Textured Blanket - The Finale

I'm done. It's finished. And I am pretty pleased with the result. I used a plain quilting cotton for the border, flannel for the backing and satin for the binding. Here is a close up of the border, it is cuter than it looks in the big photo.I loved that it pulled in all the colours that I used in the blocks. The flannel for the backing is purple with all kinds of coloured dots. I learned a lot in the process as is always the case when creating something new. If I ever do it again, I'll do somethings differently, be a little more precise in some places, and avoid some fabrics. But all in all I think that it was a success. My biggest hope is that the little girl that it is for will adore it and it will fulfill it's purpose in helping to calm her. I really hope that it will be something that she treasures for along time. It thrills me to know that another one of my creations is heading out to bless someones life.

If you missed out and want to see more of the process in making this blanket, check out here, here, here and here.

OK, OK, OK, Here it is..so far(Multi-Texture Blanket - Part 4)

What do you think? This is the multi-texture blanket that I have been working on for a six year old autistic girl. Unfortunately you can't really see the different textures. It sure would be great if you could feel them on your own computer screen, don't ya think?

I'm not totally convinced this is the right lay out. I am hoping that any of you reading this will put in your two bits and help me play around with this so that I can get it just right. I think that the I will do the binding in pink satin, but I haven't yet decided what colour/texture(maybe a simple cotton colour/print) I should do the border. Ideas? Anybody? Help!

Multi Textured Blanket - Part 3

Oh, I am having so much fun with this blanket. I think that I may have all the blocks finished. It will all depend on the lay out. I just finished creating the blocks and I was so excited to show them off that I took pictures of the newest ones and I am here blogging about it. When I am done blogging, I am going to go lay it all out, and try to get a good distribution of colours and whatnot. Only then will I really know if I have all the right blocks or if I am going to make more to even things out. To see the other blocks I've made check out here and here.
These are the newest applique blocks. The cat and mouse/bear are missing eyes and noses, but fear not, they will be adorned with the cutest of faces. The mouse/bear is made from a gray Berber. The cat is made with a really soft animal print short fur. Both the animals are on a kind of satiny back ground. The flower is made of pink satin and on a corduroy background. The star is made of a kind of gold lamee and on an fleece backed with a kind of stiff crinkly fabric, this adds a new dimension to the texture.

Some other fabrics I am using:This I call my cookie monster material. It is furry, but not really soft. It just makes me think of Cookie Monster.This is a blue taffeta with taffeta ribbon embroidery. This is left over scraps from Christmas dresses that I made for my girls two Christmas's ago.
This is called "eyelash chenille". It is really soft and long. This is left over from making wraps to go with my girls Christmas dresses two Christmas's ago. We recently made pillows for the girls out of this and they love them.I used this material in making a cuddly cat for my 18 month old for Christmas. She loves it to pieces. It is a short hair chenille and it is to die for soft.This is a rough wooly type fabric. It is a nice contrast to some of the previous soft/furry fabrics.

Well, that is all for now, I am going to go play around with the blocks and see what I can come up with.

Multi-Textured Blanket - Part 2

I've done a little more work on the multi-texture blanket. I got two adorable blocks done tonight. To see the other blocks I've made so far click here. Aren't they cute? I pretty pleased with them. The wings on both of them are free moving. The Butterfly has really crinkly wings and a fleece body. The bee has slightly crisp and shimmery wings and the body is made from faux suede with rickrack stripes. So far so good. Thanks Jaime for the idea of the shiny/slippery/sparkly fabric. I hadn't thought of that, but I know exactly what I want to do with it, I just need to go buy some.

Multi-Texture Blanket, Part 1

A few weeks ago I received an interesting email with an interesting project proposal. This lady has a 6 year old autistic daughter who loves different textures. The feel of different textures calm her when she is having a melt down. She asked me if I could make her a textured blanket. I was thrilled with the idea. So while I have been doing some less fun projects, my mind has been mulling over this project. Today I decided to get a start on it. I went through my stash of fabric to see what I had on hand that would add texture to this blanket, I wasn't surprised by all that I found, but there are a few pieces that I am going to have to go looking for. I really want to make this blanket special, not just practical. I want it to be something that this little girl just loves. I want it to do the job that it is intended for, but I want it to be adorable, to die for cute. I plan on doing some appliques on some of the squares, things like flowers, ladybugs, butterflies, ABC's, 123's etc. These are the squares that I put together today, I like the idea of the flannel rag quilt squares, they are soft with some extra texture.

If anybody reading this has some ideas(is there anybody out there reading this...or am I just talking to myself like I do so frequently?) feel free to leave a comment, I'd love some additional input to keep the gears turning in my brain. I'll keep you all updated with my progress. This is my new pet project.