Friday, October 25, 2013

thank God for crafty friends.

 Last night after work Catherine came over and OMG MADE A HUGE MESS OF MY DINING ROOM!!!!!

Sheesh. I mean, you invite a friend over and then they show up and totally wreck your still-clean-from-the-home-study house? Ridiculous.


Luckily the mess was not in vain. As you probably deduced, there was definitely a reason for the dining room-turned-seamstress-factory. Our crib bumpers!! (Which I know are completely pointless, possibly dangerous, and altogether unnecessary. I know. But they are also really cute, adorable, and fun, and so...yeah. I will absolutely take them off when they are a safety hazard. But for now I really want them.)

I count myself as very blessed that I have such talented friends who are willing to shoulder the brunt of the work when I make rash decisions like deciding I must have homemade custom crib bumpers...but I can barely pull my own sewing machine out of the closet without breaking it and getting so frustrated I scream. Catherine came over to "help"...and by "help," obviously I mean that she did 90% of the work and I did the tasks that a first-grader could have mastered. But then later in life I'll take all the credit for my sweet bumpers, don't worry. I'll forget the part where Catherine actually did most of it and I pretty much ironed and fueled her with snacks. Whatever. That's what friends are for.

It was a very fun evening, despite the frustration that's inherent in any sewing project (for me). And by 9:30 we actually had something to show for our struggles: ONE (of six) COMPLETED BUMPER!

If this isn't the most awkward picture you've ever seen, I don't know what is. I would like to blame it on the fact that the fashion industry/blogosphere has not yet offered us a standardized "here's how you pose with your homemade crib bumper and a friend" pose yet, so we were just winging it. And also tired. And also pretty excited. So whatever. At least you can see the bumper! (The zig-zag fabric hanging from the dresser behind us is the crib skirt. Since we don't actually have a CRIB yet, we were improvising so that we could see how it'll look)

We still have a lot of work to do to complete the other five bumpers (including me going back to the fabric store for more fabric), but most of the prep-work is done (cutting, measuring, etc.) so the rest of it should go much faster. I am all set to finish all the ties myself over the weekend, but Catherine will have to come back (with her serger, because it is awesome) to "help" me actually sew the rest of the bumpers together.

It's you and me, baby. This weekend. Don't you dare break or have any BOBBIN PROBLEMS because I will kick you in the face.
It made for a wonderful Thursday night. Let's face it, even if I could sew all this stuff by myself, why would I want to? It's a great excuse to hang out with Catherine for a few days. And then one day I can tell Ellison all about how her room decorations came to be, how her Nannie (my mom) and I made her crib skirt, how Auntie Catherine made the bumpers, and how the thread on the underside of the ties is cream instead of white because her mommy is completely inept at threading bobbins and decided that she really didn't care if it was a different color because that was just blasted easier. All kinds of love and life lessons there, right? Right. 

And now it's Friday! In honor of my Canadian friend Janet, and because she so kindly supplied me with more than just junk food in my package, I spent a few minutes playing with some of her props for a little mini-Funny Face Friday session. Janet does these almost every week and it always makes me happy.



Have a great weekend!!


15 comments:

  1. Excellent work on the bumpers! They really do make cribs look so cute. We never had any, so our crib looked a little dull.

    At least cream and white are close in color? Because I guarantee I would have been okay with like hot pink or red or something because sewing machines are stupid.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The bumpers are SO cute - I love them! What a fun, modern crib set you are making! And bobbins are evil.

    I'm 100000% jealous that you have access to a Serger. Do want!

    ReplyDelete
  3. The bumper looks amazing...I love the colors! Good work ☺
    LOL...good to see you are enjoying the props!

    ReplyDelete
  4. the MESS! what NERVE. j/k. Thank you Lord for Catherine and her amazing sewing talents (and all around awesomeness). It looks FANTASTIC!

    ReplyDelete
  5. These are so cute... I love the fun colors! And because you asked for our opinions... :) We have bumpers like this in our crib. Once Griffin was no longer swaddled and began to move around the crib more, I was so worried about SIDS, suffocation, etc and was trying to figure out if we needed to remove them and replace with the breathable mesh ones. Well, as it turns out, as he moved around the crib, he also discovered a really fun toy, the bumpers!!! We have multiple videos during nap time where he is moving them up and down and giggling during the process. I decided then if he's capable of playing with them, he's not going to get stuck under them! So we're the awful parents that still have the dangerous bumpers in their crib :) But at least I smile every time I walk in and see our cute bedding!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Quite honestly that's what friends are for! Hey that's a song!!! Loving the beautiful colors you're using in Ellison's room. Looking forward to seeing the reveal.

    ReplyDelete
  7. If Ellison is anything like Clara you will be glad to have the bumpers!! Now at 17 months Clara goes CRAZY playing in her bed. I swear if she didn't have bumpers her head would be bruised and knotted from all the head banging she does in there. Ha!

    Great work!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Another personal story...I have a 2 year old...she still has bumpers! I took the bumpers out once when everyone started "warning me". She didn't sleep at all during that nap because her legs kept falling out of the crib. SO, I immediately put them back in and have never had any problems. With the invention of video monitors, you're able to see how your child sleeps. If for some reason they consistently put their head under the bumper, take them out. If not, leave them there! Plus they are cute and cozy!

    ReplyDelete
  9. We totally use the bumpers (on 3 of the 4 sides of the crib)! Hooray for crafty friends that are generous with their craftiness!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Super cute! And yes it will be a great story!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Love your fabric choices! And your dining room table, too!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. how stinking cute are those! I was wondering what all the pinterest pictures were all about ;)

    ReplyDelete
  13. I love the colours you have chosen. Ellison is going to have an awesome nursery. 1) We used crib bumpers. Otherwise our kids would have had nasty bruised heads. But we didn't use them until the kids were old enough not to crawl underneath them unintentionally. 2) I don't even have a sewing machine so Sam's cream coloured curtains are hemmed in green thread because I didn't know how to change the thread on my friend's sewing machine. So cream bobbin thread is no big deal in my books!

    ReplyDelete

I love comments almost as much as I love Mexican food. Seriously.