Monday, September 7, 2009

beach blanket "to go" from Handmade Home

Saturday I finally got a chance to finish up my "beach blanket to go" from Handmade Home. All I had to do was make a bit more bias tape and sew on the ties. And today we finally got a chance to try it out:
Since we didn't go anywhere for Labor Day weekend we decided a little front yard "outing" would be just the thing. And it was delightful for sure. We brought out our sketchbooks, art caddy and the summer book basket (because the days of summer are surely winding down, so time to get in a few more readings of our fun summery books).
{the bias tape ties}
I'm uncertain about color and this was my attempt to blend some colors that don't normally go together. I'm not entirely satisfied with it, but mostly I like it. The limiting factor was that I was trying to "use what I have" as Amanda gently encourages us to do in the book. I wanted to get the look of thrifted or vintage sheets but I didn't have many to work with so I pulled fabrics from my stash to supplement the sheet fabrics (using stash fabrics is surely a form of "use what you have" and I welcomed the opportunity to use some of my pretty fabrics that I will love looking at in this quilt). Mostly I'm thrilled to have a handmade quilt, made by me, for all our outings. I love love love using handmade things in our everyday lives. Honestly, it gives me a thrill.

{photo by Dieter}
{photo by Dieter--his book, not a "summer" book}
Here's how it looks all rolled up. The backing is an old bedspread of my mom's that she "donated" to the project. It's perfect for this. Some thoughts:
::I loved that there is no batting in this quilt. It makes the whole project so much quicker and easier and the bedspread adds weight without batting.
::my homemade bias tape from a thifted sheet is making me smile. It was so fun to make!
::I love that Amanda just has us zigzag four straight strips of the bias tape to all four sides of the blanket. That made it so easy to apply and I'd honestly never thought of applying bias tape with a zigzag--the beauty of it is that everything is caught in effortlessly and there is no hand finishing. Hooray!
::I want to make several more of these. Will have to find more bedspreads first, though. Adding a few more panels would be nice too.

Hope you all had a fun and restful late-summer weekend. If you've made this project as well, I'd love to see it.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think your beach blanket is the prettiest version I have seen. The fabrics are all so colourful. I have no fabrics or vintage sheets worthy of a blanket and it's taken me ages to thrift my first one. Finding four more is going to take an eternity! Perhaps you'd be interested in a swap of vintage sheet pieces?

Our Green Nest said...

So cute. It looks great!

Rain said...

I love it! So cute. And the colors are great.

Jessica said...

It turned out great--homemade bias (especially from vintage sheets!!) is lovely and fun.

Joy said...

That looks so lovely! I'm starting to get inspired to make one of my own. :) Your homemade bias tape turned out so wonderful. I think the colors blended quite nicely!

Lisa said...

It's lovely! I want to make one too, but have no thrifted sheets. Our local shops have a ton of the ugly southwestern stuff but no lovely flowers.

Nellie said...

Marybeth, I love it!

I don't have bunches of vintage, thrifted sheets either. In fact, I've been begging my mom and mother-in-law for their old sheets.
Seeing yours makes me realize that it's not necessary to have a massive collection of vintage sheets in order to make something very pretty. And the colors are great!
Thanks for sharing

Meg said...

It's beautiful! And the bias tape is so great! I'm slowly working on building a stash of sheets for projects--I used some to make shopping bags over the summer...not exactly in keeping with "use what you have," but a stray sheet from the thrift store finding a new life is always good, right? And the price is always good! Happy end of summer!

Julie said...

What a beautiful handmade picnic blanket... you did a great job!

Holly C. said...

Love your beach blanket to go. Pretty fabrics.☺

hanna said...

I LOVE it so much! I would be starting my own one if my sewing machine wasn't broken - aaaagh!

Anonymous said...

I think you did a great job! I always ask my daughter what fabrics go together. She's good at mixing and matching colors and patterns. It's cute how the kids are somewhat camouflaged (sp?) on the blanket too!
Kathy

coloring in my life said...

I love your blanket, so pretty!

Andrea said...

So pretty!

Antonia said...

BEAUTIFUL beach blanket! Such a lovely colour combo - it works really well. I've asked me best friend if she would make me one for my upcoming birthday and I am eagerly awaiting it! I feel so lucky to have someone sew me one as I can't sew for the life of me. A quick question ......... can i ask you where you got your pencil caddy? It's exactly what I'm looking for but I'm here in Australia. Any ideas? Many thanks .....

Anonymous said...

Antonia,

You can find the art caddy at Magic Cabin.com -- it's a US company but they may ship internationally.
Best Wishes,

Joyce
Colorado

Anonymous said...

Sorry Antonia, I should have said that MagicCabin.com calls it a crayon caddy and they DO ship internationally. :> Joyce

Mary Beth said...

Yes, Magic Cabin is where I got it. It's been great---I do recommend it.

Antonia said...

Thank you Joyce and Mary Beth! Much appreciated! About to check it out now! :-)

Anonymous said...

Fabulous work.

Blanket America said...

very nice patchwork blanket ideal for a picnic day or a beach day out.

quilt