vintage appearance to it, and thought its style matched the quilt. I think it will make its way into the big-girl room, it will just need a little spray paint.

This is the crib, and I absolutely love it! My dad enjoys woodworking, and after my hubby and I told my parents we were expecting our first child, he offered to build a crib for her! He had never made one before, and he really outdid himself. He spent so many hours planning it, taking measurements, and being outside in the heat working with the wood and constructing it. It is very sturdy and heavy (made from solid oak), and he likes to say that a truck could be parked on it and the crib wouldn't even know! He made it from some of the oak trees in the woods behind the farm home I grew up in.  I spent so much of my childhood playing back there with my siblings, and have many fond memories from that time. So now, thanks to my amazing dad, I always have a little part of the farm with me and my children!

This is the crib-skirt I made for the crib. Actually, "re-purpose" may be a better word. One day when I was at Goodwill, I found this cream-colored bed-skirt that was queen-sized. After looking at it I realized it would match my baby's quilt nicely, and I could just cut it down to the right size and sew it back together. It required a little work, but it only cost me $1.99 and I was up for the challenge. That same shopping trip, I also found the sheets for the crib. I thought they matched the gingham in the quilt closely enough, and there were two of them for only $1.99 apiece. Needless to say, I was quite happy after that shopping excursion, and was very proud of the bargains I found.

I had enough fabric left over from the bed-skirt re-fashion and quilt construction to make these two little throw pillows. My little girl loves snuggling with them now that she's bigger (they are usually not in the crib with her, I just put them in there for the photos).

This is the changing table I used with her when she was smaller, I got a good deal on it from Craigslist. Hopefully someday I can sand it down and stain the wood to match the crib. Those boxes used to be boxes we used for moving, but I found some nicely-priced upholstery fabric and my mom and I covered them with the use of Tacky Glue. It has been a nice inexpensive alternative to a dresser.

 I found this fun little shelf from Goodwill, and gave it a nice coat of spray paint. The books came from the same place, and matched the style of the room well. I received the doll from my Aunt Joy as a gift when I was a little girl, and I thought she would be very pretty sitting on a shelf in my little girl's room. The vase is a glass vinegar bottle, and when the vinegar ran out, I cleaned it up and wrapped it in twine. Those vases are really fun to make, and I have made several more since this one.

After my little girl was born, my mom came out to visit, and helped me make these curtains. She is an amazing seamstress, and taught me how to sew when I was a little girl. When I was growing up she did a lot of sewing, and helped my sisters and me make dresses for our formal high school events. I have lots of fun memories of my mom sewing when I was young, and of sewing alongside her as I got older. I really like how these curtains turned out, and I know they would not have been made without her help!

During that same visit, my mom also made this little stuffed animal hammock. I really liked Pooh Bear when I was little, and the smaller bear on the right was a gift to me from my parents when my little sister was born. They told me it was my "big sister gift" and that being a big sister was a very important job.

So there is my little girl's nursery, and my trip down memory lane. I have had lots of sweet memories with my baby girl, but she is no longer a baby, and I am so excited to watch her grow into a little lady!