I had a lot of fun making the baby blanket for my son’s room.

Initially, I didn’t set out to make the blanket myself, but the more I looked at commercially available (unattractive and expensive) crib blankets, and the more I looked at the amazing fabrics that are available, I decided I had to make my son’s nursery bedding and other accessories myself.

I didn’t want to get into quilting a baby blanket. I like to sew by hand (I usually end up stressed when I get out my sewing machine), so I wanted to avoid anything that was too labor intensive. I decided on a blanket made from Creatures and Critters fabric by Amy Schimler for Robert Kaufman and chocolate brown minky dot fabric.

I also decided I wanted the minky fabric to act as a trim around the top fabric but couldn’t find a pattern anywhere that described how to do this. I worked out the steps myself (you’ll find the baby blanket pattern I worked out on the main Inspiri site as well as fabric sources.). Given my limited sewing experience, I’m quite happy with the way it turned out.

Technically, this baby room mural should be filed under my husband’s crafty projects. I created the image (based on an image I liked from the Better Homes and Gardens website), but he did all of the painting. I like the fact that it’s understated and not too cutesy, and I’m convinced that unless you are a skilled painter, the key to creating a good looking baby room mural is to keep things simple, stick with images that use simple lines and consider using a single color that’s a few shades darker than your wall color.

You’ll find instructions for how to paint your own baby room mural on the main Inspiri site.

I have an old rocking chair that I used in my oldest son’s nursery. It used to have a decorative disc in the seat (it looked like leather, but turned out to be some kind of thick cardboard) Unfortunately, the disc ripped, making the chair unusable.

I like the chair. It’s comfortable and fits perfectly in our small nursery, and while I didn’t want to put much money into fixing the chair, I also didn’t really want to buy a new chair for the nursery. Here’s my fast, easy, no carpentry skills required, chair repair solution.

The chair seat measured approximately 17×17. The diameter of the hole was approximately 12 inches. I simply used the minky fabric that was left over from making the baby blanket I made to make a pillow with a board inside to cover the hole in the seat.

Step One:
I cut the minky fabric into a 16 by 32 inch rectangle (I would have cut it a bit larger to cover the seat more completely, but I didn’t have enough leftover minky fabric).

Step Two:
Next, I folded the minky fabric right sides together to form a 16 by 16 inch square and sewed around two edges, leaving one edge open.

Step Three:
I turned the fabric so the right sides face out.

Step Four:
I placed a 15 by 15 inch board inside the pocket formed by the fabric and then lightly filled the pillow with stuffing.

Step Five:
I sewed the remaining edge of the pillow closed and place the pillow on the seat.

This was an easy, quick fix to repair the chair and saved me from going out and buying a chair that I didn’t really want to buy.

While I’m sure someone with decent carpentry skills would have come up with a more elegant solution, this quick fix was easy, it made use of my existing skills and it was free because it only required materials that were available around the house. I’ve had several people sit on it to test the chair, and the pillow stays in place and is quite secure.

There’s a new baby on the way in my house, and since I wasn’t able to find nursery decor that I liked for a reasonable price, I’ve taken on the task of making my own crib blanket, nursery curtains, crib skirt, baby room wall art, etc., etc.

Over the next several weeks I’ll post instructions for the various projects I’ve been working on over the past couple of months.

I’ve been avoiding things like paint, so my husband also got crafty and painted a tree silhouette on the nursery wall (inspired by this room on the Better Homes and Gardens site). I’ve searched the Internet to find suitable fabric to fit with the theme, and finally decided on this Creatures and Critters fabric by Amy Schimler for Robert Kaufman, which I bought from Web Quilter on eBay.

At this point the nursery is finished, and I’m really happy with the results. All of the projects were simple and inexpensive to make. Together they let me create a coordinated nursery that is unique and reasonably priced.