A WEIGHTED BLANKET STORY

Boog the Cat was an exciting experience!  One of the best there is to have.  The kind that takes you on an unknown journey into yourself and comes out great in the end.

Boog came into existence from Facebook.  I was browsing around one day (I always browse quilts and quilting and more quilts) and I found a quilt laid out in the shape of a cat.   Now, I know that I've probably seen this particular layout a million times all over the internet in the course of my quilting life.  I don't believe it ever struck me like it did in that minute.  Not only had the quilter completed the quilt in simplicity but, the colors were lovely.  Not overdone, mind you.  Just simple.  Why did this one strike me?  Not sure I will ever really know the answer to that question.

Of course, I had been working on making weighted blankets for some time.  So, maybe it wasn't anything about the colors or simplicity.  Although, it is adorable!  Maybe, it was more to do with squares.  That sounds so silly!  We quilter's do everything (well, mostly) in squares.

SQUARES....WEIGHTED BLANKETS

YOU SEE WHERE I'M GOING?

Yep, pretty sure it was the squares and the fresh ideas for weighted blankets that prompted me to re-post the image on my business FaceBook page @Comfyquilts19

I just kept thinking...Why NOT?  Shouldn't our weighted blankets be gorgeous?  Shouldn't we have great colors?  What about a lovely layout with an image, if we want?

Then an old friend contacted me on FB messenger and she commented on how much she loved the cat quilt.  How it reminded her of her cat Boog (short for booger).

Next thing I knew, she wanted a weighted blanket.  Her requests were an orange cat, with a dark spot by his nose (the booger) and green eyes and his name.  Boog was born!

Needless to say, I was so excited!  I opened up my EQ8 (for those not in the know, that's Electric Quilt 8) and started designing a layout.  I pulled fabrics and sent her photos of fabrics.  Online, I found other fabrics.  I was very lucky that she mostly told me that she trusted my judgment.  So I trusted my judgment also and started cutting.

Mostly, when I design a weighted blanket, my blocks are 5" unfinished and Boog was no exception.  These finish as 4.5" pockets which, in my opinion, create a lovely distribution of the weight for the overall blanket.

I made lots of half-square triangle blocks and a nose and eyes.  Those eyes were very likely the smallest curves I have ever ventured.  They tested my skill as a sewist to the screaming point.  It wasn't the curves so much as it was getting them straight.  How hard can that be?  Right?

The end result of this blanket was a hit!  My friend loves it and I had so much fun!  Boog weighs 15lbs and finished size is 54"x 67.5"

The Making of Boog