A DEBBIE ORIGINAL!

Well it appears as if I am still behind over here as this should have been Monday's post.  But I guess better late than never.  We had a nice week-end.  Hubby got home from his wall papering event sooner than we thought he might, but neither one of us felt like doing much of anything else besides plopping ourselves down on the couch for some old classic movies.  Later hubby did bbq some steaks and we went to bed kind of early.  I was working (while hubby was gone) on my latest project for Jessie which is a blanket/quilt of sorts.  I kind of it made it up, lol.  A few of you have asked about the directions that I use to make my blankets, which of course I couldn't remember or find (it has been awhile, lol) so I thought I might to do a quick tutorial.  Not a video, goodness that would be funny, but a picture tutorial. Well after a small attempt at that, I decided it might be easier to REALLY look for the video that I used.  I couldn't even remember for sure if it was a video or a picture tutorial.  Truthfully, I usually look for videos as I am a sight learner, so I started looking there.  Anyway, SUCCESS!  I found it.  And it is a great tutorial!!  Here is the link....Soo enjoy!  These are quick, easy and always a hit.  I have made countless number of these by now and I have always used her method of just two coordinating pieces of flannel.  I have a couple of times made a patch work of sorts for the smaller piece, but that's about as creative as I have gotten, and I have never used batting of any sort.  Well, that's where my latest thing came in.  I have been wanting to get the time to make some of the patterns and methods I have been learning in quilting into an actual blanket or quilt, but there just never seems to be the time. Sooo, I decided to use one of the pattern methods I have learned somewhere (please don't ask where, lol, as I have no idea, though most of you experienced quilters no doubt already know this anyway!) It is called the disappearing nine patch.  I gathered a bunch of left over scraps and pieces of fabric to make my 5 and half inch squares, and pretty quickly assembled my nine patches.  Then you cut the nine patches in half both ways and create your new squares.  Again, this went pretty fast.  Then you assemble your new squares however you think it looks good, and there you have it.  That was a little harder than I planned as it was difficult putting them together in a way I liked.  Maybe if I had a method to the scraps I was using it would have looked better, but hey, it is what it is.  So after I had done that I added a border all the way around my piece and it was done.  I forgot to mention that I needed this finished piece to be exactly 30 by 30 as I am going to complete this creation the same way as I do a blanket.  But as I was looking at it, it occurred to me that I could attach this top to a piece of batting and quilt it, and THEN attach it to the back of the blanket to complete.  Sooo I did that part yesterday.  I guess I should tell you that math was NEVER my strong suit.  I am lucky if I can add or subtract (a slight exaggeration ~ but not really, lol) and so figuring out what size to cut everything, assemble everything, and DO everything to get it to the size I needed was somewhat of a difficult chore.  I will admit I asked hubby (who is a wizard at such things) to figure some math for me.  The whole thing has taken a little longer than I anticipated, and I honestly should have NOT taken the time for it as I still have so much to do, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  I have my 30 by 30 inch piece now, and I am thrilled with the way it looks.  It is not perfect, but I am getting better about getting all my squares and seams to match perfectly.  I need to be a little more careful and exact, but it is not the way I work, lol, so it goes against my grain. But now!  as I was looking at it last night, I have decided I might try to attempt appliqueing a giraffe to the piece somewhere first before I put it with the back of the blanket, so I am going to mess around with it today.  Otherwise, it is about 30 minutes or so near to being done.  The picture I have taken of it is NOT a good one.  The colors really look off.  But when this is finally done, I will take a GOOD picture of it as it will be a Debbie original, lol.

IF YOU LOOK CLOSELY YOU CAN SEE THE QUILTING STITCH I USED ON THE BORDERS...FUN

CLOSER LOOK AT THE QUILTING STITCH ON THE SQUARES

I am thinking I might make the giraffe out of the dark navy fabric, but I don't know.  I found a giraffe yesterday afternoon online and printed it out so when I finish here I will play around with it some.  The back of the blanket will also be the navy fabric.  I bought a ton of this once on a big sale so I have a lot of it.

Sunday was a good day.  Service was wonderful, lunch was wonderful, and afterwards hubby and I went to the movies and saw the lone soldier.  It was a good movie.  Intense, and thought provoking, and overwhelming in many parts, but gave me an added appreciation of the life of a soldier.  How grateful I am for all those who fight for us and give their lives for us.

Blessings to you all, Debbie