Just this morning, I'm noticing that the days are getting longer. This makes me feel happy! More daylight is always a good thing. Still, there are many cold days ahead, and for this we will need our thick sweaters, sturdy boots and warm blankets.
I really like to make things with upcycled sweater material. One of my favorite things to do is to go hunting for pure wool sweaters at thrift shops, looking for colors, textures and styles that I can use for future projects.
Sometimes, the heft of the sweater wool is unsuitable for projects requiring thickness, like potholders or drink coasters. I've been saving these bits of fabric for some different projects, like the one I've recently finished - a lightweight, soft lap blanket.
Here is one of the sweaters, on the cutting board:
And here, a bunch of colorful squares:
And now, the squares are bundled up in groups, ready for sewing:
I purposely created fancy, decorative tags to number the bundles, because I knew it was going to take me a while to complete this project, and I wanted some special things to look at while they were waiting.
This photo shows how I lined up the squared prior to bundling them. I wanted to make sure I had enough squares in various colors and pattern to make an interesting pieced-together blanket.
I hand-sewed the squares together with a running stitch, using black embroidery floss and an embroidery needle. After that, I sewed the strips together. And, after several months, I have myself a nice lap blanket!
I like the different colors,textures and patterns in this little blanket. I've already used it several times, and it seems to be a big hit with the kids, as well.
Here's to Happy Blanket Days ahead!
Marsha
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