Make It More Personal With Custom Blankets

For a crazy quilt, large or small, you should work on a square or rectangle of muslin or plain fabric. Working 12" or smaller is recommended so that the piecing is easier to handle.

Now, women are making selvedge edge quilts, using strips cut from the sides or edges of cotton fabric. The selvedge prevents unraveling and holds onto hooks during the printing process. This edge is mostly white with the manufacturer's name and logo, the designer or collection's name, and a chart of the colors used printed on it. Selvedge edges are cut completely off and thrown away. Today, they are saved for a new purpose.

Blanket Quilt Make pillows. Single blocks are the perfect sice to create toss pillows for your sofa, loveseat or chairs. Make pillow shams for your bed by stitching several together to fit your pillows.

Baby Blanket Cake Diaper cakes are all the rage, cloth diapers are gaining steam and they make a cute cake when all rolled up. You can do the same thing using baby blankets. This can also be a relatively inexpensive gift. You can find fleece baby blankets at most dollar type stores. You will also need some rattles and other baby toys.

Handmade Baby Blankets A handmade baby blanket gift speaks to the heart of any new mother. Knowing someone spent the time, thought and effort to make a hand made gift in this day and age means a lot. You can crochet, quilt, embroider a baby blanket to make it unique and special. In fact, you can make a baby blanket that requires no sewing at all, and will be just as special because you put yourself into the gift.

Next up is the crib sheet. These are usually fitted. If it is not fitted, don't bother. Your child may sleep like an angel, or they may move around a lot. Either way, a fitted sheet will keep itself in place instead of getting wrapped up around your child, which is about as bad as it sounds.

With a memory book you need to make a decision at what point you will pass it on to your child. You can avoid this decision by having two memory books - one for you to keep always and one for your grown-up child. Another way to do it is to wait until your adult son or daughter seems to be settled in their first house after college or after their marriage or first child.