I have mentioned on here before that I have some fabric that I happily took...  but I didn't say it was four different times from four different people. Well, they found out that I am a quilter and some of them thought that I could put it to good use and really to just get rid of it. I kept it all for a long time and only using small bits. It was stored in the basement and I didn't really see it, the basement sewing room wasn't the best. Out of sight, Out of mind. Well, when I moved my sewing room upstairs and all that fabric came with it and now I see it all the time mixed in with my fabric I have purchased over time and current projects.  I made my mind up that I was going to use it up because there is no use in keeping it for nothing. So here comes the hard part. It isn't things that I would buy, because usually I buy fabric with a project in mind or a print that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. Long story short I have over three yards of some flannel in both yellow and blue. What do you do with this you might ask??

Make a Chenille Blanket!  (so I know that there are tons of these out there but this is the first time that I have sewn one and this is how I did it.  I did it a little bit different so feel free to follow along :)

Chenille Blanket Tutorial

(I bought a very cute print to stand out and compliment my flannel layers.  I have one layer of quilter's cotton and then four layers of flannel, they are all one yard.  Sandwich them all with the quilter's cotton face up and pin layers together)

(I wanted to do my lines diagonal so I marked a diagonal line from one corner to it's opposite corner.  It is super hard to see but maybe if you click on the picture to zoom in you will see a blue line.)

(I sewed on that marked line and then I sewed additional lines approximately 1/2" apart.)

(Okay now.  That took a little bit of time, lol.  But seriously it looks so cute I almost didn't want to cut the layers.  Then I found a little tiny wrinkle in the back and I didn't feel bad anymore :)

(I rounded the corners.  I thought it would give the blanket a soft touch.  There is nothing like soft corners when it comes to baby blankets.)

(Then slip those scissors in.  This is where my blankets varies.  I only cut through Three layers instead of four.  I like how the back has a soft flannel covering the wrong side of the quilter's cotton.  Feel free to cut through all layers but the top layer if you like.)

(Well, that took some time too.  It is fun to get to the end though and count that you only have three more lines, two more lines, wholly hannah one, done.)

(Now you need to add the binding.  I cut my binding in 2 1/4" x WOF - width of fabric strips.  Then you place the strips right sides together making a uppercase L.  Then sew the corner off.  Then trim the excess fabric off.  Yep it's that easy.  Then, press the strips in half.  Place on the chenille side of blanket  leaving a tail and some room from a corner and sew a 1/4" seam through all layers.  Stop about 7" before you reach where you started.)

(Joining the binding - This is where it is a little bit tricky, this is how I learned and I really like this technique, Take the width of you binding and divide by 2.  Mine is 1 1/8".   Fold back your binding strip and cut 1 1/8".  Then leave a 1/4" gap and do the same to the other side.  Make the L and sew the corner off.  Open and Press to make sure you have enough and that you didn't get a twist in.  Trim off excess fabric and sew the remaining binding on.)

(Fold the binding over to the front and sew a 1/8" seam along the binding around complete edge.)

(Binding finished!  Put this baby in the washer and dryer.  )

(Beautiful!!  This is my first one and I am in LOVE!)

(It isn't helping me reduce my hand-me-down-fabric-stash, if I can't part with anything that I make with it...Well I guess it does but it just grows my sewn items stash.  People don't talk too much about those kind of stashes do they?)

So I did make some more doll diaper bags and a cute little chenille doll blanket to sell.  At least I won't hoard these little babies.  I am going to update them in my etsy (click on the etsy tab if you want some bags).  Well I seriously had a blast making these chenille blankets.  I actually have three yards of blue flannel to make another one but after the first one I opted to make the doll version instead and save the boy blanket for another day.  That is a lot of monotonous sewing and cutting.  It is better to break it up. 

2012 sure has a good ring to it.  I wasn't sure I wanted to, but now I am thinking that I do...  I want to write somethings I would like to delve into this year.  So here gos...

I still want to try new things but more than that I want to keep up with the things I have found that I really enjoy.  So I guess I am happy with what I got going. (check)

I want to make more large quilts.  I'm talking bed quilts just for the heck of it. (check, made four king, made four queen, made two laps... I don't know if they count)

I want to be creative and come up with some different quilting patterns of my own.  I also want to keep crossing blocks off my list so that too.  I really really am going try to see what I can come up with.  I am going to dig deep deep.  I am so structured and in a box and I would love to just get a little crazy :) (check, made 15+ patterns)

I want to push my creative abilities.  I feel like that one should have a lot of !!!!! (check, I had no idea what I had inside and it is unbelievable to me.  I just am so grateful for all the support I have had from EVERYONE that loves me.  I appreciate them so much because when things got discouraging they helped me keep going.)

Looking forward to an easy no stress year.  So appreciating the less stress.  We are paying off a few big things at the end or maybe the beginning of next year and for some funny reason it just feels so close and it brings a smile to me.  Yay for less stress!!  Gotta love working hard :) (not quite, It was not really a less stress year... With my dad passing away, things were all but not stressful.  We are still on course for working hard though.)

Not much with the kids.  We are always playing and loving them and so pretty much same old same old. (check, We love them.)

Hopefully getting some date nights thrown in there.  We are having fun hanging out with each other especially without the two crazies talking in the back ground.  Nothing too special but just fun stuff, cause that's what we do. (not quite, We had a few good days thrown in there but we could greatly improve in this area.)

Well, that isn't too bad and the last one is to make my house a little bit more clean now that the kids are getting bigger.  Also, I need to make the house a little more simple.  Luckily I have some stuff to pass on that the kids are grown from.  There might be some stuff I have grown from too.  We might be here a little longer and we are reaching our full capacity.  So I would like to simplify our home. (not quite, We could definitley continue to work in this area and I haven't much helped this year by adding some big additions.  I don't think it is in our near future that this will be helped, lol.)

Yep, that's the list.  It is totally doable.  Maybe I should have made it harder?? (amazing list and I will try my best to make a great one for 2013)

Well it went pretty good. I am missing a few pictures (for some reason it wouldn't let me add some uploaded pics to the collage) but I didn't upload all of my projects anyway so thats okay. Here is my 2011!! I love looking at them all together so I am glad I tried it out :) Hopefully there will be tons more for 2012. I might attempt to make a "list" of things that I want to make sure to accomplish.

So here's to quilting.