Nursery - new and old

We were in a bit of a state of flux when N joined our family last summer. We thought that we would only be renting a house in central NY for a semester before going back to our home in northern NY, yet here we remain, split between central and northern. In theory it's a great idea, summers in the Adirondacks and the academic school year in central NY. It will be great, but we're just still getting settled after being here for almost a year. Shortly after N was born I wanted to make her room look a little more homey. After scouring Flickr it seemed like the quick, homemade, fix would be to make her a bunting. Her room already had lavender walls when we moved in but I didn't want to go overboard on the pink and purple so I went for purple and yellow. The bunting worked great, except I still have yet to find a way to hang it so it doesn't fall down when it gets muggy. I made the triangles double sided since it hangs in the middle of the room rather than against a wall.

As N gets older she has started to collect things. I anticipated that she would, all kids and babies have toys, but even after years of babysitting I guess I never realized just how cluttered small toys make everything. Luckily a crafty mama can come up with a fix. 

Buckets. You've seen them, they're everywhere right now in the crafty world. They are wonderful, soft, flexible and completely baby proof. Meaning that both the baby can play with them without getting hurt and up to this point hasn't seemed to be able to hurt them. The largest size in the pattern (that my mother-in-law so wonderfully got me for my birthday) fits perfectly in the cube cubby that N has in her room for toys and books.

The pattern is here, and I can't say enough good things about it. I love that you can make nesting ones, which are next on my list. I love that she gives different options, the stripe of patchwork or just a regular color/pattern. There are a ton of pictures, almost one for each direction which I think is so lovely. You can get ambitious and make sizes that aren't listed with additional directions she provides.

I decided to make the patchwork striped ones since I had left over purple and yellow scraps from N's bunting. I did end up buying some more yardage for the inside material. Three of the buckets have yellow stitching with yellow inside, two have purple.

So far N has found all sorts of uses for them, including putting them over her head for peak-a-boo and carrying them around the house to collect things that she shouldn't have. It might have taken almost a year but the "nursery" is starting to come together to look like someone little lives there.