What do you get when....

...you take an old skirt...

Exhibit A

and a remnant of fabric...???

Exhibit B

Well you get  blankets of course!

Nolan and I leave for Ecuador in 5 1/2 days! I am cleaning, organizing, in a mad dash getting things ready. Yesterday I was straightening up my side of the closet when I came across this old bridesmaid skirt from Pete and Holly's wedding. It is nine(ish) years old and no matter how much I love my brother and his wife, I doubt I will ever wear this again.

Along with cleaning, part of my preparations include buying and wrapping small gifts for the girls to open from mom and dad when we are away. I hope to bring excitement (and distraction) while we are gone for 10 days.  We were in JoAnn's the other day and both girls went bananas over this fabric. Reaching, grabbing, petting, hugging....quite dramatic. You see, though neither have a "one and only" special blanket--they do have  a favorite kind of blanket. Karalee refers to them as poke-a- dot B's. Any super soft fabric with the raised bubble will do. I bought a small remnant for a little less than $3, not sure what I would do with it.

When I saw the old silk-ish skirt I immediately thought of this remnant and decided to make the girls little snuggle blankets--to open when we are gone. I spent about 2 1/2 hours and this is how they came out. I was pretty excited!

Along with the skirt, I also found an old baby shower gift bag in my closet. It had a cute ribbon on it, but the bag itself was badly creased. So I used the ribbon from the trashed gift bag to make personalized tags. My new sewing machine has a monogram feature so I put the girls' initials on the ribbon. This way there is no confusion which  "B" belongs to which girl.

Believe it or not, this is the first time I realized Audree's initials are ARF. Sorry Audree!

So fun! I CAN'T WAIT to leave these for the girls. Part of me wants to let them have their new treat now, but I will wait. I know it will be a better surprise later!