Baby, It's...well...not cold...not yet!

In the middle of a beautiful SoCal summer and what am I doing? Making blankets! In my defense, I'm making Christmas gifts...pretty darn early. It might  be a record! The idea started with a piece of floral fleece that I saw in the remnent bin at Joann's Fabrics.

I kept ignoring it but after a few trips, I finally couldn't resist it. I saw that it was over a yard in size, making it perfect for a no-sew tied ends blanket for my toddler-aged niece, I. I hadn't made one before, but I found a great tutorial online at CustomScrapbookMaker.

She gave several good tips. One was to cut out a square shape from all four corners of the blanket before cutting the fringes. I also picked up the idea to tie every other set of ties, flip the blanket over and do the rest.

I picked a contrasting pattern for the backside that was on sale. Oh, and the BEST part of deal? Joann's remnants are automatically 50% off...BUT if the orignal price goes on sale, the remnant ends up being half of the SALE price. I made this blanket for just around $10!

I've picked up several pieces of fleece in the remnant bin and matched them with solid fleece pieces which have been on sale for 40% for the past several weeks. Each blanket (some 1.5 yards) will end up costing between $10-$14 each. Not bad for a baby shower or birthday gift idea.

I plan to make rag quilts for G & A and have got some terrific prints to work with...but for baby G's blanket, I've cheated just a bit.

Joann's sells this amazing fabric that is already quilted for you...out of darling prints and minky fabric. I found this jungle piece...in the remnant bin, of course! I picked up the minky with a 40% coupon. Since Arizona mountain winters get cold, I layed a thin piece of batting between the minky and the front fabric. Boy, is that quilt going to be warm! I sewed it with the right sides facing in, left a small gap and turned it right side out. Then sewed another seam all the way around. The only particularly fancy method I used in making the quilt was to round the corners (using a salad plate as a template). And viola! Two Christmas gifts already done and it's only July! Woohoo :0)