When she learned of my penchant for strawberries, my friend Edna gave me the stash of strawberry fabric she inherited from her mother (who had some kind of store that sold all things strawberry, I believe). There was A LOT of it, and I thought what better to do with it than another picnic blanket?
I laughed when I looked back at the post about the picnic blanket I made last summer, and how many months of planning and slowly, slowly working on it I spent. This one? I started Saturday after breakfast and finished just as C put dinner on the table. And we spent most of the day at the lake in between.
I did no measuring--just eyeballed--and almost no ironing (only the binding), just cut, cut, cut, sew, sew, sew. I love a good, fast, forgiving project (one for which no one cares if it's wonky, crooked or uneven). This one was nice and big and satisfying indeed. I also did not tie this one, which I remember taking forever on the last one, but just stitched-in-the-ditch along the seams.
There are miles and miles of the white with pink and red strawberries fabric left over; I'm thinking of making sun dresses for Edna's granddaughters (who are E and Z's age) for next summer. Because what on earth else will I do with it all (shorts for the boys?)?
For the backing I used this Strawberry Shortcake sheet that I couldn't resist at Goodwill. E said the only part he didn't like was the Strawberry Shortcake heads, which is pretty darn impressive, considering it's the pinkest thing we now own. (No one else in the family had anything whatsoever to say on the topic).
Just after I took this picture, I ripped off the ties and re-sewed them so there's a nice big carrying loop in the middle. Now we have one picnic blanket for the car and one for home. All we need is some time (and that picnic basket I've been wanting to get...)
I had this moment of "She should have waited until I sent the leftover from her Communion dress" and then I saw the picture. The little bits I have left over are exactly that: little bits!
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