a finished Picnic Blanket

True Confession: this weekend I had a bit of a midnight breakdown. I just couldn't sleep for the stress of all the things I need to do. And it went on and on. Tossing and turning in bed between a sleeping husband and the cradle with sleeping baby... well, all their sleeping made me epically miserable! Eventually I gave in, got up and did a little sniffly sewing, piecing together this picnic quilt. It wasn't all that pleasant, but it was better than suffering through trying so desperately to sleep. I'm sure you've been there.

Fortunately, since then I've had several good nights. Eleni has been sleeping through the night some nights. Oh, what a gift!

And speaking of gifts, working with this fabric has been just that. This is my first Cotton & Steel quilt. I noticed that the fabrics have a slightly more luxurious texture and drape than usual quilting cottons. But of course, it's the colors and the prints that truly delight my soul. I'm particularly fond of the bees for some reason?

After laying out my 8" cut squares in a 9 x 9 setting, I so enjoyed piecing and pressing long columns of happy squares.

Simple, repetitive sewing at it's best.

And do you spy the basket just over the edge of the table? Our portable moses basket/cradle must be my favorite baby gear item. My sewing space has some lovely filtered daylight, perfect for daytime naps. It's so nice to keep her nearby!

Eleni's the type of baby to act exhausted until you swaddle her and put her down. Then her eyes fly open to say, "I'm not tired, mommy!" Fortunately, she's not too fussy about it. She's still a very sleepy baby, actually (maybe too sleepy). I have to wake her up all day long to feed her! But guess what? Today her oral therapist referred her for a "suck, swallow, breathe" test, which is the first step to getting to try to feed her orally. Crossing all our fingers and toes that she passes!

Oh, were we talking about a blanket? I hope you don't mind the Eleni rabbit trails. I certainly can't promise they won't keep popping up here and there!

But, the blanket... I make my picnic blankets without any batting so that they're more compact for taking along. The blanket is a patchwork quilt top with a pieced backing, sewn right sides together and turned right side out. Then I edge stitch all around to close the opening and finish the edges. Usually I've hand tied the blanket to secure layers, but this time I zigzag stitched around every other square. Cute!

Happy, bright, playful fabrics! Yay!

I can't wait to give this to our special nurse to show her how much we appreciate what she did for our baby. Is it bad to say that I think she's going to love it? How could she not! These fabrics are just so fun.