Handmade Holidays: Project 6: Mother-in-Law Scrap Lap Quilt

I had grande plans to make handmade ornaments for the grandparents this year. Tiny handprints on glass ornaments with pictures of the children inside, maybe even a fingerful of fake snow to make it a bit more festive. But alas, I did not plan my time accordingly and did not manage to make the ornaments in time to send them in the mail to Pennsylvania, Albany and Ireland. Instead, I had to come up with a quick-like-a-bunny plan to be able to at least get the Irish present out in time to perhaps make it there by Christmas. Time to get creative!

I found a beautiful vintage-looking sheet at the thrift store with a yellow rose floral design that inspired me with a handful of fabric scraps that I had been hoarding. The patches were all fabrics that, when reorganizing my craft supplies, almost organized themselves in a pile together. I was initally going to do a strip quilt, to make it as quick as possible but the pieces that I had did not quite measure up to make it feasible. So instead five inch by five inch squares with the one fabric that was long enough, making strips to break up the pattern. I wanted to make a single large blanket but again the pieces didn't seem to work, so instead I made up two patterns. A smaller sized lap blanket, about four feet long by two feet wide and a larger couch blanket that is four fee wide but five foot long. I thought I had enough batting scraps to fill in the middle but none of them were big enough either so instead I grabbed some patterened flannel that I had bought on clearance. I had thought to maybe make a couple baby blankets with it, but FYI when you have a baby, you will have too many blankets, so I voted against that plan. Then it was sitting with the rest of my flannels for pajama pants but it was an awful green, brown and ickier green stripe that I had initially thought was masculine but ended up just being ugly. Perfect substitute for batting in a lightweight but still cuddly blanket. 

All in all the cutting both blankets out and sewing together the smaller lap blanket took me half of a day. It was wonderful and quick and homemade, exactly what I like to give for presents. I can't wait for the MIL to get the package. As I was sewing it, I imagined her sitting in her brisk little garden in Ireland having a cuppa and a smoke, slightly stereotypical and true. Exactly what I would love to do when I retire. 

I used to be terrified of the idea of quilting, let alone actually doing it, but last year I made simple blankets of a cotton front and flannel back, no quilting involved, then I made a patchwork wall hanging for my grandmother, not convinced enough of my skills to make a usable quilt, and finally this year I folded and made my little Cap his Harry Potter quilt and now two more quilts, it may very well become one of my things! (Don't tell anyone but I used to think the very idea of buying yards and yards of fabric to cut up into tiny pieces and then sew back together was ridiculous...now it's the best way to use up my fabric and I love it while I am doing it)

patches all squared out

Hubby modeling the finished lap blanket

Week in Review: Mother in Law Visit: Statue of Liberty

With the government shutdown, Liberty Island is now closed so I was so happy that my first visit to the Statue wasn't put on hold. We were able to visit the island the Friday before the shutdown and kept saying how lucky we were that we didn't plan the visit for the following week. MIL, kids and I had never been to the Statue before, Hubby had gone when he used to live in NYC in his younger years (Before Kendra). My family had gone when I was in the first grade but I refused to miss school to go see the statue, because I was that much of a nerd, even at six. We bought tickets in advance (they were more expensive then I really thought they would be) for 11am time slot but arrived there early and there was no problem getting on the ferry early. We decided to park on the New Jersey side instead of going into NYC, figuring it would make it easier getting home with minimal traffic. That plan would have worked except that we were so hungry when we left that we stopped at the first restaurant we could all agree on and then hit some traffic on the way home, but still ended up getting home early enough to have a normal bedtime. 

We took the ferry over to the island (which I am pretty sure is the only way to get there), they had a bunch of different ferries with names like: Miss Liberty, Miss New Jersey, Miss New York, Miss Ellis Island. We pointed out to the kids where all boats have their names and how each boat has a unique name. Ellis Island is still closed since they are repairing damage from Hurricane Sandy, but as the boat went by, we gave little history recaps on the island and Ellis Island. 

ferry at the dock before we left for the island

The weather was absolutely awesome, I wish I had packed a great lunch because the grounds were perfect for a family lunch. I had only packed some snacks so we wouldn't be starving while we there, but we could have spent another hour there just enjoying the view. I definitely would recommend bringing at least a sweater because the water makes it a little bit more chilly then the mainland, I took my sweater off on the island but I was also carrying around the baby and he is a little hot furnace. We even could have ate at the park from where the ferry left from and where we left the car. There was the old railway station there, built in 1913 that is super creepy but awesomely cool to take some pictures. The trip was awesome, easy to get to and other then the crowds (which you can't avoid at a huge touristy hotspot) and Steven sleeping through the climb to the pedestal, it was a perfect day trip. I was so happy to finally get to see this hugely important monument to our country.