During December, the Granddaughter and I were walking through the fabric department at Hobby Lobby when we passed a display of Minky Dots and she was mesmerized! She was rubbing her hands over it, ooohing and aaahing and said, "Nana, I want a blanket made from this for Christmas." I truthfully told her that I was already so far behind on my gift making, it would be impossible for me to get a blanket done in time for Christmas. Sweet and unrealistic, she thinks I can do anything, so she gave me this look of disbelief and said with just a hint of sarcasm, "Well, how about for Valentine's Day?" Alrighty then!
I was in the fabric department at JoAnn's right around Christmas and it was definitely my lucky day. Minky fabrics are regularly priced around $13-15 per yard but they were on sale for half-price and I had a coupon for 15% off my entire purchase. Anticipating making her the requested blanket for Valentine's Day, I bought two yards each of Minky Dots in blue and regular Minky in zebra stripe ...
These Minky fabrics are incredibly soft -- the ridiculous kind of soft that triggers thoughts of Minky underwear -- and they're very popular for making baby blankets. They run about 58" wide and I bought 2-yard lengths so I'd have pieces of fabric around 58" x 72" to work with. They're such a nice weight that they're warm and cozy without needing batting in the layers.
It's a little bit tricky to sew because of the stretchiness so I found the best way to deal with it was to use a lot of pins and place them close together.
First I pinned the pieces and sewed them wrong sides together, leaving a section open to turn the blanket right-side out. Then I pinned again and topstitched around the outside edge.
I also used the embroidery machine to make a label for her blanket. Her nickname has been Baby Girl since the day she was born ...
I hand-stitched the label to the zebra side. I hope she likes it ...
Happy Anniversary to my middle sister and her sweet hubby
and a Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!!!
