When it comes to knitting, sewing, and crocheting, my husband’s family are super talented.  We benefitted from that when our babies were born all those years ago, as we didn’t just receive beautiful blankets, but lovely sweaters, too.

Both my husband and son’s aran jumpers were hand made by my husband’s Aunt (October 2004 Manlius, New York)

I did very little crocheting during those years. Funny, I don’t really remember having any free time when the kids were young??? 🙂 But over the past few years I’ve managed to pick up my crochet needle again. The thing is, like everything in life, you can’t just do the same thing over and over again.  You have to either do things differently, or add a challenge lest boredom sets in!

Check the measurements on the packaging to save yourself the time and stress of measuring out (what should be) perfect squares 😉

This baby blanket project was for a very special baby.  Words can’t even describe how welcomed and loved this baby was, even before meeting any of the family!  So I wanted to try something new to make this gift extra-special.  I decided on making a quilt on one side of the blanket while keeping my traditional crochet on the other side.  The main item I wanted for this blanket, though, was the smooth binding that my kids loved to rub along their faces! “How hard could it be to incorporate those three things?” thought she to herself, quite innocently…

a view of the quilted side of the blanket sitting on what was actually my own rocking chair as a child

Well, I have to say that I learned a lot of new things with this project. I won’t give you all of the details, but the first thing was that you need to check the sizing of material when you buy it in cute little packages!  The quilting material was huge and I had to cut it into small squares.  🙂

the material is lovely and soft (albeit rather funny prints!)

I also learned to make sure that I have enough material on *both sides* of the blanket when joining.  On my first attempt to sew the crochet side to the quilt side I wasn’t able to keep them aligned.  I can tell you that only for my husband’s patience and his help taking the binding off, the project just might have been completely changed! {Thank you husband!}

the back of the crochet squares looked kinda neat

This is the part that strains my fingers the most: joining all of the squares together!

After the mess of needing to take the binding off, I needed a new plan.  So I added more squares to the quilt and adjusted the size of the crochet blanket.  Attaching just the binding to the quilt with the sewing machine was so much easier now! Then I hand sewed the crochet portion onto the blanket.  I have to say that I really enjoyed the hand sewing, which I would not have guessed beforehand.

sewing the binding on to the quilted side of the blanket

hand sewing the crochet side onto the quilted side

One day I’d like to improve my sewing skills.  For now though, it’ll just be baby steps with projects like this one.

I can’t miss an opportunity to take a picture of a baby blanket on our family antique potty-chair

As for the teeny tiny little granny squares, I thought they were so cute to make!  The colors are really fun and cheerful.   I used Mango, Sunshine, Robins Egg, Limelight, Soft Pink, and Off-White. The Caron Simply Soft yarn is one of my favorites to work with as it really is so soft and is a really nice weight.

I usually stock up on Caron Simply Soft yarn when I go home to the States 🙂

I love having things from my childhood, like this rocking chair

I really enjoyed making this blanket and trying something new.  There were a few things about it along the way that I just wasn’t sure about, but thankfully as time went on it all worked out and I love it!  And I think our sweet little one likes it too.

A happy little girl!

Here’s to a new year and new challenges!

In peace,
Dana