"All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother." ~A. Lincoln

When I first found our I was pregnant, I started looking at crib bedding. I quickly realized that I had a taste for bedding that was way too expensive!!! My mom and I were a little horrified at how costly it could all get. Then my mom had the wonderful idea to make the crib bedding together. We decided on a sewing weekend in May, and I went to work to find the perfect fabric. Before I knew it I was headed to Covington to sew. Thus began a wonderful five days of sewing, cursing, laughing, and learning with my wonderful mother!!!

I arrived in Covignton on Thursday afternoon. I'll admit that my mom and I did not buckle down immediately to sew, because we had to chat for a bit... awhile... a few minutes... OK, I don't know how long; we just chatted, but we did finally head up to my mom's sewing room to work out ideas. Before we could even begin to cut the fabric, we had to do the background work of deciding on details and LOTS of math. Before long, it was dinner time, so we decided to eat and get to the major work on Friday.

We started with the skirt. I had picked out a natural linen and wanted to band it with lace. After we had cut all the strips for the skirt, I went by a local discount fabric store to look for lace. I found the lace I wanted, but it was attached to a 3 inch band of very tacky fabric. So, I planned on using a seam ripper to detach the lace. When my wonderful/honest mother saw what I had gotten, her eyes went wide. I think she was trying to think of a kind way to tell me what I had gotten was not going to work. I quickly told her my plan to detach all the lace, and she was quite relieved to see I had not completely lost my mind. Before long, both of us were worn out on sewing and decided to call it quits. We were still not finished with the skirt and both realized this would be a longer process than we thought.

The following is a picture of the linen with the lace trim:

My mom did the real work of sewing while I ironed...and ironed...and ironed

Finally on Saturday we finished the skirt and we were both thrilled with the results. It was so nice to see a finished product after much hard work and many pin pricked fingers.

After church and a long leisurely lunch (one of my favorite parts of being back home), we began the arduous task of bumpers!!! There was a considerable amount to work out since the directions that came with the bumper inserts were not clear. We decided to do four separate bumpers with the idea that if sweet little Charlotte spit up on one then all of them would not have to be be cleaned. We also thought we would do invisible zippers on all the bumpers. After spending a few hours trying to figure out how to attach them I decided to go without. My poor mother had spent all this time learning how to attach them for me to say "never mind" but she's amazing and went right along with my decision.

I also wanted a ruffle for the top of the bumpers. Let me warn y'all; we had already realized the misery of ruffles while making the bed skirt and now we had to make tiny ones. My mom started on the ruffles Monday morning but before too long the ruffler foot on her sewing machine gave out. Not fun... good thing Charlotte can't understand words yet!!!

After much work we finally finished them and both agreed it was worth it:

But this is what my mom wanted to do to the fabric:

And I was pretty sour about ruffles as well!!!

Then we had to attach the ruffle to the bumper fabric... not fun either, but we eventually finished and the results made us squeal with delight.

We powered through to get them finished Monday because my mom had to go back to work Tuesday and I had to get back to my husband!!!

The last bit was hand stitching the bumper closed after the insert was in place. I hated this almost as much as the ruffle but the end was in sight!!!!

Finally, at 6pm Monday evening we finished!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We celebrated by eating pistachios on the porch and our favorite cream cheese and pepper jelly :) My mom helped me pack up, and I hit the road to Scottsboro to see how it would look and fit in the crib.

The following are pictures of the nursery thus far along with the finished bedding.

Drapes:

Lamps:

Dresser/changer:

The bedding and crib:

And the finished product:

I still have to find a chair, and I'd like a very small bookcase. I really love how everything has turned out. I had so much fun making the bedding with my mom, and I learned a ton about sewing. Now I feel confident enough to make a blanket to match the crib. I will always look back on our sewing weekend with happiness...and laugh about how frustrating it became at points and think with fondness about all our crazy moments (all the silk needles, losing rulers, and just general scattered brains). Thank you so much Mom. You are amazing, and I thank God everyday for our friendship. I only hope that I can be half the mom to Charlotte as you have been to me. Oh, and I am thinking that if Ben and I have a boy next... maybe we get his bedding from Target :)

"If the whole world were put into one scale, and my mother in the other, the whole world would kick the beam." ~Lord Langdale

"A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts. " ~Washington Irving

Who knows, maybe one day Charlotte and I will sew bedding for her own child!!!