Michele Bilyeu Creates With Heart and Hands: February 2009

In honor of Project Linus Day, Feb 21, but in honor of all children, and all charitable projects for children... any and all days of the year: Make a blanket or quilt for a child and donate it to Project Linus.

To find a Project Linus Chapter near you, check out http://www.projectlinus.org/

If there is not a Project Linus in your area, consider starting a group. And of course, donate to any local hospital, or baby care project and mention your support of Project Linus and all of us who sew for babies and children, everywhere!

To find other charitable giving organizations for children, check out Quilts for Kids and Downy's Quilts for Kids Comfort programs ,AZ Blankets for Kids ,Wrap Them in Love,Sunshine Quilts , Margaret's Hope Chest, Binky Patrol and so many others. Any local hospital that serves children with special medical needs will almost have quilt donation programs.

And for that, I have just added to my huge list of Free Quilt Patterns by creating a category of free patterns perfect for children. It also includes some doll quilts and patterns to be used for American Girl Dolls just for fun. This post is specifically for babies and children and includes a multitude of links for preemies and precious angel babies who leave us far too soon.

My Harmonic Convergence Quilt: Making it and Directions for Making it

And

Harmonic Convergence Fabric Calculator

I do my best to donate 25 quilts a year to charitable causes and most of those go to babies and children..the hearts of my own heart. And when I have a grandbaby of my own, of course I had to sew for her, for my children's friends children, and most of the time for babies and children that I don't know and probably will never meet. It does my heart such good to create and to share and I know it will yours, as well!

No-Sew Fleece Blanket (optional pillow)

Directions for making and cutting fringe for a simple fleece blanket:

Crafting Time:1-2 Hours

Skill Level:No Experience Necessary

(For a Simple Print Project Description click here: courtesy of Joann Fabrics Download Project PDF)

*Tip: if your fringe rounds and pulls at corners you are cutting the fringe too shallow.

*For a baby blanket fringe should be cut 4" -5" deep and 1" apart.

*For a teen/adult blanket cut it 6" deep - 7" deep and 1" apart.

This makes a much smaller blanket when finished but looks so much better. And 7" deep fringe creates a really elegant look! Makes a great gift for any age!!

BLANKET SUPPLIES & TOOLS:

Sizing for baby blanket: 36"x 36" / 45"x 45"

Sizing for teen/adult blanket: width of fabric by 72" (buy 2 yards each/4 yds total)

Fleece: 2 yds each, print & solid

Scissors or rotary cutter and mat ( I prefer scissor cutting for this)

Tape measure

DIRECTIONS: Cut both layers of fleece at the same time.

1. Remove flat selvage edge if desired on both pieces.
2. Lay fleece wrong sides together. Cut a 4"-6" square from each corner of the fleece. (I make a cardboard square template of required size and use it over and over again for ease of cutting)

2. FRINGE: Cut 4" - 7" deep (depending on finished blanket size) into fleece at 1" intervals around all sides of top & bottom layers. Knot fringes together around blanket, using 1 strand from the front and 1 strand from the back. Double knot, but do not tie too tightly or it will bunch and be less attractive.

PILLOW SUPPLIES & TOOLS:

Fleece: 3/4 yd each, print & solid

16" square pillow form

Rotary cutter & mat

Tape measure

DIRECTIONS: Cut both layers of fleece at the same time.

1. Cut 26"x26" from each piece of fleece. Lay fleece wrong sides together. Cut a 5" square from each corner.

2. FRINGE: Cut 5" into fleece at 1" intervals around all sides of top & bottom layers. Knot fringe pieces together around 3 sides, using 1 strand from the front and 1 strand from the back.

3. Insert pillow form. Finish tying pillow closed.

Make a Fleece Baby Play Pad..use alone or under a little play gym for floor play with baby!

Fabric and Supplies:

Fleece...my play mat ended up being 36" x 36" for a specific use area..but make yours as big as you like!

You'll need a piece of fleece for both front and back. I used two different co-coordinating pieces.

Plus a extra thick piece of batting..I used upholstery batt, but you could use multiple pieces of high loft poly depending on how thick you want it!

Stitch a seam all around , right sides together, keeping an eye on your design if its linear or has a pattern you want to maintain as mine did with this block lines of 'stitching'.

Be sure to leave a 6" space (unstitche) so you can go in and pull it back out right sides out again!

Then I inserted my thick batt...my own preference rather than including it in the stitching since mine was extra extra high loft from mulitple layers..I used one piece of upholstery batting sandwiched in between two pieces of regular, thinner poly batting.

Ta Da..a wonderful play mat, make one for baby and one for grammy's house too!