I Should Have Named This Blog The Hapless Crafter

Don't think it hasn't been a little slice of heaven...'cause it hasn't! - Bugs Bunny

Where do you even start with the week I'm having? Let's just say it's been a bit rocky all over and move on.

Going with the Flow
I have come to the realization that Friday blog posting might not work for me while I'm in school. While both of my classes are Online, they still come with a pretty intense course load and I'm using Friday night as a big study night. It's hard to think about writing my blog when I'm stressing about an assignment. Most of my due dates have been Wednesdays and Saturdays, so if I push my blog post day to Saturday, I should be good. Hooray for new blog day!

Being Part of my Community
If you didn't read my previous blog you may not know that I'm participating in the Walk to End Alzheimer's this October. My fundraising got off to a rocky start, but I think we have the situation in hand now and it seems to be getting a fairly decent response. Still lots to do, but I'm very confident that our little team will reach our goal. If you would like more information please read my previous blog -Alzheimer's Walk Blog. As I said in the blog, any donation is greatly appreciated. But spreading the word is also very helpful, so please share the blog or the Team Fundraising Page and help us get the word out.

The Fuggaley Blanket
This week I did not finish a Craft Adventure Venture, I was only able to complete a Bonus Adventure. That wasn't my intention, but that's how it turned out. You see, my daughter kept snagging the left over ultra cuddle fleece from a previous blanket project and carrying it around. I seriously couldn't keep her away from it, so I decided I would just turn the left overs from other projects into a blanket for her. It was supposed to be a fun, easy, quick throw together blankie and then I could move on to other things. It turned into a 3 day ordeal that ended in the ugliest blanket I've ever made. To be fair, Ms. Bean doesn't see to care or notice; but I know and it bothers me. I don't know if you've noticed, but I don't have a lot of patience and some of my projects really irk me and I end up just plodding through it or throwing my hands up and saying Lump This! That's what happened here.

First let me say that I have no idea what happened. I measured my left over piece for the back and figured out the number of squares I would need for the front and I still somehow ended up needing a random square to finish the pieces. By the way, 16 month olds do not make good blanket assistants. I still have no idea what happened to the 2 squares of green fabric she ran off with. She must have a really good hiding place cause I looked ALL over.

Side Note:
(This will probably work for all quilty type blankets, but I only every make the patchwork kind, so if you are planning on something a little more intricate, I'd do a search on the ol' interwebs.)
Figuring out the number of squares you will need for your blanket top - You measure the blanket back, in my case it was 36x24 and then divide by the size of square you want to use. I was planning on using 6" squares so I divided both 36 & 24 by 6 = 6 & 4, so now you know you will need 6 -6" squares across and 4-6" squares wide. If you multiply these two numbers together you get the total number of squares needed to finish your top - 6x4=24. Then you take the number of fabrics you are using, in my case it was 2 and divide that by your total - 24\2 =12. You will need 12 -6" squares of each fabric.

Back to Blankie - After fighting with my daughter about who gets the scissors, which fabric she could play with, chasing her down the hall to get the squares back and trying to convince her that I really did need that piece of soft fabric, I put Ms. Bean down for her nap and actually made some progress with the blanket. But as I was sewing my squares together..

Side Note:
Right sides together, 1/4" seam, end to end until you reach your row length, (6 pieces for this project). Then you take your rows and right sides together, 1/4" seam, side to side till you reach your width (4 rows across). Then you square up your top & you should be ready to sew it to your back piece.

..I realized that I had somehow missed several pieces of the green fabric and that I was 1 piece short for the total blanket top. I did my math, I counted my squares, I really do not know what happened. I found a cute piece of fabric, that totally doesn't go with the rest, but by this time I just wanted the lumping* thing finished and finished the top of the blanket. At this point it was quirky, but still looking okay as far as blankets go. Normally at this point I would put the front and back pieces together (right sides), sew all around except for about 3" and flip it inside out, but this time I thought, well I'm using that left over binding, why not just top stitch the two together and cover that with the binding and it will save me some time. Famous last words.

What I have discovered is that ultra cuddle fleece, while one of the softest man made materials I've ever felt is a gigantic pain in the lower extremities to work with. It's slippery, doesn't play well with other fabrics and sheds like a collie in mid summer. Despite vacuuming there are still tiny fluffy blue fabric bunnies blowing around the house. Unless I absolutely need to, I'm not using it again. There are other really soft fabrics that don't frustrate me so much and I'll stick to them. So yeah, the top and the bottom didn't really match up because ultra cuddle fleece is a big fat meanie, but I hadn't yet given up. I still had the blanket binding, surely that would hide the imperfections. Nope. All I can say about the binding is that I finally figured out how to miter the glomping* corners.

Links:
Using Bias Tape - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fEv3VXPUEs
Miter Corners - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkacizsdTkk

Fuggley Blankie is done, some of it's seams show, it's lumpy in the corner, it has puckers in places where the two fabrics didn't match up. I have to fix a place on the top where the mismatched fabric pulled apart from the other pieces. It's the worst blanket I've ever made. Even when I first started teaching myself how to make blankets, they turned out better than this one. Ms. Bean doesn't seem to care, she likes it, so I guess that's all that matters. *head shake* That muddled mess of fabric is going to become a cherished piece of her childhood and it's the ugliest thing I've made for her. I really should have named this blog The Hapless Crafter.

AND NOW...Cute pictures of the kid

It doesn't look bad in this picture

A blankie and a binky, what more could a girl ask for?

With her dolly & blankie on the couch

Total for this week - 0 Craft Adventure Ventures, 1 Bonus Adventure

Totals - 10.5 Craft Adventure Ventures & 1.5 Bonus Adventures

41.5 Craft Adventure Ventures To Go!

Stay Crafty my fellow adventurers! 

And in the immortal words of Dory the fish "Just Keep Swimming, Swimming, Swimming. Just Keep Swimming.'

*PG rated expletive replacement