Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Mardi Gras Blanket


My daughter was only home for a few days of her spring break, but we managed a little heart-to-heart about some of the challenges of freshman life. Our solution to whatever tough challenges may face her in spring quarter was a nice, new snugly, study blanket. Hey, it's a lot better than sending her homemade cookies every week! She asked for something yellow or maybe orange.

I made the blanket out of fleece, 2.5 yards of yellow and 2.5 yards of orange. I also used several quarter yard pieces of different colors of fleece for the appliques. I made my swallow shape out of sandpaper, which griped the fleece nicely and kept my birds from shifting around while I was cutting them out. I winged the wing, trying out different places and shapes of feathers. Sometimes I created long ones and sometimes just little pin feathers at the tips, sometimes two colors, other times just red or purple. I liked the mosaic-swallows that emerged, though I think the yellow and orange also gives it a mardi gras look. I ended up making twelve of them, starting with a batch of four, glue-sticking them down, then appliqueing with a zig zag stitch in bright orange. I did a lot of batck and forth, laying it out on my daughter's bed and considering whether or not I had enough birds. At ten I was sure I did, because I was just tired of making the little guys. But it really needed two more. 

More on later....