The Chenille Blanket

My good friend PTM, talked me into trying to make a chenille blanket for a gift. She even donated the fabric so I laid it out and promptly forgot about it until this Wed. So at quilting on Wed night she promised to help me with it. I ironed all the flannel, and then we layered it. First a cotton for the back, right side down, followed by 4 layers of flannel. Then the darned thing needs to be basted. Yeah, not so much. My hands just don't like doing all that work. (Sheesh, can't LTW just sew it on the big machine for me?) Anyway, being the good sport she always is PTW did the basting for me. We basted with the flannel side down but changed it later. Here she is, isn't she so cute??

Then came the marking and sewing. What?? I have to mark all the diagonal lines and then I can sew? You have got to be kidding me! Instead we put tape diagonally from one corner to the other one and I took that to the sewing machine and sewed along the edge. I used my walking foot with that weird little guide bar thingy. Ever used one? Well, it saved me having to mark the whole quilt!! Of course just before I am ready to sew my light bulb burned out. Good grief, what else is going to go wrong? Anyway, I lined up the bar on the last line I had sewn and then sewed like mad in a parallel diagonal line. I got a little over half way done in the time we had, not too bad. I am in a little bit of a time crunch so I had to decide what to do about that. This is what the diagonal line sewing looked like on the top and the bottom.

You can even see the orange basting thread if you look closely.

I decided to take half a day off work today and went over to PTM's to finish the blanket. I really didn't leave work until around 1:30 so not truly a half a day off but whatever. I dropped DD1 at home, packed my bag up, packed my gym bag too so we could go exercise after we were done and headed over to PTM's house. What got left at home you ask? Why my camera of course so no more pics today of the blanket. I did finish all the sewing. Then I had to cut through the top 3 layers of the flannel, down the center of the "channel" I made when sewing my half inch diagonal lines. I was sweating that a little, I didn't want to cut through the wrong layer. I did just fine. Then we had to square it up, not too bad, and make binding for it. I made the binding, PTM pressed it and sewed it to the "fluffy-ish" side. She is going to hand stitch it down for me too (my hands just can't take it)

Next it was off to the gym. We worked out for an hour and then went our separate ways to get ready for our road trip tomorrow. I am going on the Shipshewana Shop Hop with LTW and PTM. We thought 2 of our other friends might be joining us but one had her father pass away and the other one had something come up (she just called me). LTW is supplying the car and PTM is packing the food, I have the drinks, directions, and driving. Don't worry, we've got this! I have the BEST friends EVER!!!

One last thing before I go and finish getting my things together, I assume most of you know Amanda Jean of Crazy Mom Quilts? Well, she is going to be in Grand Rapids, MI at the end of July. Read about why she will be in GR here) I grew up in GR and that's where my dad and sister live, so guess who is going to GR at the end of the month? Yep, MEEEEE!!!!!Not only will I get to meet Amanda Jean, I will get to spend time with my dad on his 84th birthday. Life is GOOD to this quiltin' mama. I promise I will take lots of pictures to share the day of shop hop fun tomorrow, but I will probably post on Sat as I anticipate a very late return tomorrow night (3 hour drive both ways). So one more sleep and then the fun begins!!!