Friday, April 22, 2011

Brockamania

I put a sewing project below, so I feel I'm entitled to post a few proud mama pictures of my little Brockster. He's 9 months and a week old.

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He's a wonderful, happy little boy with really cute hair.

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He's not to eager to get mobile. Well, I think he wants to, but he gets frustrated and doesn't want to try too hard. That sounds kind of like me with most things.

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(acorn storage)

Boy does this kid smile!

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I can't believe he's going to be a year in just a few months. Unbelievable!

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Cut-chenille blanket

I recently came across this beautiful blanket and its tutorial. I thought to myself: "I only have two part-time jobs, a baby and a home to care for. I'm so bored that I should totally do this."

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It's not really a cheap project, or a fast one. That's because you need a yard of quilters cotton and three yards of flannel.

I started with these fabrics. I am not one for peace signs, but I knew you couldn't see them in the end result, and I like that they had the chartreuse color.

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The basic idea is that you layer all of these together, channel quilt every 1/2 inch and then cut through only the flannel.

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Then you bind and wash. The washing fluffs and frays the flannel into beautiful chenille. See the lovely tutorial at Aesthetic Nest for more detail on the how-to. Hers was so beautiful, I had to try it. I thought it would be a fairly easy project, but it did take quite a lot of work, so I don't think I'd do another.

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Instead of doing a square, I left mine as a rectangle to utilize more of my fabric. I'm glad I did, because it was pretty wonky by the time I finished all the channel stitching, and I had to cut off quite a bit to square it up.

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Although I loved Aesthetic Nest's beautiful satin binding, I decided to go with a cotton in a chartreuse that matched the blanket. I'm loving the effect.

As much as I want to stare at this forever, I have decided to give it to Amy "Chickenbone Jones," who is having her second baby in June (I think! I know a lot of pregnant people right now and I'm starting to lose track of due dates.)

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I hope Amy doesn't see this, but if she does, it will be there eventually. I am pretty lazy about visiting the post office. She doesn't know the sex of her baby, but I think this blanket would be fine for either a girl or a boy, despite it being blue.

Just for fun, here's the quilt I made for Mia, her first.