Hello Love, this is what I did while you were at work today.

My friend James had a baby girl earlier this month, and I got really excited about fabrics and colours and things. I ended up at the fabric store, and this is what I found.

So I decided to attempt a little blanket. I have no pattern and I just learned to sew this month, so I just decided to jump in and go for it.
These are the supplies I used:
-flannel fabrics
-thread
-measuring tape
-scissors
-pins
-sewing machine
-iron and ironing board
-ruler
-chalk
I wish I had:
-a roll cutter and mat
-a bigger quilting ruler

 I bought 1.1m of each fabric, planning to make one blanket. Then my mother-in-law told me I can probably get two out of it. 

Flannel shrinks, upto 10%, so it's really important to wash and dry the fabric before you start anything with it. I did that a few days ago.

Start Time Today: 10:40am

 1. I folded the fabrics in half on the longer edge, so that it was 1mx75cm instead of by 150cm wide. Then cut both on the fold. I tugged slightly on the fabric at the bottom while I was cutting, but I don't know yet if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Because of the stretch it may or may not have made my cut a little crooked.

 2. I used one half of each fabric and put the right sides together. Then I trimmed the edges so that they were exactly the same size.

3. Then I pinned the edges (one long and one short at a time), and sewed them.

 4. I left 4" open in one corner so I can turn it right side out. I probably could have left a little less than that, but it worked out just fine anyway.

  5. Turned it right side out.

6. Flattened the seems, then pinned and ironed them. DO NOT iron the pins, my mom told me that about a million times while I was working on sewing at her place.

 7. Rolled the open edges in and pressed and pinned them.

 8. Sewed a top stitch about 1/2 an inch from the edges all the way around, to close the gap and as a finishing touch.

 9. I made chalk marks two inches in and down from the corners.

 10. I sewed a second border, only for extra detail. I like the way it looks, but it doesn't do anything that the first top stitch doesn't accomplish.

End Time: 12:45
Which includes the time it took me to learn (or remember) how to thread my machine, to find my materials, to find and set up the ironing board, and to call my mom to ask a question and have a quick 10 and a half minute catch up conversation. Not bad huh?
I think it could be done in about an hour or hour and a half regularly. 

A few major issues:

-It's really small. It measures only 1mx60cm inches, so it's not super practical. If using 150cm wide fabric again, I'd probably use a full meter to make one blanket. I would start with fabric 1x1.5m instead of 1.1x.75m. 

-My cutting is really crooked. Next time I would use a roll cutter and a mat to make the edges straighter and easier to sew straight. You can definitely tell that this blanket it really crooked and amateur.

-My sewing is patchy. I'm really not a brilliant sewer yet, and it shows in the top stitches. I wish there was a way to make a blanket with no stitches showing, but this one is not like that so you can see that I'm not as practiced as I'd like to be.

All in all, I am pretty proud and excited about the way it turned out. I'm mostly excited that I got out the machine, set it up, and finished the project. That feels good! I also just love the fabrics, so that's nice too. I don't know if this one will go to James or not, because I'm a little nervous about giving it away to someone who may notice all the mistakes I made. Maybe I'll keep this one for who knows what, then make a second, more crisp and clean, attempt with the rest of the fabric. I don't know yet, but I do feel good right now about what came of it. Look at me go!