The Annie Blanket: An Angel Grief Blanket

On November 18th, when I was 17 weeks 6 days pregnant, I learned that my baby's heart had stopped beating. That she had passed away. We named her Annie and mourned her loss.

My hospital had a wonderful program for parents like us who lose a baby too soon. They provided a memory box, beautiful photos, hand and foot molds of our angel, as well as a couple blankets.

The blanket I received was perfect for my baby. It was as tiny as she was and cradled her head. I love this blanket.

Annie's due date is coming up on April 22nd. I've had it planned since she passed away that I would make everything I was given and donate it to the hospital in her honor. When I thought about making this tiny grief blanket, I was kind of stuck. I looked up tutorials and came up with nothing.

Fortunately, I was able to figure out how to make this sweet blanket, and I wanted to share it with the world. It is so easy and takes such little fabric and whoever it goes to will cherish it forever.

I also thought if anyone wanted to join me in making one and sending it to me to donate in her honor (or donating to your own hospital in her honor), it would be amazing and the most perfect way to deal with her upcoming due date.

If you are interested in making and donating an Annie Blanket in her honor, leave a comment with your email and I will contact you with additional information.

Thank you for visiting this post, and most importantly, please share this post so it will be easier for others to find and help those who mourn the loss of their baby.



The Annie Blanket
A grief blanket tutorial for those born much too soon.

Supplies:

Flannel fabric - 1/4 yard or fat quarter - Mellow prints are best
1/8" White satin ribbon - at least 36" (1 yard)
Pattern - print and cut out
Matching thread

I would suggest washing your fabric first. This will help it feel extra soft; we want the best for these sweet babies and their parents. Also iron the fabric after washing.

First things first, print off the pattern by clicking the link - The Annie Blanket Pattern.

Cut out your pattern.

Fold your fabric. Do this in a way so you can lay the top of the pattern on the fold and trace.

I placed my pattern with the small part along the fold and traced with a regular 'ol pen. I'm classy like that. :)

Go ahead and trace the pattern again and then cut out your pieces.

Take your one piece and make it right sides together, just folding it back at the top and pin down the long side.

Sew down the side using a 3/8"-1/2" seam allowance. Be sure to back stitch at the beginning and end. Do this with both pieces.

After sewing, trim down the excess and the corners. I only did the corners, and it was very noticeable. The less bulk there is the better. *So trim down the seam*.

Turn the pieces right side out and take it to the ironing board to press the seams.

Now let's cut our ribbon. We will need 4 pieces of 1/8" satin ribbon measuring 9" each. Be sure to heat seal the ends of the ribbon. I do this by taking a lighter quickly over the edge. The ribbon melts just enough to seal it.

Take your two sewn pieces and put them right sides together.

Pin the ribbon inside the blanket. Put two pieces of ribbon on each side. Measure down from the top of the side 3/4" and place one there. Measure another 1 1/2" and place the other ribbon. Leave about 1/2" of the ribbon sticking out.

Go ahead and pin the rest of the blanket pieces together. Remember to leave a place for turning the blanket right side out.

Sew all around the edge of the blanket, using about a 3/8" seam allowance, back stitching at the beginning and end. And remember to leave about a 2" opening for turning around. Be sure to clip corners and edges to reduce any bulk.

Now turn your blanket right side out. I use a turning tool, but anything you have to get those corners straight works great. After you turn it out, stick the hood part of one side into the other side.

Be sure to iron out any wrinkles and press the edges to be nice and straight.

Now we are going to top stitch around the edge, which will close up the opening. I stitched pretty close to the edge.

And you're all done! You've created a beautiful blanket that will cradle those special babies and bring so much comfort to their parents while grieving their loss.

Again please join me by making and donating an Annie Blanket in her honor for her due date by sending your blanket to me or by donating to a local hospital. If this can't be done, please share this tutorial to help others create these blankets.

Thank you for reading and sharing!

See where I linked up HERE.

High Chair Ribbon Skirt: Birthday Fun!

My baby turned one last month and you better believe I threw a fun party for him! My husband says, "Why go through all the trouble to do all this when he won't remember it?" Well sir, I will remember it and when he looks back at pictures he will see how loved he is. :)

Because I have a little boy, I couldn't put him in a cute bow and frilly tutu so I thought I would jazz up his high chair as part of his celebration. I knew he would have tons of pictures taken of him blowing out his candle (or trying to touch it) and eating his first cake (okay probably his 20th piece of cake... he's my second.)

This High Chair Ribbon Skirt is SO easy to make and I really think it adds some fun to the party. If you'd like to see how I made it, check out the tutorial on The Ribbon Retreat Blog.

And definitely check out their ribbon selection. They have great prices and TONS of ribbon choices. I decided to stick with dots since I had a giraffe theme, but really your possibilities are endless.

Here are some pictures of the little guy.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

See where I linked up HERE.

The Ribbon Retreat is Accepting Tutorials!

This is GREAT NEWS! I am copying and pasting from The Ribbon Retreat Blog. You can view this exact post on their blog by clicking HERE.

***

We have an exciting announcement for The Ribbon Retreat Blog!

We love offering great tutorials for our customers and readers

and would love to have you as a contributor!

We are searching for high quality tutorials on bows, crafts, sewing projects, and so much more! If we have the products for a project you have in mind, then we'd love a tutorial!

Here are the details:

You will submit a form with your project idea, example of your work and tutorials, and if it looks like a good fit and the quality is what we are looking for, you will be approved!

Then we will send you any supplies needed to complete your

project that are available at The Ribbon Retreat.

When the tutorial is available, it will be posted on The Ribbon Retreat Blog along with your name and your blog name if you have one.

The Ribbon Retreat Blog has

204,797 Page Views in January 2012

181,053 Unique Page Views in January 2012

20,766 Facebook Fans

2,156 Blog Email Subscribers

984 Twitter Followers

758 Pinterest Followers

All tutorials will also go on our Free Tutorials page on our main website.

In January our Free Tutorials page got 63,829 pageviews, of which 50,683 were unique pageviews.

We will feature the tutorial in our newsletter for two weeks.

Our newsletter is sent to over 65,000 people.

One week after your tutorial publishes on The Ribbon Retreat Blog, you are welcome to publish the tutorial on your own blog, along with where you got your supplies of course!  We'd also love if it is mentioned that the tutorial was a guest post on our blog as well. :)

We will have around two tutorial spots a week.

If you have questions, leave a comment in this post (others may have the same questions.) You can also email me at shirley@theribbonretreat.com.

We are so excited to open the blog up to other contributors and

see what beautiful creations can be made with our products!

Click the link to submit a project.

Thank you!

The Ribbon Retreat Team

 ***

Wonderful news, huh??

If you have awesome tutorials, great photos, and are super creative, check it out! It's not just sewing either! The variety of projects is awesome!

Check out The Ribbon Retreat Blog, which is getting a facelift soon from 733 Designs, so exciting! And make sure to say hello! 

Thanks for stopping by and make sure to check out my Link Parties tab and visit all the wonderful hosts and their fabulous link parties!

Embellished Burp Cloths

 

I know these are the easiest baby shower gifts ever, and I just love them! 

Cute fabrics + useful burp cloths = AMAZING GIFTS!

Just in case you're not sure how to make them, I've posted a tutorial on The Ribbon Retreat Blog. 

They have everything you need to pretty up these cloth diapers with fabric, ribbon, ric rac, and so much more. 

I had two baby showers this weekend so I made tons! 

Definitely remember these for your next baby shower.
Everyone Oohed and Ahhed about how cute they were when all I did was some straight stitching. So easy!

And check out these super cute ones I did for the Baby Girl baby shower!

 

 

 

These are so fun! You can dress them up in a ton of different ways.

The possibilities are endless!

If you haven't made your own before, get started!

And remember to check out The Ribbon Retreat for an awesome selection of beautiful fabrics, ribbon, ric rac and so much more!

Thanks for stopping by!

Check out where I link up on my Link Parties tab!! :)

Organize Your Fabric

I love looking at my fabric!

But it didn't used to be that way...

Does any one else's fabric collection look like this?

When I would look for one piece of fabric, I usually had to dig through a few boxes and make a mess in the process. And these boxes had been "neat" before, but let's just say getting the fabric to the box instead of the craft table is an accomplishment. :)

For my sanity, I needed better organization and found this wonderful idea using foam posterboards. Not only is the organization neat, but it doubles as beautiful decoration. Designer fabric needs to be displayed instead of hiding in a box!

Now I can view all of my fabric easily and take out

the one that I need without disturbing the organization.

I LOVE it!

Wanna see how I did it?

Check out the tutorial on The Ribbon Retreat Blog!

Remember a wonderful place to buy designer fabric is  

The Ribbon Retreat!

They carry a wonderful selection and have new collections 

coming in almost weekly!

Plus, make sure to sign up for the newsletter to find out when the fabric sales are.

Have fun organizing!

 

See where I link up on my link parties tab!

Thanks for stopping by!

Fabric Heart Decor

 

I love the line Chemistry by Bunny Hill Designs for Moda and had to frame it somehow.

The hearts were obviously my #1 choice, but you can do words such as LOVE, XOXO, KISS, and so much more!

I also cut out hearts and sprinkled them across my piano top.

It definitely brings in the Valentine's spirit. :)

The tutorial can be found on The Ribbon Retreat Blog!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

See where I linked up on my Link Parties tab. :)

Arise and Shine Forth Printable

The 2012 Mutual Theme for the youth of the LDS church is 

Arise and Shine Forth.

“Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard for the nations” (D&C 115:5).

I made up a printable for our Young Women and gave them out for our New Beginnings. I wanted to share it with you in case you were interested.

I've never done printables before, so if someone wants one, just let me know in a comment and I can email you, or tell me how to get it on here to be a printable. I assume you can just save it, but who knows really! :)

I also have different sizes and some without the white border. Let me know if you are interested and I will get them on here too. I'd love to help if I can. 

Thanks!

See where I link up on my Link Parties tab.