Urban Cottage Tied Blanket (With Surprise Details!)

The minute I laid eyes on the Urban Cottage line by Urban Chiks for Moda, I knew I had to have some!  A few weeks later I treated myself to a fat quarter bundle of the cottons, a handful of half yard cuts of some of the wovens, and a yard of the cheater panel.  

I bought all of it from a really great store on Etsy called The Heart and Home Co.  Everything in her shop has been 20% off for the last few weeks and the shipping was suuuper fast!   I'm highly recommending her shop because of the great prices, fast shipping, great customer service - on top of the beautiful fabrics and great photography (hey we all like pretty things right?!?).  Click HERE to visit The Heart and Home Co.  You won't be disappointed.

So I'm not sure what I'm going to make with the cotton fat quarters and the half yard cuts of the wovens, but I already whipped up a little blanket with the cheater panel and I'm in loooove!

Note: a cheater panel is yardage that has patchwork squares already pieced together!  It's perfect for beginners or for those that don't want to buy a lot of yardage just to get the variety they want!  Now, it's not perfectly pieced...but it's still so darn cute!

Let me give you the deets on this little project.

I used: 

1 yard of the cheater panel

1 1/8 yard of the small gingham woven fabric for the back

1/2 yard of the large striped woven fabric for the binding

40" x 50" piece of batting

Black pearl cotton

Cotton yarn for pom poms 

Chenille needle

8" Upholstery needle

A pom pom maker

I got the black pearl cotton, the white yarn and the upholstery needle from Hobby Lobby.  I used about 1 1/3 skeins of this White Cotton XXL yarn by Yarn Bee (3.5 oz, 50 yards each).  Your yarn may vary from my yarn so you may need more or less depending but that will hopefully give you an idea on how much to buy.

  

First, I just taped my backing fabric to my dining table with painters tape so that it was nice and smooth.  Then I layered my batting on top and smoothed it out.  Then I laid my cheater panel on top, smoothed it out and then basted it with a few basting pins.

Then I used Suzy Quilt's tutorial for tying a quilt with a modern twist

(click HERE for the link).  I used my pearl cotton and a chenille needle to make these sweet little "x's".  I just eye-balled the center of the blocks so it was super low key.

Then I squared up the blanket, trimming off all the excess batting and backing fabric.

I made an extra wide binding using (4) 3 1/2" x WOF strips and used a 1/4" seam allowance.  

I've never done a binding this wide before but I think it's fun.

Next, I used THIS pom pom maker from Amazon (the green one) to make 4 large pom poms that are approximately 3.4" in diameter.  Be sure to leave 2 tails that are about 15" long each to tie the pom poms to the corners of the blanket.

To tie the pom poms on: thread one of the tails through the eye of an 8" upholstery needle.  Insert your needle through the front side of the blanket (in one of the corners) pulling it all the way through to the back side.  About 1/4" away from where your needle came out, insert your needle through the back side, pulling it all the way through so your tail is on the front side again.  Repeat these steps with the second tail.  Then cinch the tails so the pom pom lays flat against the front side of your blanket.  Then tie two knots (I did right over left, left over right - twice).  Then trim the tails.

This whole project was really out of the box for me; with the cheater panel, the extra wide binding and the pom poms!  But it was really fun to mix it up a little and try a few new-to-me techniques.  

Plus, I'm so excited because this fun little blanket goes perfectly in my recently 

made over sewing room!

And now I just want to pom pom everything!!!

Have you made pom poms before and if so, what are some of your favorite pom pom projects?

I really think more pom poms are in my future!  They were so easy and fun to make!

Thanks for stopping by!