Had this line of fabrics left over from a quilt I didn’t use. Also putting 16 of the squares in back using recycled stretch blue jeans, which is a lighter weight fabric. Fabric cut at 5 1/2. Sewed right sides together and cut a piece of batting, which I also have a lot of scraps left over from quilts, and placed it on top. I cut this a little smaller than the quilt to minimize thickness. Left a gap to turn right side out. Turned and top stitched approx 1/4” from edge starting and stopping at corner, turning, and sewing a diagonal line,down center of square to minimize bunching. I wanted batting in the middle for some weight. As it turns out, the finished fabric square and the crocheted section, with this yarn, are the same thickness. Whoopee!

Tried different yarns to sew blanket stitch and found number 3 crochet thread to work the best along with a curved sewing needle and a cheap threader, which is necessary. Blanket stitched ten on each side in black. Found it takes approx 2 yds of it to blanket st around ea sq, measuring from my nose to outstretched fingers, which in my case ends up to be two yds. Then with my yarn, I sc two sts in each loop except for the corners where I did five sc. Next row I started with my granny square stitch which I really like, personal preference of course. I did seven clusters of three half double crotchets each side and of course two clusters in the corners. Did one more row then ended. I found it best not to ch 1 anywhere but in,the corners due to the lack of give in the fabric. This yarn is wonderful, though very expensive. I wanted to go with 100% cotton yarn so the fabric and yarn shrink at the same rate and you can machine wash and dry this yarn. While this is putzy to make, I wanted the cleaning of it to be easy, machine wash and dry.

I’m placing these in groups of four then will crochet around each group in black before sewing them together. Will be approx 14” when crocheted around in black. Haven’t decided what st to use for this yet. Waiting for black yarn to be delivered. Planning on doing four clusters of four across and five clusters down for an approx size of 56 x 70. I’m also taking a steam iron to these before sewing them together to block them nicely.

Decided on granny sq st for black border also.

4/23: only have one more row to do on this. Very labor intensive project but only work on it when I want. Still fun to do because I really like the finished result.