Ooh, Baby Baby! {Guest Post - A DIY Baby Blanket}

Hey fellow crafters!  Remember Laura?  She's a mutual friend of Sharon and I and she's super crafty--you may remember her Fabric Canvas idea from a few months ago.  Well, she's back and this time she has created a gorgeous baby blanket!  Take it away, Laura!

Thanks again, crafty girls, for allowing me to guest post a second time! Your blog is one that I visit nearly every day, so being a part of it today is fun for me! You gals rock.  {Note from Tristin: We LOVE flattery.  It works every time!}

Some friends of my husband and I recently had a little girl, and they named her Sparrow. What a unique name! I wanted to make something for the new little one, and a baby blanket seemed appropriate. After browsing aisles of material at Jo-Ann Fabrics (coupons in hand) I settled on ultra fleece in pink and white. This is the softest material I have ever felt, and I almost didn't want to give it away! But I knew it would be perfect for a baby blanket.

Since the little girl's name is Sparrow, and her mother appreciates birdwatching from time to time, I decided to incorporate that theme into my blanket design.

The first sketch of the tree branch with sparrows was done with a pencil on regular copy paper taped together, however next time I'll just draw it straight onto the tracing paper so as not to double my efforts. Once drawn and corrected to my liking, I traced over it with a permanent marker so I could see it through the tracing paper. (See what I mean about doubling my efforts?)

Next, I cut out the pattern and pinned it to the white fleece, and then cut the fleece according to the pattern. This was kind of tricky to maneuver at first because the material was somewhat slinky and hard to manage. Once cut out, I then pinned it to the pink fleece which was my background for the scene. Using a sewing machine with the presser foot up, I stitched around the edge of the design to the background. The reason for leaving the foot up is two-fold: the material is somewhat bulky to run through the machine, and it allowed for a nice puffy touch to the design (okay, technically there's a third reason- I just plain forgot that I left the foot up until I was almost halfway through sewing!).

Next, I placed the blanket backing and the front right sides together and sewed around all except for about six inches of the blanket, leaving room to turn it right side out.

The remaining six inches I hand stitched closed. And there you have it- a super soft baby blanket for a sweet little girl.

I think little miss Sparrow likes it, too.

Thanks, Laura for such a fabulous idea.  It was  a pleasure to have you share such a lovely project with us, and we can't wait to see what's in store for next time!