4sq blanket no. 4

i worry about going to the trouble of making a gift by hand that the recipient won't like. i've been on the receiving end of such items as a child and don't want to put anyone else in that position. but i also like the surprise factor of the gift. when it came to my 4th blanket for my s-i-l's third little girl, i sided with making sure she liked the blanket. i showed natalie several groups of fat quarters and asked her to pick her favorite one. i'm glad i did because she chose something that completely surprised me. i would have selected the yellow and blue meadowsweet fabrics i ended up giving to anne with blanket #5.

this set included the large blue floral from hunky dory by chez moi for moda, the paisley & daisy prints from kate spain's verna for moda, and the unidentified pink swirly print.

the blanket didn't get delivered until my newest niece was almost a month old because it was waiting in the wings for me to finish no.3 first. but natalie said she loved it and when i was over there recently, i saw her using it. i don't know if she was just doing that because i was there or not, but it made me smile and think maybe she does like it after all.

funny story here. my stitching on this blanket was much better than previous and subsequent attempts. i made the stitches deep and they turned out more evenly sized. to my surprise, i got within literally one inch of the end of the blanket and ran out of floss. you can tell i was getting desperate and shortened the two last stitches in an attempt to complete the blanket with what i had. didn't work. i had to make yet another trip to joanne's just for another skein of floss, which was the third trip of that sort for this blanket alone. the first time i picked out the floss, i accidentally dropped one skein before i got to the register, but didn't realize it til i got home. so i had to return a second time for more floss. then the third. when the day arrived to deliver the blanket, the floss i had purchased didn't seem to match the color i'd already used. i was about to cry. i'd taken a long strand of floss and a needle with me to a family party, intending to finish it off and hand it over. natalie looked at the blanket and floss and said if it wasn't a perfect match it was close enough and not to worry about it. so the last inch was finished and evee has her blanket to snuggle in. whew! what an ordeal (of the minor sort). all over one inch of floss. but that darling baby is totally worth it.