Merry Christmas, Midsummer, Yule & Festivus

I know I've been slack about updating. Truth is, I've been panicking; we had a family gathering with 14 people last weekend, for my dad's family, we spent the day itself with my in-laws, and then we're going to Canberra to see my mother and siblings, tomorrow. Plus, all 3 of us are ill (We must have been on the very top of Santa's naughty list!).

My grand plans of a wholly handmade Christmas gift pile have fallen by the wayside. Apart from a bunch of baking for my cousins, the best I could manage was this no-sew polar fleece blanket for my aunt & uncle.

Wait, I guess that's not strictly true - I did manage to make yet another of Two Little Banshees's hippo stuffies, this time in green, a Midsummer gift for my son. I'm hoping it will be the first of a collection of "handmade stuffies by Mummy", not to mention beginning a tradition of one handmade gift opened on the equinox (I'd like to make something for my partner next year too, and encourage him and our boy to make presents for me and each other as well).

At least it's now mostly over. We just have to get over these colds!

No-Sew Baby Blanket

For months now I've been super-keen to have a stab at a No-Sew Fringed Blanket. The bookmark has been hanging around my browser window for months - but I finally got my hands on some suitable polar fleece (thanks to a nice Spotlight sale) and fell to, this week.

I was a bit surprised that when all was said and done it really felt like it took more work to tie the fringed pieces together than if I'd sewn them. Though that may have been because my baby son thought that the scissors and lengths of fabric were VERY exciting, and had to come investigate the interesting item on the floor (and what Mummy was doing with it) every time I started cutting or tying fringe.



The end result has been posted to a friend who's expecting - the two layers of polar fleece should be fairly waterproof, as an added bonus!