When we visited Maine in December, I discovered that the Maine Woolens store in Freeport has a scrap bin where you can pick up really nice woven remnants for a really cheap price. I picked out three pieces for about $12, which was about a pound and a half of fabric. I went into the store not expecting to buy anything, but this was a great find. I love that their blankets are woven in Brunswick Maine, not somewhere in China.
I had two large rectangles of the brown stripe and one long strip of the blue. I played around with different patterns in my head until I thought I had one that would work and then I just cut. Of course, since it is me doing this, measurements weren't exact. Plus, the material was sort of difficult to work with, with some of the edges unraveling. It didn't help that I had to deal with a cat going berserk while I was trying to pin on the edging or worrying about a rabbit randomly spraying on it or a dog deciding to walk in and make herself at home. One scratch on the blanket and her nails would have made a pull, so I had to calmly encourage her to move along.
After sewing all of the woven pieces together, I decided to back it with an old sheet that I in my scrap bin. It is nothing fancy, but I did not want to buy anything new for this project. Using the part of the sheet that didn't have white paint spattered on it, I spread out the woven blanket on top and cut and pinned as I went, leaving enough extra to turn the edge under and over the raw edge of blanket. Then I would have been able to complete the edging in one sitting, except my needle broke on the first side. I never had this happen before and it has made me consider wearing safety goggles when I sew! I still haven't found the tip that flew off. (And luckily neither has one of the dogs or cats.) But it forced me to learn a new skill - now I know how to replace a needle.
Once all of the edging was sewed on, I had to decide how I should stitch the front and back together. I don't have the patience to hand quilt and when I tried sewing a straight line down one of the stripes, it didn't look right. So I decided to just tie it together with some embroidery thread. I learned something else new - how to tie a surgeon's knot - and it only took me an hour.
I didn't necessarily need a new blanket, but with this extremely cold weather we've been having, it felt like the right thing to be making at the moment. It is now the 5th layer that keeps the little babe and I warm at night.
I shared this post on The Self Sufficient HomeAcre for The HomeAcre Hop.