Amanda Vs. Pinterest

For Logan's birthday this year, I took on the mass undertaking of making stuff.  I don't know why I do this to myself, but for some reason I always think it's a good idea, then at the last minute I'm rushing and stressing and then my mom rushes in to save me.

Well that's what happened this time at least.

I think I blogged about making this:

via

circa June-ish in one of my many ramblings saying something to the effect that I was excited to make this and I had bought the fabric, and hooray!

Well August rolled around and it still wasn't complete.  Luckily, my mom was here to save the day, and we got it done the day before Logan's birthday party.

My completed masterpiece:

I pretty much love it.

It was actually pretty easy, too. Here's how I did it!!

If you go to the original pin, you'll see that there are no instructions, pattern, or help of any kind, so I was kind of flying solo on this one.  I don't have much experience sewing (as you all know), and I basically just made it up as I went along, so that will give you an idea of how simple of a project this is!

Sorry for the lack of pictures, I'm bad like that!

Step 1:  Pick out fabric.  I let Logan choose the fabric for the planets.  I just told him, I need a "yellow" or a "blue" and let him choose from the little pre-cut squares.  You really don't need much fabric for the planets.  For the background, I just chose something that looked kind of "outer-spacey".  For the back, just whatever color minky you want.  I think I got 2 yards of each the front and the back and had just the right amount.  The blanket is about 3.5 ft by 5.5 ft.  I also got felt for "Super Logan" and white yarn for when I tied it and made "stars."

Step 2:  Make your planets.  I knew I didn't want to do anything by hand, and I don't have a Serger, so I had to figure out a way to make nice edges without using either of those methods.  So, what I did was cut out two circles of the same size for each planet, sewed them together, all the way around (right sides together), cut a slit in the back and flipped them inside out.  Then I sewed each of them to the "outer-spacey" fabric, with about a 1/4 in seam and viola!  Pretty nice edges.  The planets are pretty thick, since they are each 2 pieces of fabric, but I like blankets with a lot of texture, so I think that's a plus!

Some of the planets (and the sun) were a little more detailed, so here's how that went down!

For Uranus and Saturn, I made a regular planet like I described above, but then cut out 1 piece of fabric for the rings.  I then zig-zag stitched around the edge to keep it from fraying, then pinned it all together and sewed it to the "outer-spacey" fabric at one time.  

For Earth, I made a regular planet out of blue fabric, then made green "continents," zig-zag stitched around them, then sewed them to Earth with about a 1/4 in seam, then attached Earth to outer space as one piece. 

For the Sun, the yellow part I made like I made the others, then the orange part is just a bigger circle (with a few ripples in it, you know, to make it look like a sun)  that I zig-zagged around, then I pinned and sewed both pieces to outer space at once.  

For Jupiter (the stripy one) I tore 2 inch strips of blue and red fabric, then sewed them all together until it was big enough (remember right sides together), then sewed that to a plain piece of blue fabric (remember that's the back so no one will see it), cut the slit in that plain blue fabric, and flipped it.  Then sewed it to outer space.  

Step 3:  Make Super Logan.  Ok, so now all your planets should be attached to outer space.  For placement, I just eye balled it.  I know it's probably wrong.  My three year old won't care and neither do I.  I found a free super hero clipart dude on the internet here.  I printed him out, cut him out, and then cut him out of blue felt.  Then I cut out all his pieces in the different colors of felt I would need:  yellow "L", yellow under pants, red cape, etc.  Then I sewed each little piece onto the bigger blue Super Logan. (Man, I wish I had taken pictures).  Basically, the back of Super Logan is all blue, and you just add the rest of the colors on top.  Then I stitched his face on, and sewed him onto outer space as well, all the way around the edge.  

If you followed all that, you're a genius.  Give yourself a pat on the back.  

And anybody still reading this, a gold star for you too.  

Step 4:  Attach green minky backing to outer space (with planets and Super Logan) front.  I used this method from a pin I pinned a million years ago.  I've made 4 blankets this way, and it's the easiest way there is.  Basically you sew right sides together, the front and back.  Leave about 4 inches or so to flip it.  Flip it.  Sew the hole together, then sew all the way around.  Fool proof.  Trust me, if anyone could screw this up, it would be me.  

Step 5:  Tie it (Make the "Stars")  This is where I had gotten to when my mom swooped in and saved the day.  She is the quilting master after all.  To tie the quilt, it's actually quite simple.  You need quilting needles, and a long, long piece of yarn, doubled up.  You start by making a small stitch, making sure it goes all the way through both pieces of fabric.  Then you make a big loop above your stitch and go through it with your needle and pull, and then a big loop below your stitch and go through it with your needle, and pull.  This will make a square knot.  Then you go about four inches over and do it again, all over the quilt.  You don't even need to cut it right away.  You can do that at the end.  I hope I'm making sense.  If not, I found this great tutorial (WITH PICTURES) on Pinterest.  

And you're done!!!  If you followed all that, congrats.  You're smarter than me.  I'm not even sure I followed all of that.  

Logan loves his blanket.  He asks to sleep with Super Logan every night so he can "Fight the monsters."  How cute is that?  Totally worth all the stress and loss of sleep, right?

Right.