Viva's Gift to Jake

Viva likes to make cards and gifts. For their birthday she made Jake a tied fleece blanket. Kara got a kit to make the blanket free at a garage sale. Viva appropriated the kit and asked for my help to make it in secret. 

At her insistence we started on it four weeks before their birthday. Our first session making the blanket convinced me of two things. First, I did not want to make this blanket. Second, Viva did. I tried to talk her into sewing a quilt with me for Jake. It would have taken up a lot less time! Unfortunately for me, she was adamant that this was what she wanted to make for Jake. So I decided to suck it up and help her regardless of my feelings on the project.

I cheated a little. After Viva and I did a few squares together during our first tying session, I got a couple of friends to help me get the project off to a good start. We did maybe 1/4 of the ties. (Viva was okay with my outsourcing some of the work.) Then it was back to Viva and I plugging away three times a week usually while Jake was at karate. It didn't take as long as I had feared. With consistent three times a week work parties, we finished the quilt with a couple of days to spare.

Jake was appropriately enthusiastic when he opened his gift. "It's wonderful!" he told his twin. (I have to admit that it was also wonderful to help my granddaughter on a project of her choosing.)