Spool and Spoon: Baby Blanket / Play Mat Tutorial

Sometimes it's a little too easy to get caught up in the frilly fun baby things. They are just about everywhere and just so dang hard to resist. Do me a favor and take a step away from the solid gold rocking horse (yes, Beyonce, I'm talking to you)! The best nursery items are the most practical ones. New moms need the things they'll use day in and day out.while you're at it, if they have more than one use, they should be declared domestic gold! Mind you, I have no babies yet so maybe when I do my tune will change but something tells me that I'll just get more obsessed with the multi-purposed goodies.

In addition to the diaper cake, I also made a matching taggie blanket that can serve double duty as a mat for tummy time! The only way this blanket could have been easier was if it was made of no sew fleece but I doubt it would be quite as precious.

Materials Needed:

Receiving blanket
Coordinating fabric (about 1 yard)
Quilt batting
Coordinating ribbon (about 20 inches)
Contrasting thread
Paper stencil (optional)

Directions:

Lay receiving blanket over the coordinating fabric and cut around in order to have a matching piece of fabric
Sandwich a section of batting between the two pieces and cut around to create a perfectly sized middle section.
Layer the materials as follow: batting on the bottom, right sides together and on top. Pin around the edges and one in the center.

Fold a 5 in piece of ribbon in half (wrong sides together). Diagonally place one in each corner between the two pieces of fabric (between the batting and fabric) and pin in place.

Straight stitch with a 1/4 inch hem around the outside. Stop when you have about 4 inches to go.

Flip the blanket inside out. The taggies in the corners do a great job of helping you pull the corners out all the way :)

Pin the opening shut (raw hems in!) and stitch around the entire border (taking specific care to close the opening)

To create a bit of a quilted element: cut a paper stencil of whatever shape you'd like. Pin it where you find it appealing and simply do a straight stitch around the stencil. This could also be done using a stitched applique instead.