Today is my daughter’s birthday, so it only seems appropriate to talk about her.  And she’s not here to stop me at the moment.

A few months ago, we talked about making a quilt for her.  She was going to design it based on Sudoku, with each different fabric representing a number.  We gathered black, white and yellow fabrics, and I bought a large piece of bright yellow super-soft, Minkee-like stuff for the backing. 

I kept asking her when she was going to give me the pattern for the top.  “Oh, yeah, I’m going to start on that.”  Uh-huh. 

I finally asked her if she really wanted a quilt.  “No.  Can you just make me a blanket out of the fuzzy part?”  Yes.  Yes, I can.

The only difficult thing about making this is working with the large size.  Other than that, it’s a piece of cake.  She didn’t even want binding around the edge, because she said that made it look like a baby blanket.  Not sure about that, but it’s hers.

I started with about 3 1/2 yards of fabric.  It’s 60” wide, so that gave me a piece about 60” by 126”. 

Unfold the fabric and refold with right sides together as shown here:

Pin the selvage edges together and stitch with a 5/8” seam.  I used a narrow zigzag so the fabric could still stretch.

Make sure the blanket is completely flat, then trim the cut edge so it’s straight and even.  Lots of fuzz will come off that edge, so be prepared.  When I was working on this one it looked like I was the sole witness to a horrible Tweety accident. 

Pin the cut edges together.

Stitch with a 5/8” seam, leaving a few inches open in the middle for turning.  My opening was about 13”, but I think I could have gone a bit smaller.  I mark the opening with extra pins so I don’t forget to stop and start again while I’m sewing.

After you’re done stitching, pull the blanket through the opening to turn.

Push the corners out with your fingers.  The nice thing about this fabric is that the seams turn nicely without a lot of coaxing.

Stitch around the outside edge, 1/4” away, turning in the opening 5/8”.  That’s it.  This finished blanket measures 58 x 63” and is nice and soft on both sides.

The two sides aren’t connected in the center, but I don’t think that’s going to be a problem for her, especially with the edge sewn.  If you’re bothered by that, you could always do a little quilting to hold it all together.  Check out this post on Minkee Baby Quilts for some great ideas on working with this fun fabric.

Happy Birthday Codi!