Baby blanket project

Since my sister shared her exciting news recently, I thought I would share a project I've been working on for her - a baby blanket!  I used this pattern - it is really more of a play mat, but I liked it because aside from being warm and snuggly, it can be taken on picnics, tucked into a stroller, or spread on the floor with toys.  Here are some pictures of the work in progress:

After I had the play mat sewn together in it's basic form, I basted it to keep the layers in place while I quilted it.  I used this tutorial since I had no idea what I was doing, and it was very helpful!

Once it was completely basted, I marked the fabric with tiny dots where I would embroider tiny X's.  I used this ruler (SO HANDY!) to make sure the dots were evenly spaced.

Then, I embroidered a small X on each of the pencil-marked dots.  This means the other side has tiny knots on it, but I decided that's okay since they don't compromise how comfy the blanket is.

Finally, I trimmed the blanket with this (bottom right) fabric.  It made the whole blanket much more exciting to look at, and was still gender neutral.

Since I am sewing the trim on by hand, I'm not quite finished yet.  I'll post pics of the final product in a few days. :)