The Nursery Reveal...

Welcome, friends...I know you are all very eager to meet our precious little brother...

We continue to excitedly anticipate his arrival and pray for a safe delivery, and in the meantime, there is a special place I would like to show you...

It is something we have been working on for the past few weeks, and although more or less finished, I know we will continue to add new handmade items and decorations here and there...

This is the first baby boy to be welcomed into our family, and we are so delighted to be using reds and blues instead of pinks and whites this time around!  It is a whole new experience, to be sure!

The theme for our baby boy's ''corner'' is sea, and we have used all our favourite fabrics...  We actually spotted them at a material shop over a year ago, long before we knew we would even have a baby boy, and we purchased some for heartmade items... 

Well, when we discovered that after six girls there would indeed be a BOY joining our home, we just knew these gorgeous sea-themed fabrics would make the perfect nursery items...and we were right!  {{Smiles}}

It has been absolutely splendid being able to sew baby things once again, and this is the first time I have been quite so involved...  Despite having almost no budget to work with, it has been amazing to watch everything come slowly together, and to see how one can create such lovely things with only a few supplies and a whole lot of love.

Baby's nursery (not sharing his name quite yet...) is simply a small corner in my parents' bedroom, but it is a special one...  My dad painted the walls white and put up a shelf with knobs underneath to hold the few decorations we wanted to put up, and he also repainted the cupboards that we had painted pink back when Rebekah was born...(see here)

I made the curtains and cot frill from white calico and trimmed them with red gingham.  I also hand-stitched a red running stitch along the bottom for extra handmade charm.

The decorations are simple as well, but they match the sea-theme beautifully!  When we decided to use these fabrics, I just knew I wanted to make a whale softie or two for Baby's cot!  I have subsequently made a couple more for my shoppe (see here)...

I covered ever so many wooden hangers in coordinating fabrics...I used the red check, blue bubble, light blue and navy blue star as well as the main fabrics, the whales and boats.  My mom knitted a few covers as well using moss and plain knit stitch (not pictures).

 

These hangers turned out fabulously and prevent the baby clothes from catching on the wood...they also look much better than plastic ones, wouldn't you agree?

I made a ribbon taggy ball with fabric remnants (similar also available in my Etsy shoppe) for Baby to play with later on...for now it looks sweet up on the shelf!

One of my first projects was actually this mini bunting... The red bias ties in beautifully with the red gingham on the curtains and in the quilt.

This big traditional jointed teddy bear actually had a spot on our market stall before us girls decided he should be given to our baby brother instead.  And doesn't he look ever so cheerful up there?

 

Nancy re-painted and re-covered the wooden box we used for both Rebekah and Sofia.  It was looking a little tired and well...a little too pink!  She used the whale fabric for the inner and strong hessian twine for the cord.

I made these two little drawstring bags, but Nancy did the crocheting of the edges and strings...so gorgeous, don't you think?  The one little bag contains cotton wool balls and the other, baby socks...maybe I will make one or two more for some other baby goodies...or perhaps a larger one for laundry. 

 

Now for my favourite part...the quilt!  This was the last item on my list of things to make...

 I didn't intend to make it quite so big, but we had a duvet inner from Sofia's camp cot, so I decided to make the quilt into an actual duvet cover which can be used for a good two or three years, that way we didn't have to use bias on the edges or pay for fancy top stitching to be done...

I had great hopes of doing a quilt design such as a 'Yellow Brick Road', but after much consideration, Mom and I decided the fabric designs were really too busy for anything too intricate.  Plus, I also saw some adorable simple block quilts on Pinterest...and so I made my piece (pun intended) with a block quilt - I absolutely love how it turned out...

  

I spliced denim in between the quilting fabrics as I wanted to use it on the edges and as the backing of the duvet.  This worked remarkably well and added a very ''boyish'' feel to the quilt!  Wish I could sleep under it...looks so cosy, doesn't it?!  {{smiles}}

Nancy created a beautiful boat picture with fabric scraps and buttons, and I used fabric scraps to quilt the sides and make a lovely cushion...

Lastly, we found a few adorable wooden decor items at a local gift shop.  The anchor and boat hooks, as well as the little boat picture frame form a collection of sea-themed decor...

...I have forgotten to tell you a little about this special wooden cot...it was in fact my dad's cot when he was a baby...and then it was mine...  A few of my sisters used it as newborns too, and hopefully Baby will use it for his future little ones.  It is a stunning wooden cot, and is in great condition...all it required was a lick of paint!

...And so we come to the end of our tour of the nursery.  Ah, I can't tell you how eager we are to see this little boy face to face.  What will he look like...?  Will he have darker hair like Rebekah did as a baby...?  Or will he be fair like the rest of us at birth?

One thing I do know for certain...this little one will be welcomed into this world with so much love and joy...

He has six delighted older sisters who prayed for him to join their family for years and who talk to him in utero each day...

As I shared in this post, we did not think we would be at this place in life again after my mom miscarried three babies in a row at 12 weeks.  Those past trials and seasons of sadness make this time a time of great jubilee and rejoicing for us as a family and as children of God. 

Here are some ''before'' pictures...

 The nursery ''corner'' ~ before 

Gabrielle helping to fill in cracks in the wall...


 Beth filling in cracks in the wall...how happy they were to give Dad a hand!

~

As I write tears fill my eyes as I think of the graciousness of God - that He chose to answer this prayer leaves me in absolute awe.  

 He is our loving Father, but many times His answer is not what we are looking for...replies such as these are difficult to bear and are often met with great frustration and sorrow on our parts.   

But He is with us through our grieving and I believe He weeps with us in our pain...

Thus, we are humbled that the Lord would see fit to bring yet another life into our family, and we pray that this child will go forth and be a light unto the nations for the glory of God!

~

Dear friends, I am so glad you could join me for a peek into our baby's nursery...hopefully my next post will be a birth announcement!  Thank you for your prayers, your love and for sharing our joy - it means so much to us, and we are delighted that this baby will be greeted with such gladness!

Many blessings on the rest of your week...