A Fun Day With Our Picnic Blanket

I finish the blue jean circle quilt. And it turned out to be a HUGE hit! Look how small John looks on this giant blanket!

We had a stack of about 19 pairs of blue jeans and I used every single one of them to make this blanket. I got the idea from this website. I was so tired of storing (and moving) the massive stack of blue jeans around, so I made it into a blanket. Amazingly enough I only used 4 old maroon shirts to make the inside of the circles. I still have all the pockets from the blue jeans so I was thinking I might turn those into a tied quilt later one (don't expect a post any time soon on that).

I didn't really measure or think through the dimensions of this blanket. I found something circular (Pyrex lid) and started tracing and cutting. Then I counted up how many I had and took out a few to make it even (16 blocks x 17 blocks) and started sewing. Turns out it's pretty close to queen size. And it's very heavy (and quite a beast to maneuver under a sewing machine)... but at least now I can say that I've made a queen sized quilt!

The heaviness is kinda handy. This morning, I took John down to the park to take pictures of it and even with all his squirming it stayed flat on the ground. It's perfect for picnics! And he loved being outside in the cool morning air.











Here is the back of the quilt. I actually like the way it turned out better than the front. We like it so much that we will probably display that side up when it's folded.



It's funny how you finish a project and then almost instantly get a new idea for the next project... it's like an evil cycle. Well, I really like the interlocking circle pattern this one made on the back and thought if John ever seemed remotely interested in baseball I could make a small lap sized baseball quilt similar to this one. Using a white/beige flannel instead of the blue jean and a red thread to sew it together. The back of the blanket would look like baseballs. Just an idea.



John had to make sure it passed the taste test...



Oh and it definitely did!



While at the park John practiced his crawling moves. He's getting close, but I think he still has a long way to go. He doesn't seem interested in sitting up without support and I think that is a key prerequisite to crawling.

He has pushing up mastered...



And he can pull his legs under his bum well...



so whenever he decides he wants to he could totally do it.

Here are some more pictures...

"Look how cute your chubby little face is."



Very concerned with the students getting onto the A&M bus...



"John, this is called posing!"



"Look at the camera, my friend."



We had fun exploring our new picnic blanket together.



The fun wasn't over, though.

Steven had a long lunch so we picked him up and grabbed some Herbert's (our FAVORITE when on campus) and headed to Tanglewood Park (another favorite!)



I really enjoy seeing Steven for lunch, but I don't think I'm the only fan in our household.

We all had a great time, and John even got in some naked man time (we are still battling that silly rash... but I think the end of evil yeast rash is drawing near).