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M, our daycare provider, told me last week that since she was getting more full-time applicants for the home daycare Seamus attends, that she’d like us to give up our spot. In return, she’d offer us a spot in the preschool she opened last fall. Seamus could do two morning sessions and two afternon sessions per week, mimicking our current schedule but requiring a three o’clock pick-up instead of our usual four/four-thirty. Unlike our current arrangement, we would pay set fee every month that comes in at eighty dollars less than the lowest amount we’ll pay her in a given month. She offered us a trial day last Thursday, and we’d bring in the usual items for him, plus a blanket for naptime and a sippy cup, both of which we usually leave at daycare. Both of which we in fact did leave at daycare.

So after some talk with Patrick I called her and said we’d try it, then realized that we didn’t have a spare blanket. Come to think of it, the blanket he was using (a hand me down from one of my cousins) was probably getting a little small.

“Seamus, honey, I need to tell you something. Tomorrow you’re going to try a big kid school for the day. Dada and I will take you, and your friends N and D will be there.”

“No N, no D.” Contrarian.

“Big kid school okay? You need a blankie for school and I thought we could pick out some fabric and make you one. Okay?”

“Okay.”

When Seamus was a baby I’d seen carseat blankets that had minky fabric on one side and cool quilting cotton on the other side. So that was my main inspiration. I’m also in the process of making Seamus new bedding, so this would be a good test of my plain sewing and my Bernette’s ability to handle thicker fabric.

At our local fabric/crap store, there were some great fabrics, none of which we chose. Seamus wanted pink, which I have no problem with, but by the time we got to our pink minky he was less interested in browsing than I’d like, so I snagged a green pattern, some thread and binding tape, and off we went.

Minky, cotton backing, and quilt bnding. Not seen: the feather boa and the buttons for future Montessori activities.I hucked everything into the wash and while Seamus ignored his nap I went through a few projects on the Purl Bee to get a sense of how I wanted to pull this off. After bedtime I ironed the cotton and decided I’d go for a 40-inch by 40-inch sqare, and that I would use the quilt binding. Not including laundry time, it took me three hours.

The finished project in the light of day. I suck at binding.

It’s not bad. Clumsy, but the two sides behave like a blanket and don’t separate or do anything unexpected.I learned that I want to sew on our dining table and not my little table for projects like this, and that the bedding project will employ my friend J’s vintage Kenmore, which can handle zipper installations in leather, so it’s tough enough. At some point I’ll want to make a travel-size version of this blanket, but for now I’m pleased that I’ve finally made Seamus a blankie.