Guest Post from the Wife:

I have a good number of creative people in my life. My mom is an artist:

My husband loves photography:

And getting pregnant has given me the opportunity to see how many of my friends also possess sweet skills. One friend gave me a homemade bib, stuffed blue polka dotted “J”, and a diaper carrying case.  I’ve received tons of decorated onesies.  Another friend made me one of the most beautiful cards I have ever seen (it’s got Junior’s monogram on it and will definitely be going in his room). Another made me a “hooter hider” (look it up).  Yet another has me on pins and needles because she’s a fantastic little crafty chick and she’s making something for Junior. And then, dear readers, a law school friend gave me this awesome little number:

It’s a baby bouquet! She rolled up onesies, hats, socks, etc. and made it into a floral arrangement! HOW COOL IS THIS!?!?!Now as much as I appreciate all these awesome presents, I’m getting a bit down on myself. The only thing I’ve ever made is my taggy blanket and, let’s be honest, it took much more work than it probably should have.

In an effort to join the ranks of my creative family and friends, I have decided to undertake a big project. BIG, people! As you may recall, we picked out this bedding for Junior’s room:

Well, as it turns out…you really aren’t supposed to use those bumpers around the edges (some people say it’s okay once they get about 9-12 months old). And I plan to buy a different fitted sheet because apparently you’re supposed to have a sheet that is SUPER tight and won’t move in the slightest when the baby moves. So that left me with just the crib skirt and quilt…for a whopping $150 or so. I thought this was a bit ridiculous…especially when there are so many other things that we really need. So I decided, “Hey! I can be crafty like my friends! I’ll just find some cute black and white fabric for about 20 or 30 bucks and make the crib skirt and quilt myself!”

Here’s the problem: we could only afford so much fabric so if it didn’t work out, Junior would be out of luck. He wouldn’t have a crib skirt or a quilt (not that he would care).  And the possibility of this not working out was pretty high---I’d never used a sewing machine prior to making those taggy blankets earlier this month and let’s be honest, a tiny blanket is much easier than an entire crib skirt. 

So I started out with the best of intentions. I went to the fabric store to get some black and white fabric, being especially careful to avoid anyone who looked as if they wanted to ask me how far along I was. I came home and measured the crib very carefully, I measured my fabric and cut it into pieces and then…I tackled it: the sewing machine. My mom sat down with me and told me how to rethread it if it came undone and how to do gathering and she let me loose. Now I’m not going to say that I didn’t freak out and get inner rage a couple times. I'm not even going to pretend like I didn’t break a heavy duty sewing machine needle and have to go buy a new one. What I will say, however, is that I am pretty flipping proud of how this skirt turned out:

(Yes, Junior’s crib is nestled between my bar certificate on one side and my diploma on the other. Our current living arrangements are kind of temporary and I don’t have anyplace else for all this stuff right now.  So Junior will be in the room where we put stuff we don’t know what to do with. Yep, we’re awesome parents.)

So I did a close up of the crib skirt and it doesn’t even show how bad the seams are! They are all uneven and gross looking. But I tried, gosh darn it! And I got a crib skirt for $20 plus the cost of frustration and a broken needle. I was going to make the quilt this weekend too but as I was finishing up the skirt, I somehow managed to get the bobbin all unthreaded and I can’t figure out how to get it fixed. So now I just have to wait until my mom can help me out again.

So now the crib is all ready! Just need to get a mattress to go on top of my new “please don’t look too closely at the seams” crib skirt. But crib mattresses are a bit pricey. Hmm…I wonder how much it would cost me to make one of those?