Congratulations Lauren & Mike on a beautiful baby girl!  This is one of the many things I made for Lauren and Gracie.  I hope Gracie finds the quilted cotton fleece blanket a perfect soft place to play.

To make this blanket visit your favorite fabric store and pick out two fun cotton fleece prints. Wash, dry and iron your fabric before you start! Lay your first piece face-down on a large working surface. Cut an appropriate sized piece of quilt batting and place it on the first fabric.  Now lay your final piece of fabric face-up on top. Using safety pins, pin all three layers together in about a dozen different places.  This will ensure the layers don't move while you're sewing the blanket together.  Cut both top and bottom fabric so they're 1" - 2" from the batting edge.

To secure your three layers together find a yarn that matches and put small single stitches throughout the blanket, this is quilting.  I decided to tie small yellow and white bows in a pattern across the blanket. This will hold the layers of your blanket together.

Now you're ready to finish your edges. Fold the edge of your fleece sides in towards the batting about an inch and iron for nicely finished edges.  Pin your top and bottom fabric together along the edge to form a clean line. I decided to hand stitch my edges using yarn.  You can use a sewing machine if you prefer.

Once done, remove all your pins and you're finished! A great soft, personal and home made gift!