Birthday Blankets: Something old into something new :)

Who remembers that Sesame Street song??? I just knew it would be on YouTube, and yep! Go ahead… you know you wanna watch it 🙂

Today I’m getting into this spirit by turning some (111!) squares that I made last year into 2 blankets for my little cousins on their birthday. They’re 4 years apart, but born on the same day! Wowzers!

Here are some old photos of the squares I’m using today. They are the extra pattern tester squares, photo model squares, etc.. from the Vibrant Vintage CAL that I hosted in 2016 using Stylecraft Special DK (affiliate) – All 33 square designs are represented here and I love these squares enough to frog all the edging and joining and give them new life as a pair of birthday blankets.

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Here is what my living room looks like at the moment:

I’ve frogged most of the edging and joining of the squares that were previously joined up for tutorials and what-not. 48 of the squares have a DC round of edging already on them. They are laid out as a blanket in the photo above. 16 were joined together with a Border, but I frogged the border and I kept the joined part. That’s the center mass of squares that you see… I’ll be adding the remaining squares onto that for an 8×6 motif blanket.

The other 63 squares (in the pile) are not edged, and I think I’ll join them as they are, in a 9×7 configuration. That way the dimensions of the 2 blankets are fairly identical.

So, here we go… wish me luck! I’ll update y’all as I work! 🙂

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I’ve worked around the perimeter of the center 16 squares, which were previously joined. I used PLT JAYG and attached one side of 16 more squares. They look like little flags hanging off!

Now I’ll use a continuous JAYG to create a 6×6 square of blocks. I used a freebie app to make a quick (and poorly drawn) little diagram of the joining path I’m about to take in order to join these blocks continuously. This is all in the name of speed and eliminating ends to weave. The red circle is where I will start and stop.

Progress of joining these squares (bonus cat photobomb):

First Blanket joined, and working on edging. This is my freebie edging pattern “Treble Scallop”

You can see the various different DC edging colors that I used for each square. This wide variety is because originally these squares were made into small 16-square blankets and used for joining and Border demos, tutorials, and patterns. (Look in my “patterns” tab on the menu and you’ll find lots of free jons and borders.)

I decided to keep all the funky mismatch square edgings because it adds to the patchy and full-of-love look. To add further to the patchwork feel, I made the edging in purple!

And I’m joining the second Blanket now! These squares are not edged so I’m just joining them in white, as-is. I’ll still add a bright Border so it’s not too different from the other one.