Our nursery was on OhDeeDoh!

I didn't get a chance to post about this before, as it was right after Olivia was born and I was a bit overwhelmed and sleep deprived, but Apartment Therapy's ohdeedoh posted my submission for Olivia's nursery!  It was so exciting to see it up there - yippee!

Felt Pouf Mobile

I decided to make a mobile to hang over the changing table.  Initially, I thought I'd make a homemade version of the ugly doll mobile I saw at compassionate comfort's blog.  However, I hit a creative wall and didn't have any creatures I wanted to make out of felt.  Instead, I turned to a Japanese craft book for felt.

In the book, they used stacks of small felt pieces to make 3-dimensional "poufs" that reminded me of the tissue paper flowers I already have hanging above the crib.  I decided to make miniature felt poufs for the mobile to mirror the large paper ones hanging over the crib.

I couldn't read the book's directions since they were in Japanese, so I figured out my own way of sewing the felt together.  I'll cover this in tomorrow's tutorial for the mobile.

Nursery: Part 2

One of my favorite parts of the nursery is the wall of family photos above the changing table.  The silver frames were a housewarming gift our friends got us from Crate and Barrel and the birch frames are from Ikea.  I used Snapfish to print out copies of old family photos that my husband and I had digital copies of from scanning our parent's and grandparent's old photographs.  It took me awhile to settle on what photos to print out, and I printed out some extras in the different sizes just in case I changed my mind.  There are baby photos of my husband and I, as well as photos of our parents, grandparents, and siblings.  The bins underneath the changing pad, contain the things the baby will need most (I think).  There are newborn sized onesies, sleeping gowns, pajamas, and side-snap tees.  The bigger bins contain my growing stash of cloth diapers, towels, and washcloths.  I am still unsure where other things needed during diaper changes will go, but I'm hoping I can squeeze them on the shelves below in easy reach.

  

Nursery: Part 1

I've been working on the nursery for a few months now.  Just when I thought it was coming together, my husband decided it was time to add three more electrical outlets to the room (as there was only one).  He just finished this evening and I am just getting it back in order.  I started with the large IKEA bookshelf that is the main storage component in the room.  This particular shelf was bought more than 10 years ago, and has moved with me from at least 6 or 7 different apartments until it ended up in our first house.  There is a closet, but it's small and awkwardly shaped, and I figured that open shelves with bins were more suitable for tiny baby clothes.  I found the bins pictured below at IKEA as well, but more recently.  It was in the kid's section and seems to be a good size for onesies, booties, hats, bibs, etc...  I had a difficult time remembering what was in which bin, so I made little felt "labels" the I sewed onto the front reminding me what's in each bin.

Nesting and Crafting

I've been obsessed with getting ready for baby Nam.  For me, this has translated into trolling Craig's list, consignment stores, and my Yahoo groups for baby deals, knitting, sewing, and working on the nursery.  I've also been surfing the web for inspiration/ideas, which are compiled on my tumblelog.  I wanted to compile some of the baby crafting I've done so far. 

One of the first things I made were these taggies:

I hadn't even heard of them until my co-worker got one as a gift, but as soon as I saw it, I decided I could make it, and that it would be a good use of fabric and ribbons I already had.  I used this tutorial from Craft Blog to make them.  Other than the blue whale flannel, I had all the supplies I needed in my stash.

The next two projects I worked on came from purl bee - which has a lot of great craft ideas.   One was a a tutorial my sister found for knit baby booties, the other was one for a quilted playmat.  The playmat gave me a chance to use more fabric in my stash - one was an echino/kokka linen/cotten fabric with a bird  and leaf print and the other is an upholstery weight fabric from Ikea that I couldn't resist.  All I had to buy was the quilting for the middle.  Then I had to invest some time into hand quilting it.

Next up was more knitting, this time a baby bonnet using my favorite yarn - malabrigo.  I found the pattern in a book I borrowed from the library.  I hope baby Nam's head is small enough to fit in it.

 I've been missing the craft get togethers I used to have with friends in Chicago, and my friends Aileen and Erika obliged by having everyone get crafty at our baby shower.  They made me an origami mobile and painted onesies for the baby.

 Here's the finished mobile hanging over our Craig's list maple crib along with paper peony poufs made by my friend Becky.  I used two different sets of mural stick-ons to complete this corner of the nursery.

After a busy end of the school year, summer began and I got back to sewing.  I found an adorable elephant print flannel at Pacific Fabric and Crafts and made some double sided flannel pads - one for the changing pad and the other for the co-sleeper.

I made the mistake of not washing the flannel ahead of time, thinking they would shrink the same amount.  I was wrong - the plain, camel-colored side shrank more.  Oh well, it still works.

Our generous friends lent us a co-sleeper and a bassinet, but they both needed sheets  Rather than buy some, I decided to try making fitted sheets.  It was a bit intimidating, but ended up turning out okay.  I used this tutorial and did some math to modify the size.  I got some cute and inexpensive fabric from Ikea (3 yars for $7.99).  The most difficult part of this project was adding the elastic.  (I wish I'd known about the safety pin trick, but instead I practically ruined brand new circular knitting needle trying to thread the elastic.)  In the end, I didn't even need the elastic in the bassinet sheet and ended up taking it out.  Both sheets were for very shallow mattresses and the elastic made them a bit too tight.  Here's the one for the co-sleeper.

I'm always searching for ways to use the fabric stash I already have, and decided to make some drawstring bags that could be used for diaper changing kits.  I made three for myself and one as a gift.  The only thing I had to get was some twill tape for the drawstring.  I got the idea from another Christine who has a baby and a blog called Brunch.  She provided the link to the tutorial I used.

I stuffed this bag with clothes to bring to the hospital for baby.  I stuffed another one with things I would need at the hospital.