Monday, July 25, 2011

Receiving blanket quilts

Wanna talk about receiving blankets for a minute? Sweet. Lets face it, most store bought receiving blankets are only good for up to about 10 pounds of baby. They hardly ever get used enough to wear out, and most are just painfully undersized for use more than a couple weeks. But they are also too cute to get rid of. I had this giant pile of receiving blankets, once used for swaddling tiny babes, then stockpiled for diaper making, secondary sewing projects and sentimental purposes. After we realized, with MAT, that they would be short lived for their intended use, we kept them. We used them as lap blankets for car rides, for playing, for making into capes, they were used and loved. But now that DOT is no longer swaddled we only need to keep a few out for playing, this freed up...many more than I care to admit, and off to storage they went. I will admit it, baby blankets are one of those things this Moma has a hard time parting with.

While going through my stash a few weeks ago, working on a separate project to be talked about later, I opened a box full of baby blanket wonder. I began to think of what I  could do with this box of gently used flannel goodness. Parting with them was out of the question. Two were kept back for each boy to pass on to their potential kiddo's, and the blue and pink striped ones, you know the one I am talking about, their very FIRST blanket, I kept for me to use at a later date. But I still had a rather large pile and I had to do something with it. All that snugly love and warmth was wasted in a box. So I thought.... And then it came to me when I was making MAT's bunkbed one day. After I laid the top sheet and was wrangling the comforter for the top bunk I had a thought. Quilts!

Not super fancy heavy top quilts. You know the kind for show and not for use, no, not that kind. Thin, snugly warm, extra blanket in winter, quilts. Keepsake quilts made from baby blankets, for the boys to use, everyday. Beloved baby blankets that were no longer useful, made usable for the next 20 years. For use when watching movies, sitting in the sun, roasting marshmallows on chilly nights, eating oatmeal on foggy mornings, and yes sleeping. Receiving blanket quilts. I browsed the local thrift shop for sturdy stain free flat sheets in the sizes of our beds. (This also made me realize we have NO blankets for our beds, comforters and sheets, yes, but no bed sized blankets) I procured the bottom quilt layer, two twin sheets and a full size for a grand total of $1.25 thanks to a half off sale and coupon combo, and headed to the fabric store for the batting. I have used poly blankets or poly batting for previous quilts and it was my intention this time, BUT I saw a sale on cotton batting and couldn't pass up the $6 a yard spectacular price. I sewed my quilt tops, pinned the layers together (can I tell you HOW much I love curved safety pins? SO MUCH!) and then thought about how I wanted to quilt the layers. I am a terrible machine quilter, sad but true, I do not have a quilt frame for hand quilting, so knotting was my best option. I may go back and hand quilt after I have a quilt frame. A few days of knotting and some sore hands later and voila, 3 finished quilts, made of receiving blankets, for my boys to drag in the mud, snugle and sleep under. And for me to remember tiny little pink newborn faces peaking out so long ago, every time I see their sleeping faces peaking out from now on.


4 comments:

  1. I absolutely *love* this idea, and I think it's time I got out my quilting supplies, and *my* stash of old baby blankets!

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  2. This is such a great idea. If I save ours, when we're done with them, would you make something like this for us? I'd be willing to swap for knitting :-)

    xoxo

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  3. Kara, I would be delighted to make some for the kiddo's!! knitting or not, it is a deal.

    And Angylisis, glad to toss and idea out for you to grab onto, also, welcome!

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