Anna's Rainbow Blanket

 My 5-year-old granddaughter, Anna, asked for a rainbow blanket and an orange blanket for Christmas.  Well, being the sweet grandma I am (I'm called Mimi), I combined her request and made a reversible blanket for her.

I thought to myself that I would just go and buy some rainbow print fleece and a nice orange and put them together, sew a border and be done.  NOPE...manufacturers did not have ANY rainbow fleece available.  I looked at JoAnn's, I looked online, I looked under my rug (kidding) but there was no rainbow fleece to be had.  There was no flannel with rainbows, either.

So, being the anal retentive person I am...I went to the cottons and bought one half yard each of the ROYGBIV rainbow colors.  Also some white fleece to make some clouds.

Ok...I'd made a rainbow.  Could I find a pattern for a rainbow?  Nope.
I got my trusty freezer paper out, drew the appropriate (I thought) sized rainbow.  Redrew the appropriate (I thought) sized rainbow.  I did this process a few times.  After getting it to be about 24 inches across I had to work on the arc.  Lots more effort than I thought it would take.  Then I cut my pattern apart.  After that, the freezer paper was ironed (shiny side to the back of the cotton) and an approximate quarter inch for overlap in the applique process.

It's funny...I thought this would be a quick and easy project.  It wasn't hard at all, but it was surely time consuming.

The back of this blanket is bright orange with blue peace signs.  I appliqued the rainbow to both pieces and then I sewed around the blanket about 2 inches from the edge.  I'm not much for tying a fringe on the blankets.

The effort I put into this blanket is nothing compared to the enjoyment that Anna gets from this labor of love.

Merry Christmas, Anna Banana...Love Mimi