My No Sew Fleece Blanket

I finally finished my no sew fleece blanket tonight. I bought the material back in December when we were in the states and I've been putting it off for the past six months. I don't know why. It was incredibly easy. The material cost about $18. If you keep an eye out you can usually find pre-cut kits for about $25, but most of them have children's prints or characters on them and I wanted something different. I apologize for not taking pictures at each step. You'll have to accept my crude drawings as a substitute.


All you need to make one is:

• 2 equal size pieces of fleece (you can make it whatever size you want, but keep in mind they width of the fabric is usually 54" so if you want a bed sized blanket there will have to be some sewing involved) I believe I got 2 yards of each color
• Scissors
• (optional) measuring tape and pins

Lay the two pieces of fabric on top of each other good sides out. The ideal place would probably be a large table but my table was full of clutter and I didn't feel like cleaning it off so I used the bed. If you do it on the bed make sure you don't cut your comforter ;) Trim the edges to cut off any raw edges and make sure they are straight. 
Then cut a 3-4" square from each corner. I cut the first corner and then used the cut piece as a pattern/guide on the other 3 corners

The next step will depend on how anal you are. My mother and law explained how to measure 3-4" in from the edge all the way around and use pins to mark every couple inches. I just eyeballed it using my cut corner as a guide. Cut a fringe all the way around the same depth that you cut the corners to. They can be as wide or narrow as you want. They don't even all have to be the same width if you want a funky look. Just make sure they are all cut the same depth. 

After you have cut all four sides you can start tying the two pieces of fleece together. My single knots all came out so I would suggest a double knot. As an alternative to knotting the fringe you could sew around the edge with a sewing machine and leave the fringe unknotted. I may try that next time. 

When you are finished you have a super warm and cozy blanket to cuddle on the couch with!

hborstad's favorite things

It occured to me that I have never explained why I named my store and my blog Hborstad/hborstad so I suppose I should. My daughter and I have the same initials. I'm big H and she's little h. She'll probably be upset with me when she's old enough to have email accounts and she can't use hborstad for anything because they've already been used! Anyhow, here are a few of the little h's favorite things.

This would actually be the second blanket - the first was lost somewhere in Texas and I spent all day retracing our steps and calling stores searching for it. We had a couple rough nights without it. I tried replacing it with a similar blanket but it didn't take. I was able to find a used one on e-bay for about twice what I paid brand new for hers and voila! She had her blankie back!

This is her "bo-bo". Those of you that have seen my photos on facebook may recognize this from many photos of her. She rarely goes anywhere without it and therefore it ends up in the majority of my pictures of her. She doesn't realize that she has 3 of them. After the blanket incident I found two more of these on e-bay and ordered them without hesitation to have as back-ups. We did inevitably lose one here in Germany. I was glad I had bought the others, even though the lost pillow was eventually found at the library several weeks later. So now she has 2 that she knows of and 1 still in the closet. The odd thing about the "bo-bo's" is that she has a favorite of the two. She smells them and decides which is which. My husband and I have tried smelling them and cannot tell any difference. We've also washed them and gave them back and she still seems to have a preference for one of them. Go figure!

She's had many favorite toys of the years and it's just my luck that none of them are ever easily replaced. They're never sold in stores by that time and are always two to three times as expensive on E-bay, but I'm a sucker for favorite things. I lost my blanket when I was about two and it was never found. R.I.P. favorite yellow blanket from 30 years ago! ;)

If anyone has either of these items and would like to sell them I am always on the look out for replacements just in case!