This one starts with some sewing. As a Christmas present for the boys' newest little cousin (another baby L born in August!), I wanted to make a little cuddly blankie with minkee, a super soft chenille-y fabric that makes me wish I were a baby again just so I could have a minkee lovey. I saw a few cute patterns on an episode of Simply Quilts that made me think, yeah, I can do this, and went off to JoAnn's armed with a 50% off coupon to see what I could find (is there any other way to go to JoAnn's?!). I found this kit to make a cuddle quilt with a cute flannel print, some satin and lace and minkee.

I wasn't really planning on doing patchwork and using a bunch of different fabrics, but I simply couldn't resist those funny floating bunnies! I watched the Simply Quilts episode again, spent an eternity cutting those squares to size (aaaaack, cutting those satin squares was like trying to cut water!), and took a close look at several of original patterns from the designer on Simply Quilts to decide how to turn the JoAnn's kit (oh, only $9.99 with my coupon!) into exactly what I wanted. I really wanted to put the minkee on the back instead of using it as a border so ended up having just enough minkee to make the quilt 18" x 24". Perfect size for a lovey: not to big for a little one to drag around and still not too small to keep little one warm in the stroller on a chilly day.

So glad that this was not my first quilting project! It sure was helpful having a little practice when it came time to sew those squares together. And my walking foot, looooooove my walking foot! Anyhoo, the minkee lovey came out great and I gotta wrap it up or I'm going to rub it raw, it feels so good!

Sooooo (this is where we get back to the afghan) after all this sewing, when I finally decided that the manos afghan needed one more color, I naturally thought, pink!

Manos color #24 joining the pile

I'm at 52 squares (and one Christmas gift!) and counting....