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Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

While I was expecting my little buddy, my sister gave me a fun Farber balloon mobile from Ikea. I'd been browsing through many many ideas for nurseries, but the ones I thought were cute were out of my price range, and I hadn't seen anything I just had to have. I liked the colors of the balloon, and there was a cute little frog in the basket which gave me the idea...why not design a nursery around the old nursery rhyme-"Frogs and Snails and Puppy-dog Tails"? So I started searching the internet-and for such an obvious nursery theme for a baby boy, I didn't find anything! So with all the energy a working pregnant lady has I decided to do it myself. I did get most of it done before he arrived, and added a few touches later.
A neighbor gave me a changing table-but I wanted to hide the supplies, so I sewed some simple hanging curtains with a red pleat and tied it on at the corners. I used iron-on interfacing to applique a dragonfly onto a diaper holder, which also ties to the changing table.
My hubby snuck out of the hospital sometime on the day we took the baby home, and bought me an antique rocking chair. It is perfect! I'd looked for a rocking chair and hadn't found one I liked. I love this one because it is small, doesn't dominate the room, but is still wide enough for me :) I sewed a cover for a cushion to go on the chair (because the antique cushion wasn't as comfy as it could be). The crib had a gap between the drawers and the mattress when the mattress was set at it's highest, so I made a dust ruffle that matched the changing table. The thing that took me the longest to get done was the crocheted rug-the actual crocheting went really fast but I made it out of inexpensive sheets from Wal-mart, and tearing the fabric into strips and connecting them together took as long as making the rug. I also underestimated how many sheets I would need, so the project was suspended a few times. I sewed a nursing pillow cover out of denim and red fleece and the white afghan was made by grandma!

We had this organizer already, and I found some drawers for it-but still need to get two more that match...if I get around to it.
I found some green fleece to make a little receiving blanket, and on a whim I made a little red puppy out of leftover fleece from the nursing pillow. It's been chewed a bit around the nose but you get the idea :)
I had to show you this frog lamp a friend gave me that fit perfectly into the theme and colors. It might need to be packed up once little buddy is mobile.
The valence for the blinds matches the changing table and crib ruffle, but I appliqued a paw print on it to see what it would look like. I'd originally planned on adding a few more designs like a dog bone or shell, but I decided less was more here.
The quilt was the first thing I made, and was my first attempt at iron-on applique quilting. It turned out ok, but I learned a few things for next time. It was too big for the baby at first, and it gets really hot here, so it ended up as a wall quilt for now. You can also see the Farber balloon.


4 comments:

  1. Wow, your first picture of the nursery looks like a magazine! My house never looks that nice anymore. Maybe someday I'll make it out there to see it in person. :)

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  2. I've seen both versions, frogs and snakes, but I'm not sure which is original. I grew up hearing it frogs and snails. I decided to go with frogs because the mobile had a frog, it picked up the green I wanted to use in the room, and because I thought I could draw a cuter frog.

    Little buddy is obviously not to the stage where he makes much of a mess. He also hasn't built up a toy stash that overflows onto the floor yet :)

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  3. You should put matching appliques on the front of the fabric baskets. That would be cute.

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