Monday, October 29, 2012

Giraffing me crazy!

Really, sorry about that horrible pun. I should also apologize for my extremely long absence. Life happens. I got busy, no excuse.

On to the main event. Recently my co-worker, Brandon and his wife, welcomed their 3rd baby girl into the world. And Brandon gave up all hope ever on having a boy. They didn't find out the sex this time around so I was stuck trying to make a gender-neutral baby blanket. Valerie was kind enough to go fabric shopping with me and helped me pick out this wonderful giraffe print cotton fabric.

Now, let's all keep in mind that giraffes are my favorite animal so I may have squealed very loudly when I found it. We picked out coordinating thread, binding, and 3 cotton-flannels for the back.

photo 1

I’m not going to bore you with a poorly explained how-to. Go visit here and here for wonderful pictures and clearly explained directions. So after getting home and pinning together my fabrics, I got busy!

photo 2I sewed, and sewed, and sewed, and sewed. And then I was tired. So I stopped for the night. Then I sewed, and sewed some more, and finally, I was finished sewing. 8 bobbins and 2 spools of thread later. Good thing I bought extras. Then it was the hard part. Nobody warned me. I had to cut all those channels on the back, and I thought my hand was going to fall off. The next day my arm and shoulder were sore. So much cutting.

photo 3  Finally I was all done cutting, so I sewed that binding one. I absolutely loved all the contrasting colors I got to use on this blanket. I did two rows of stitching on the binding, just to be extra fancy. Because that’s how I roll.

photo 4 Then came the super exciting part, that was also the easiest one. Wash that blanket, dry it, then marvel in the fluffy gloriousness that happens. I was tempted to keep it for myself after seeing the fluffiness. Loved every bit of it.

photo 5So there it is. All the fluffiness. Look how fun. I did give the blanket to the intended owner. It was a big hit with the parents and the big sisters. Enjoy Baby O! Enjoy.

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