No-Sew Fleece Blanket

Grandparents. Perhaps the hardest people on the planet to buy gifts for.

What gift can you get for someone who only ever asks for a phone call once in a while?

Well first of all you can call your grandparents, to alleviate that "I'm a terrible person" feeling.

Then you can give them a handmade gift, so that every time they use it they'll think of their favorite grandchild. Aww.

Maximize your love for g-ma with the no-sew fleece blanket.

Materials:

Two pieces of fleece, 7ft long x 5ft wide

Safety pins

A good pair of scissors

Time commitment: A couple episodes of Chopped

Estimated cost: Depends on the fleece; 40-80$

My mom is the one who showed me how to make these. Thanks Mom! Your mother's day card is in the mail.

Acquiring your fleece pieces is the first step here. Make a run to Joann's Fabrics; they have all of their rolls of fleece arranged by color and print. Just take the fleece rolls you like up to the nice fabrics employee and have them cut the lengths of fleece you desire.

Don't take your scissors into the store and try to cut the fleece yourself. This is generally frowned upon.

I ended up getting one "top fleece" with an interesting print on it, and one "bottom fleece" that is a solid color. But hey, if you really want a fire engine print on one side of the blanket and jungle animals on the other, go crazy.

Drive home. Then, lay the two fleeces on top of one another and align the edges as best you can. Pin them together about five inches inward from each corner and the same distance inward along the edges. Now measure off four inch squares at each corner of the fleece and cut them away with scissors.

This next part is going to sound tedious. That's because it is. Cut strips about one inch wide by four inches long (stretching into the core of the blanket) using a your scissors. To aid you in cutting a consistent length, you can draw a straight line from corner to corner in pencil and cut to that line each time.

After you've destroyed your hand cutting all of those strips, you have now arrived at the "fun part". Take the top strip and complimentary bottom strip and tie them together. Repeat ad nauseam. Two overhand knots per set of strips works best. Just be sure to tie them all in the same direction to keep all the strips of the same color facing in the same direction. If your knots start to bunch up along an edge, firmly pull them apart (fleece is fairly stretchy).

Finally, remove the safety pins. You don't want Grandma rolling around on those!

What can I say? Grandma said she wanted color. At least she won't lose it!

The blanket I made for myself is a little bit more subdued. And also a little bit more Canadian.

Until next time!

Pocket Coasters

This one started when my fashionable past roommate told me I had to get rid of my old flannel shirts. "Hideous" he implied. "Comfortable" I implored. But he had been in New York longer than I had, so I trusted him. (Sigh). Alas my flannel days are now (mostly) behind me.

At the time, I had a huge pile of flannel shirts on the floor. What to do? Civic minded individuals would donate them to the less fortunate. However, being the crafty (read: selfish) person that I am, I decided that if I shouldn't wear them then maybe my drink coasters should.

Estimated cost: 5$ for cork (Staples), and the opportunity cost of not wearing flannel shirts

Time commitment: 5 minutes

It was a simple enough idea: cut the pockets off the shirts, slide cut pieces of cork into them, and close the buttons. The best part is now when I spill alcoh... I mean... "cold beverages" on them, I can just take the cork out, launder them and then put the cork back in. Good as new, or as new as a pocket from a heavily worn shirt can be.

I thought I was being super clever with this idea, until I went on Etsy and discovered that this has been done 80+ times before. They even have jean coasters. These people think of everything!

If you have some undesirable shirts to get rid of, why not try this idea? Make a set of four, and give it as a gift! This can help assuage the guilt associated with not donating (or not wearing) the shirts. Happy crafting!

P.S. - I would save the leftover shirt material after the pockets are removed. I'm sure we can use it for something else later on #craftfortomorrow. (Note: not a real hashtag, or at least not one I'm starting).