Tree of Life Blanket

Three years ago, my little sister got married.  I wanted to give her something special for her wedding that she would remember and be able to keep for a long time.  I found the tree of life pattern after doing some online searches.  It was perfect.  I loved how the trees intertwined and I loved the leaves around the edges of the blanket.  It was the perfect gift for my sister's wedding.  I chose a tan lion brand wool-ease wool, as I didn't want something that would be too bulky or scratchy.  The recommended wool was great, not too chunky and soft.  The blanket did require a bit of concentration, there was a lot of cabling, which I hadn't done before this blanket!  The edging was the most intricate work and it was frustrating trying to get everything to line up.

I really liked how this blanket turned out.  It was a bit more narrow then I actually wanted it to be, definitely a lap afghan.  But the intertwining the trees was exactly what I was looking for as a wedding gift for my sister and her hubby!

Baby's Blanket

When my first daughter was born, she received a ton of baby blankets.  Her favourites were always the ones that had satin on one side and minke on the other.  She loves how cool and soft the satin is while the other side is "warm."   My youngest daughter didn't receive nearly as many blankets and while we've been on the hunt for these special satin blankets, we've never been able to find one.  I decided that I would make one of these for her and give it as a gift for Christmas.

I bought some beautiful raspberry minke, satin and then blanket binding.  I began by sewing the minke and the satin together (wrong sides together).  I then pinned the blanket binding around the blanket, one side at a time, stopping at each of the corners. 

Upon reaching the corners, I mitred the corners by bending the binding around the corner and then folding the excess fabric into a diagonal line.  There are many tutorials on how to do this, I checked out this one from sewing.com.  I am happy how this turned out, but it was extremely frustrating sewing this together.  The satin and the minke are both super slippery and I found that I needed to pin every 2" to prevent the binding from sliding around on the blanket.  I ended up going back after having sewn the blanket to hand stitch the underside where I had missed the binding.  It did get better as I went along and I think that my daughter will likely love it, but I will definitely think twice before making this type of blanket again!