Patchwork Blanket

I was going on evening # 8 of being a single mother.  My nerves were fraying quickly.  A teething 15 month old, a cranky 5 yr old, a glum 10 yr old and everyone else in between.  Sensing we needed a distraction, we walked down to the neighborhood park to burn off some energy.  It had been a week of late nights and early mornings, so I tucked the kids in early.

Now what to do with myself?  Sit online browsing aimlessly?  Read my scary books and dream scary dreams?  Work in my craftroom?  I was feeling pretty lazy and a bit glum myself, but not yet ready to go to bed.

A few years back I had bought a bunch of already cut squares from an Etsy seller but never did much with them.  Earlier in the day, I had started sewing strips of fabric squares together, but was interrupted by boogers being smeared across my pant leg.

I looked at those strips that were already sewn, while it looked a bit overwhelming, I knew if I didn't do something with them right then, they'd sit for a few more years.

I started in on the rest of the stack, not bothering to see which squares I was sewing together.  Once I got started, it was so much fun.  Mindless, easy sewing.  The only thought involved was making sure the seams were sewn right.  In the back of my mind, I was remembering a quilt Kim had done.

Once the strips were done, I cut some strips of white cotton and sewed them between the printed fabric.

It helped the colors stand out.  I then zig zagged some of the strips, leaving some to do when the minky was attached.  All that zig zagging may have been overkill but sometimes overkill is a good thing.

At this point I debated between a border or no border.  I was worried a border would make it look too busy, plus it was extra time and fabric and I wanted to keep the price down.

The no border thinking won and I grabbed the nearest pink minky, which happened to be hot pink.

Those who have worked with minky know it can be finicky to work with.  As I was topstitching, I was worried I would have ripples on the backside, which is pretty common no matter how much you pin and how careful you are.

I was pretty impressed, I ended up with one little ripple.  Hardly noticeable.

The final product.  As I was sewing the squares together, part of me was wondering why I was even bothering to do it.  It seemed like it would be pretty ugly because some of the fabrics were not my style.  I do have to say, I like how it turned out.  If it doesn't sell in 4 months, I am keeping it.  Someone, somewhere will have a baby girl. :)

The listing can be found here.

Another view.

If I think of the time that went into this blanket, it was not "worth my time".  However, for how much fun it was and how it filled my evening it was worth every minute.  Sometimes I need that sort of project.  Who knows if/when I'll do more of these, although I do have some charm packs (bigger fabric squares) waiting to be used. :)