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SPACER

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Two Blankets, Two Ideas

I've recently made two pieced blankets for friends, and when I finished I thought they were the perfect patterns for a variety of blankets!  I am going to give you a semi tutorial.  Meaning if you've had a little experience on the machine, you'll be able to make these too.
(They are not difficult to make in the least, however, I am not doing a step by step how-to)

This was for my sweet friend Sara's new baby boy Simon.  I had a few 1/4 yards of fabric and was thinking and thinking of how to piece it and not have it look weird or like leftovers (which they weren't!).
My favorite part is the middle strip.  It'd be cute left alone, or with a variety of applique's.  I considered argyle diamonds, spelling out "sleep" or "Simon"...and ultimately settled on stars!!
On a side note, I made this ball to go with the blanket.  I always feel like I have to have a little something extra to go with "main" present.

Here are the measurements for this blanket.  The finished size is 38" x 23".  The measurements in the diagram below are what I cut the fabric, prior to sewing.  My seam allowance is 1/4".


Here is my pieced blanket #2.  This is a car seat blanket.  Heather and I discovered these about three years ago when we were making blankets for our soon to be babies, who were born only two days apart!  It is so nice to have a small blanket to squish around your newborn, instead of a full size blanket that you have to fold 8 times to get around them.

The same story for this one as well, it would be adorable without any applique at all...however an initial, heart, crown, etc. could make it so sweet too!
They can be finished by binding the edges or just simply turning inside out with a finishing stitch around the outside.  Either works. 

And when the baby gets older, it's a great little blankie to play peek-a-boo with :)
I always have to try and sneak one of my boy's in a photo shoot.  Guess it was Ollie's lucky day!
The finished size for this blanket was 24" square.  Once again, the measurements below are what the pieces were cut to, prior to sewing. My seam allowance is 1/4".
There you have it!  Two basic patterns to make a variety of easy pieced blankets!

If you are feeling adventurous and want to give one of these a try, please link us!  We'd love to see your finished project.  If you are a little nervous but would like to try it out, contact us because I'd love to answer any questions.

Happy Mother's Day!!  As for me?  Looking forward to snuggling on the couch with my oh so busy husband and watching a movie of my choice.  Mmmm can't wait.

21 comments:

Sara said...

I don't know yet what we'll do tomorrow ... but happy mother's day, sweet friend!

how fun to have simon's cute blanket on the tutorial! :) love it.

what did you back the cherry one with? it's adorable!!

Fresh Poppy Design said...

I backed the cherry one with a really soft, long minky. It doesn't look good quilted, so this was the perfect project for it!

Tales From My Empty Nest said...

Adorable blankets. You did a great job. Happy Mother's Day! Love & blessings from NC!

Megan said...

#1 I love that you went above and beyond on the font for your patterns;)
#2 The car seat blanket turned out really cute.
#3 I've been excited all day that the fabric I gave you was worthy enough to make it onto a blanket you gave to Sara.
That's a big check.

~ ~ Ahrisha ~ ~ said...

I love the addition of the initial for the blanket. Sweet.

malia said...

i love it!

grammajill said...

Too sweet, I love the cherry fabric's too, and blue giraffe, that is great!

Beverly {Flamingo Toes} said...

Those are very sweet! Thanks for the measurements. I love that little monogram quilt. I'm going to have to give that a try.

Sew Can Do said...

These are my kind of quilts - really cute, but not overly complicated. I love your fabric choices (that giraffe one looks soooo cuddly!!) Thanks for linking to Craftastic Monday!

Katie said...

I love the pink and cherries! So bright and eye catching.

Day before Michelle said...

Adorable!

Paulette said...

They're both so cute and soft looking. Thanks for the instructions too!

Dee said...

Thanks for the tute! Both of these blankets are just way out of this world fun and happy!

Leslie said...

these blankets are both so adorable. i love them. thanks for the tutorial. i am going to have to save this project for our new baby.

Sarcastic Quilter said...

very sweet... thanks for the mini-tute! :)

Miri said...

Cute and sweet!

Kristen said...

How cute are these! Love, love the cherries!

Michelle said...

Beautiful blankets! Your applique is perfect. Very cute little blanket tester too. :-)

Anonymous said...

Beautiful quilts. That cherry one is too adorable.

em's scrapbag said...

Cute little blankets. Perfect for quilt baby gifts.

Dayna said...

These are super cute, and that baby is simply yummy! I really like the idea of having a small blanket for car seat purposes. I'll pass that tidbit on to the young mothers in my life, since our "baby" will be 11 next month. Perhaps in a few years, our oldest daughter will give us a recipient of a carseat blanket from "Grandmother Dayna", or whatever they'll end up calling me.