Citrus Chenille Blanket

Remember the blue butterfly chenille blanket I made for Grace back in the fall?  Well here is one that I just finished for baby.  I always intended to make one after Grace's blanket turned out so well but because we've received several adorable baby blankets recently (including the quilt from Kelly and a crocheted blanky from Gran Joan) I was a bit reluctant.  Then this week I figured, what the heck?  Can you really have too many cute blankets?

I bought this fabric from Ikea for $5.99 per meter which was a good deal because it is a very heavy cotton. And yes, that means I abandoned the pretty Peekaboo Partridge cotton fabric that I blogged about at the end of October.  It turned out that the seller on Etsy had run out of the Happy Scrolls fabric from the set and the replacement fabric was a bit too busy when paired with the other two.  That's ok, I still intend on using those fabrics for other upcoming sewing projects - perhaps some bibs or burp cloths?

This time around I decided to use chalk to pencil in the diagonal lines before sewing. It was quite tedious but it made the sewing process go much more smoothly because I wasn't constantly stopping and trying to judge by eye whether the lines were still parallel.  In the above photo these lines are spaced twice the intended distance apart (1.5 inches).  I later went back and sewed additional lines half-way between these ones and that was easy enough to do just by eye once these guide lines were in place.

Alternating beige and gold thread (beige looks blue here because of chalk)

Also this time around instead of just doing parallel diagonal lines throughout the entire blanket I created an 'X' pattern made up of parallel chevrons that met in the centre.  It made the cutting job a bit more complicated but not by much.

Progress after about half an hour of cutting with scissors + chenille cutter

Once the cutting was complete I sewed on the yellow binding along the edge and then tossed the whole thing into the wash. This time I wasn't as nervous seeing it disappear into the washing machine!

Chenille side after coming out of the dryer

And voila - another chenille blanket completed!  I think I like the vibrant colours of the blue butterfly blanket more but this one is interesting because of the chevrons.  Plus the citrus-y colour combination should go well with the reupholstered glider chair in the nursery.  I hope baby likes green!