Baby Blanket for James

Soon, very very soon, James will arrive. He's overdue right now. His mama is excited.

Maybe he'll feel more welcome in this world with a soft blanket.  (I'm guessing he already has some waiting; I'm pretty sure his parents are ready).

I made this little blanket out of leftover fabrics.  I had some leftover dog minky from Halloween, and I had some leftover tan Cars fabric.  Actually, the cars fabric was going to be a dress for Gracie, but I never did get it made and then she lost interest in wearing Cars dresses.  Anyway, I still had it and the fabrics matched up nicely!  Yay for nice big scraps!

Since I overpurchased these fabrics quite some time ago and they now considered scraps, they are also in my mind considered cost free. Free! This blanket cost nothing! 

All I did was put the two layers together and topstitch the edges. There isn't any stuffing in between since the minky is so fluffy already. The blanket is small, just a little carseat or stroller blanket, or a good lovey sized blanket. But it won't keep him warm if he grows long legs in a few years.

Hurry up, James.

*Update:  Baby James arrived on January 8th.  He sure likes his soft blanket!

Monster Blanket

I made two "Monster Blankies". I saw the cutest panel for a baby quilt at the quilt fabric shop in old town and I just had to have it!

The panel already has a quilt printed on it, this promised to be easy-peezy! The preprinted blocks were the alphabet letters in monster style. Cute baby pastel colored monster letters! Too adorable to leave in the store! They only had two yards left and none in the bright colors meant for a boy quilt. I went home with the remaining monsters.  I had to pair it with something for the back and I thought something soft and snuggly would be best. Off to Hobby Lobby  for something soft. I found a  hot pink with white polka dot minky. It feels so soft it makes me want to snuggle!  They didn't have any satin blanket binding that matched, so we went to Joann Fabrics.  They didn't have it either.  Walmart, and our last hope, they had hot pink! Score! Grabbed all they had (3 packages, hope that's enough).

I put some batting in between and the little monster blanket was nice and cushiony soft. The edges of the panel were printed right up to the edges of the fabric, which made adding the binding a little tricky. I had to fold the binding all in half and iron it so that it became 1" rather than 2" binding. That's a lot of ironing.

I quilted all around each monster block to hold the layers together. That was fun because I spent so much time looking at each adorable monster. I really enjoyed this fabric!  Then I added the satin binding. I really do not know what I'm doing exactly, and it shows in the corners. Binding is the hardest part and so many people make it look so easy. Someday I will master this, but for now I just have to hope the babies who receive these blankets don't look at the corners too closely. 

One blanket is for Gracie's teacher. She is having a baby girl in November and I think monsters and hot pink polka dots are going to fit her style just fine. She has a fun personality.  The other blanket will be for Katie if she has a girl, or for the neighbor across the street who is also having a girl. If Katie is having a baby girl (we find out soon) then I'll make another blanket for the neighbor, but I don't know if the store has more monster fabric or not. I should go back and find out. I am waiting to hear if Katie is having a girl or boy. Maybe the store will have the bright boy panel, and maybe I'll need that one. I'm dying to find out! In the meantime, I have one girl blanket ready for the neighbor or Katie. 

Minky fabric isn't cheap and neither was the monster fabric. I wish sewing was a good way to save money, surprisingly, it isn't. But, I love doing it!

I am so happy that I made this blanket for Gracie's teacher, Ms. Andria. I could tell by the look on her face that she loved it. Hope her little baby does too.