Creating A Crochet Baby Blanket Gift
Always use a rotary cutter with a cutting mat specifically designed for it. In addition to protecting your work surface, the mat helps keep the fabric from shifting while you cut. Start with a 17x23" mat marked with a 1" grid, hash marks at 1/8" increments, and 45 and 60 degree angles.
Blanket Quilt Machine quilting on the other hand, involves a sewing machine to sew the pieces together. In very much the same way, layers of fabric are stacked together, laid-out, batted and backed on a flat surface. They are pinned and the pieces are then moved through a sewing machine. This can be done in block form as in hand quilting or as a large piece. Again, the details are determined on the style preferred and the quilter's experience. This is a much faster process than the hand quilting and often a good place for a beginner to learn with quick results.
When choosing colors and themes for a baby quilt the sky is the limit. You can go with bold exciting colors, cartoon characters, or you could even call and talk to the parents and find out what color they are planning for the nursery to match your quilt to the theme of the room.
Just roll the blankets up into tight rolls. Then place them in a circle on something solid. Do this for two or three tiers. You can tie them in place with pretty ribbon. Then add some rattles, baby toys tied to the "cake". It makes an adorable and useful baby blanket gift. To keep this gift in a reasonable price range you can get soft fleece blankets really cheap at a dollar store.
Aside from serving its purpose as a blanket, a quilt can be a perfect gift for a new bride or a new mother. Many cultures today provide hand crafted quilt's as gifts to new brides on their wedding day as a rite of passage. Many quits are displayed on racks or walls and used as art. They can provide a sense of comfort to just about any space.
Another way to make a memory quilt is to use all new fabric with a different approach. You could make each square a representation of some part or event of a child's life. Each square would be embellished by applique, embroidery, scanned pictures, iron-on letters, fabric paint or whatever you like. You could ask important people from the child's life to contribute a square or two and to sign their square with their name.
There are a lot of different kinds of down throw blankets out in the market today. The quality of these blankets depends on the type of down that was used. There is the eider blanket that is made in lightweight cloth and can really keep in the heat to warm you up. The fine material comes from the feathers of the sea water ducks of the Northern Hemisphere. If you are not convinced, try going for the best down throw blankets made with eider down or goose down. There are also other types of down but these two have the best warmth and durability with a very affordable and reasonable price.
