gifted picnic

Not too long ago, two friends of ours were married.  I wanted to make something useful and hopefully beautiful to celebrate them.  This project seemed just right.  It's the Family Picnic Blanket taken from SouleMama's book, Handmade Home.  I love reading her blog and her books, by the way.  She has inspired me to do quite a number of things, one of which is to create this blanket.

This project was undertaken during our great heat wave, which meant that I would get work done on the floor of our non-air conditioned 3rd floor living room as quickly as possible, then gather up the pieces and run into our gloriously air conditioned bedroom into which I had crammed a sewing machine.   Although the process of gathering the materials took a while, once I had them all together, assembly took about 3 days, with frequent stops for water :-)

The pieces are all thrifted, most of them old sheets.  There was one tricky piece that was a skirt and I will never attempt to make a quilt with that kind of stretchy, slippery fabric again.  It was a headache.  Additionally, I cannot sew straight lines free hand (squiggly lines add to the homemade charm, right?).  Masking tape as a guide will be in order for the next time I attempt machine quilting.  I'm still happy with the outcome, however, and plan to make more when I have the time.  Who couldn't use a lovely picnic blanket in their life?  And for those of you who are wondering, the basket was an antique store find.