Claire's Picnic Blanket

Do you remember the picnic blanket that Laura and I made for Mindy's Birthday last year? Well, while the present was unique, it wasn't the only picnic blanket that we made at the time. Our other friend Claire had a similar zero ending birthday in November, so we decided to also make her a picnic blanket as a birthday present.

At the base of it, the picnic blankets are the same: a 6x6 grid of squares of a selection of fabrics, bagged with a backing, tied with perle thread and added ties to hold it closed.

However, if you refresh yourself with the what the other picnic blanket looked like you'll see that the fabric selections are veeeery different! I love both fabric selections, and both perfectly suit the recipients.



We backed it with a patterned dark grey fabric, remembering that the back of the picnic blanket may get dirty we chose a dark coloured coordinating fabric.

The blanket then rolls up and once tied is a nice small bundle that's easy to drop into a bag.

Apologies for the poor quality iphone photos, but since we made and gifted this in November and I only just got any kind of photos this weekend, I figured iphone photos were better than nothing!



A massive belated Happy Birthday to Claire!

A similar picnic blanket for myself has been added to the to-do list...

Mindy's Picnic Blanket

I think it's about time I showed you something I've made and finished, don't you? It's been a while! As the temperature has increased so has how busy I am. I've come out of hibernation and am struggling to get much sewing done, which is frustrating as I really want to sew!

What I have to share today I actually finished quite a while ago, but as it was a gift I couldn't share it straight away, and I didn't actually get any pics before giving it away, so I only managed to get photos of it this weekend.

My darling friend Mindy turned 30 in October, so I decided that a special present was in order. I teamed up with a mutual friend, Laura, and together we made Mindy a picnic blanket.

Getting photos was, of course, easier said than done. Obviously the picnic blanket wasn't allowed to steal the show, so it was first auditioned as an 'accessory' (read 'cape')... Thankfully the girls soon decided that the sprinklers were too hard to resist in 30 degree weather...

We chose the fabrics with Mindy very much in mind, going for the brightest, most cheerful floral prints we could find!

I was inspired to make a picnic blanket by Rachel at Stitched in Color who has made some beautiful picnic blankets.

Mindy on her picnic blanket

While a few people have called it one, it's not technically a quilt as it only has two layers. We stitched the front to the back inside out, then turned it, top-stitched the edges, and tied it with some perle 8 thread in the corners of the squares.

I think it's the only time in my life where I've described a hot pink and purple polka-dot fabric as 'calming' compared to the other fabrics it's being teamed with! But that's what we chose for the back, using that theory.  It's also got two ties on one edge so that it can be rolled up and dropped in a bag.

I'm super jealous that I don't have one now, so one for myself has been added to my to-sew list.

 Laura & Mindy on the picnic blanket

(Incase you're wondering, these pictures were taken outside the Royal Exhibition Building, in the Carlton Gardens. Isn't it beautiful there?!)