The Best Baby Shower Gifts
Shortly after her death I came across the quilt that she made for my mother a few years before losing her eyesight. Suddenly it began to dawn upon me. When I looked at the quilt, I did not see a blanket. Instead, I saw a scrapbook made from material. It was as if, by looking at the quilt, I was paging through my family album. I remembered the times when we baked cookies with my mother, the times when my sisters and I played with our tea-set, the first "Superman"-movie I saw with my dad, my first day at school, the visits we had with our grandparents and many other special memories. Each memory was carefully interwoven into this quilt.
Blanket Quilt Set your sewing machine to the standard seam allowance used for quilts, which is an exact quarter inch seam. One way to improve a block that is either too large or too small is to use the freezer paper method and square up the block before sewing it together. Gridded freezer paper makes the job easier, but the plain freezer paper will work to help make the block more even.
Make pillows. Single blocks are the perfect sice to create toss pillows for your sofa, loveseat or chairs. Make pillow shams for your bed by stitching several together to fit your pillows.
Just roll the blankets up into tight rolls. Then place them in a circle on something solid. Do this for two or three tiers. You can tie them in place with pretty ribbon. Then add some rattles, baby toys tied to the "cake". It makes an adorable and useful baby blanket gift. To keep this gift in a reasonable price range you can get soft fleece blankets really cheap at a dollar store.
Once you have learned to crochet, you just have to find a great baby blanket pattern. You can find patterns for free online. You can often print these patterns out so you have them for reference. You can also check your local library for crochet pattern books. There are complete books of crochet patterns for you to check out. You can also get pattern ideas from craft magazines, don't forget to check back issues.
If online tutorials aren't your best learning environment and you want a little more direct instruction you can check at your local craft store. They often have crochet classes. Learning to crochet with a teacher is nice because you get immediate feedback and can quickly correct any mistakes you make. They may offer crochet classes, where you can meet up with other women who enjoy crocheting as well. You will end up with a wonderful gift, and maybe even some new friends.
There are a lot of different kinds of down throw blankets out in the market today. The quality of these blankets depends on the type of down that was used. There is the eider blanket that is made in lightweight cloth and can really keep in the heat to warm you up. The fine material comes from the feathers of the sea water ducks of the Northern Hemisphere. If you are not convinced, try going for the best down throw blankets made with eider down or goose down. There are also other types of down but these two have the best warmth and durability with a very affordable and reasonable price.
