When we were planning Andrew's room, or the baby's nursery, many people inquired as to our theme. I noticed that the store "Babies R Expensive" sold almost exclusively character themed nursery items--bedding, lamps, wallpaper borders, linens, so on. I did not want the baby's room covered in baby Mickey's or baby Snoopy's or even teddy bears. It wasn't my taste and I wanted him to discover what he likes so we could decorate his room with his interests. It wasn't easy, but I did manage to find reasonably priced baby bedding in just colors online. His room was painted the exact shade of smoky blue that matched his blue/tan/chocolate brown bedding and window treatments. I still love it and won't need to change the colors for a while, since they are timeless.
Now at almost two and a half, Andrew has definitely developed his interests. We have controlled how much television he has been exposed to and currently limit it to mostly PBS shows that are commercial free. He has become extremely fond of Curious George. We watch George shows almost daily. They are great to occupy him in the morning while I get ready or in the afternoon while I cook dinner. We have the movie, and I just discovered that a second George movie is being released to DVD next week! (It may arrive here via the Easter Bunny in April.) We read Curious George books daily. He has amassed quite a collection, since George does a lot with his friend, the man with the yellow hat. A favorite is when George visits the chocolate factory. Andrew actually tries to taste the chocolates in the book.
So what all this explanation is leading up to is that I caved and bought Curious George fleece and made Andrew a blanket for his room. He helped me pick it out at Joann's Fabrics last week. (We also bought some George fabric to start some sewing projects.) It took me about two hours to cut and assemble, but I finally finished Andrew's George blanket the other night. To say he likes it is an understatement. Tonight he was kissing it goodnight and telling George's fleece picture that he loves him.
Here's how I made it, although I may be the last person on earth to have ever made one of these. I found directions by googling fleece blankets with ties. What gave me the idea was a blanket, a smaller one, that I found for sale on Etsy for about $25. Once I realized that the George fleece wasn't uncommon, like some of the descriptions claimed, I decided I could make a blanket for less than $20. With a coupon, I ended up paying under $15 for the fleece.
Supplies:
1.5 yards of top fleece
1.5 yards of coordinating fleece for the bottom layer
Rotary cutter
Cutting Mat and straight edge
- I washed the fleece first, before I did anything. It is so soft! Then, I spread out the yellow (bottom layer) fleece on the floor with the wrong side facing up. I then lined up and spread the George fleece, right side up, on top, meeting the ends as much as possible.
- Using the rotary cutter and mat underneath, in sections, I trimmed the edges of the fleece to match so both pieces were the same size. I was working on carpeted floor, and found that the rotary cutter would not work well without the cutting mat underneath.
- Using the straight edge/ruler, I cut out a 4 inch square on each corner of the fleece. Using the straight edge as a guide, I made four inch long cuts along the borders of the fleece, spaced one inch apart. I cut around all four sides of the fleece. To keep the layers lined up properly I tied one or two fabric strips together on each side as I finished that edge. I was too lazy to find my straight pins!
- Once all the fringes were cut, I tied every other fringe on the top layer to the matching fringe on the bottom layer. Then I flipped the blanket layers over and tied the remaining fringes. This did create a nicer look, as it alternated the colors a bit in the fringe ties.
- That's it! Child loves it. It is the largest blanket he owns and will work great once we convert his crib into a toddler bed later this year.
So the sixth snow storm of this winter is over. It did get incredibly windy last night, so much so that it kept me up most of the night. It continued to snow half of today, although it was so windy, it didn't seem to accumulate too much. I think we lucked out and didn't get the worst of it. In the Poconos, apparently they received 25 inches! Ugh. There is another storm expected some time next week, but I have plans next week, so it cannot storm!!! (I am participating in a consignment sale and need to drop off my items one night and go shopping another night next week! Where is spring??)
