faux chenille blanket and friends

Finished objects post! Early in the year I joined up for a 'pass it forward' handmade pledge on Facebook. I receive something handmade from a friend, then I have to make things for five friends, who in turn have to make things for five friends and so on.

Two of the friends who joined up for my offer have baby girls on the way. Naturally, I was excited to make their gifts first, since I only have boys. Our floor has been awash with teeny scraps of fabric in girly hues never before seen in this home.

Ever since I saw this tutorial I had been keen to try one of these faux chenille, or cut chenille, baby blankets. I am so thrilled with how it turned out. It hasn't fully fluffed/frayed yet but I've only washed it twice and we don't have a dryer, which probably speeds the process. I think I'll just leave it to keep fluffing in the hands of its intended owner.

Would that be more Anna Maria Horner fabric? Bingo.

pink, frilly, eek, girly!

It was a fair bit of work. As others have said, probably 4 hours worth of sewing lines. Maybe an hour of snipping. Not to mention, the way I did the binding meant I had to hand-sew the final edge of it down. But sometimes I find that sort of repetitive manual work rather therapeutic. There's something very real to show for it in the end. As opposed to say, cleaning the house which returns to pigsty state depressingly soon. Or paid work, which so often seems to be full of compromise or never even sees the light of day. Yes. Simple, repetitive, soft and cuddly can be very good.

I used an Anna Maria Horner quilting weight cotton for the back, and four layers of Kona cotton. I only cut through three layers for the chenille, leaving two layers intact for extra strength.

I bought the Kona cottons online, which was a bit of a gamble on colour matching. They were a bit more icecream-ish than I expected. In the end though I'm delighted with the result. Here I've fluffed it up a bit more to show the layers. Sorry I keep saying 'fluffed'.

fluffed, fluffed, fluffed, fluffed, fluffed

Moving along, I made some bibs for another little girl-on-the-way. More of the AMH print and some pink baby cord and yes, more chenille! Bought variety this time.

using some of my pretty old button stash

Finally, this was finished a couple of weeks ago. It's really still the 'test garment' and I must get my butt into gear for the final shirt. Anyhow, this is Andy about to head off to work today, actually wearing something I made him. Yay!

my sweetie, bravely tolerating the homemade floral shirt

Have you finished any pleasing projects lately? Do you find repetitive manual work can sometimes be soothing?
- Jane x