On Quilts and Repurposing Receiving Blankets

I have two collections that are more-or-less out of control: books and fabric. I have been known to drop ridiculous amounts of money on both, only to have growing collections I'll never have time for (because, you know, I work, have two small children, cook when I have to, clean, blah blah life). Recently I resolved to a) read more books than I buy (yeah, that didn't work, but I'm getting better) and b) use up some of my fabric stash before stepping foot in a fabric store for anything.

This second resolution presented an interesting problem this week: I decided that Oldest Monster needed a quilt for his toddler bed (and I wasn't going to shell out for $189 for the Pottery Barn one), and I dug up plenty of materials ... with the exception of batting. I thought about using some old muslin curtains, but as I was piecing the quilt something even better came to mind: receiving blankets.

Like many first-time mothers, I received a fortune in receiving blankets when I was expecting my first monster. While they're useful for those who have their swaddling-skills down, I quickly ran out of ways to use the darn things, and after the first month or two they ended up in the linen closet.

Our receiving blankets are soft, cozy flannel ... and they were perfect for quilt batting. Unlike artificial batting, the receiving blankets have a lot going for them: they add a nice cozy weight to the quilt, they're reasonably warm, they're not puffy (so they won't ruin the look of a hand-made quilt), there's no artificial noise, they're natural material, and I already had plenty sitting around the house!

Over three days (a total of just six hours) I ripped 7.5" squares out of fabrics that would work with each monster's room, pieced them together with my serger, and tied them with embroidery floss. And voila! Inexpensive, cozy, mommy-made monster quilts, perfect for toddler beds.

Monster 1: Two plain cottons, one printed cotton, one flannel for the top (greens and blacks to match Tolkien room). Back is remaining flannel and decorative border. Batting consists of 5 receiving blankets.
























































Monster 2: Two plain cottons, one printed cotton, one plaid (blues to match Wild Thing nursery). Back is an old two-layer muslin curtain. Batting consists of three receiving blankets and two burp cloths.

Ditching the paci

I swore my child would never use a pacifier.

I promised myself I'd take it away at six-months - after all, that's when babies learn to self-soothe.

I patted myself on the back when we backed down to sleeping-only at one-year; the monster would toss his beloved pacifier in his crib when we picked him up, and wouldn't ask for it until he was ready for bed.

I didn't want to take it away when we switched to a toddler bed.

And now, at 2.5, I'm finally getting rid of the darn thing.

There are no pacifiers at preschool, so we are making efforts to make Monster Land a paci-free zone. Simply taking it resulted in vomit, so we went back and considered our options. What did we decide?

The Necro-Paci. Night by night, little by little, the paci is dwindling down to nothing. It started when I cut the tip off the pacifier (behind the monster's back). That night he was very confused, and insisted the "brokey paci" stay on the floor. He snatched it up again at some point during the night, but we were off to a start.

Every other night or so - and sometimes nightly - I trim a little more off the pacifier. The Monster always looks at it with confusion when I hand it over at bedtime, but never questions what's happening to it. He's accepted it as simply "brokey paci."

As of tonight he's down to a paltry 1/3-inch of nub attached to a dragonfly base. He's determined to hang on to it, but in another night or two there will be nothing left for even the most determined toddler to hang on to.

Is it too early to say we're in the home stretch?