Special Boy Scout Fleece Blanket.

This blanket is the first of eight Boy Scout blankets I made.  The material is suppose to be a limited edition very special design of the Boy Scouts of America logo in blue over gold.  It is a striking blanket.  The reverse is done with a thick piece of navy blue anti pill fleece.  This is an excellent gift for that special boy scout in your family.  There are two photos.  One shows the blanket folded in quarters.  The second photo shows a detail of the logo over the gold background.

Six of the blankets measure approximately 48" wide by 72" long.  The perfect size for covering a twin bed and two measure approximately 48" square, a nice size for a chair or couch.

Quarter View

Detail of the design.

Three New Blankets....

Here are three new blankets....  well two completely new and one sort of new. 
This first one is special order Yankees Blanket.....  It is not the material desired but it was available and it looks pretty good....

The next two are for the Wakefield Holiday Arts and Craft Festival for on Dec 5 and 6.  This first one is a small panel (36" x 48") depicting Santa working on toys in his shop.  There are three of these and they all have white reverse.

The last one is material I used before for the front side of a blanket.  This is a nice red background with white snowflakes and a red-nosed reindeer all over the front.  The back side is reindeer hide.  Just kidding... it is a thick brown fleece that looks like reindeer hide.  My wifes sick humor picked out this combination.  I like it too.....

More Blankets and Some Sales via ShopHandMade.com

Recently I have been fortunate enough to get a few sales via the shophandmade web site.  Both of the customers advised me they found my blankets by doing a google search.  That is very encouraging. 

I have now set up my site to link to the sales site there.  It is easy to use and is hassle free.

I have a few new blankets to post.....

This is a very nice holiday blanket featuring scroll work reindeer and Christmas trees inside alternating squares of red and white.  The reverse is a dark red.

This blanket is a very nice plaid over a red background with small decorated Christmas trees.  The reverse is a dark red.

 

This is a blanket I made for a friend at work.  It turned out great and she loved it. 

 

Orchard View Bazaar

The bazaar at Orchard View Elementary School today in Winchester was very nice.  This was their first time doing this and they did a very nice job.  All are to be commended for making it a nice day and making all the vendors feel welcome.

Here is a photo of the booth for Grandma Jim.

Finished some holiday blankets for craft shows

This is a very nice holiday motif blanket with a red reverse.  The colors a rich and the material is so soft and thick.  I really like this one.....

Everyone should recognize this one.  Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer and the rest of the characters from the Christmas special with all the misfit toys.  This is very nice.  Liked it so much I made two.

This blanket is made with two different themes.  One for each side.  One side is covered with white snowflakes and the other with a cartoon character Reindeer.

This is one of my favorites.  It is so nice and thick and soft and the colors are so vibrant I decided to make a couple more of these. 

Hope you all like the holiday blankets....



Grandma Jim   

Blankets Lots of Blankets

It has been a while since I posted here. Since the Burke Center Festival I have taken part in five other shows. All of them successful and I have met a lot of very nice people at each one. I have made a lot of new blankets for special orders and for stock for the holiday shows.

I have also had my first true internet sale via Shophandmade.com.

I want to give a big thanks to Shelia Gulak who saw my blankets at the Burke Center Festival and ordered a blanket and bought another from my stock. Her word of mouth has resulted in several sales and she has even ordered another blanket. Thanks Shelia.

Here are some of the more recent blankets I have made for friends, family and for special orders.

This one is for a dear friend:












More to come soon....

Grandma Jim

Burke Fall Festival

Well the Burke Fall Festival has come and gone for this year. This was the first of several festivals I plan on taking part in this fall. It was a lot of fun and we had great weather, though Sunday got a little warm. I met some very nice people and had a successful show, and got some real nice comments on my blankets. But I think the most fun was seeing the reaction of people as they looked at the signage and saw grandma with beard stubble.... And there were countless comments about "Grandma Jim". Here is a photo of "Grandma Jim" in the booth.

I have also signed up for another show, this one will be at Lake Braddock High School for October 17th. This is a holiday show....

Grandma Jim has a web site

Well I finally went and did it. I have opened a web site. www.grandmajim.com
I currently have a few items there and plan on adding more. Currently the only items that can be bought through it are several of my Breast Cancer Survivor Blankets. Take a look and drop me a note with your thoughts and comments.

Grandma Jim

Schedule of Shows for this Fall

I have decided to try a few festivals this year with my blankets. I will start off with the Burke Fall Festival on September 12th and 13th at the Burke Conservancy in Burke, VA. This should be fun but it may still be a little warm for people to be thinking about fleece blankets.


Then two weeks later I am taking part in a Breast Cancer Fund Raiser and Craft Show in Remington, VA. I have put together about 40 breast cancer survivor blankets for this. We also donate one of the survivor blankets for auction to help raise money.


Then October 3rd I am taking part in Art on the Avenue in Alexandria, VA. This is a big craft and art show. I am looking forward to this. I have a few friends that insist this will be a big show.

Then the following week I will be going to Front Royal, Virginia to take part in the Festival of Leaves up in the Blue Ridge Mountains. That should be a lot of fun. It is lovely little town at the North End of Skyline Drive and the Shenandoah National Park.


I am also scheduled for the Fairfax Holiday show on November 21 and 22 and the Wakefield Holiday Craft show on December 5 and 6.


So all in all it could be a very busy fall.


Hope to see you at one of these.

Tinkerbelle

I had a request from a friend to make a Tinkerbelle blanket for his daughter as a surprise gift. And the next day another friend asked if I made any Tinkerbell blankets. So I found this material and made two blankets over the weekend for them. Reports are very positive. One report is that the granddaughter was mad because she could not take it outside to play with (it was 90 degrees). They turned out nice. Great for little girls.

Tinkerbelle Blanket

Two more Blankets for Co-Workers

I recently completed two blankets for co-workers. They both turned out very nice.

For a Denver Fan



For a Buffalo Fan

New Breast Cancer Survivor Blanket

I found a nice new fabric for another Breast Cancer Survivor Blanket. It is a nice pink material with sayings and ribbons on it in red and white. The reverse is a light pink fleece. It turned out very nice so I made two for the Breast Cancer Fund Raiser and Craft show I am taking part in on September 26th in Remington, Virginia. Should be a fun event and we should raise some awareness and money for the one of the charities here.

Here is a photo of detail of the material:

Fly Fishing Blanket

I recently received an order for a blankets to be given as an award for a group going to Canada on a fishing trip. They ordered two blankets. One was an award for the best catch and a lobster blanket for the boss who says she just loves lobster! From what I am told they both loved the blankets. Here is a photo of each:

Fly Fishing Blanket

Lobster Blanket

New Pink Ribbon Blanket and Pink Ribbon Shops

I have a lot of new blankets made from the Breast Cancer Plaid with Pink Ribbons. They are very soft and make a wonderful gift for those loved ones who are breast cancer survivors.

I am hoping these will be displayed in the near future on a Breast Cancer Awareness online store. One I am trying too work isthe Pink Ribbon Shop and another is The Breast Cancer Site Store..

www.pinkribbonshop.com

www.shop.thebreastcancersite.com/store

Until such time as this happens these blankets and my others can be purchased via the Shop Hand Made web site.
www.shophandmade.com/store/grandmajims

Two new blankets

It has been a while since I posted an entry to this site. But been busy with life and the grandsons. We went on vacation with the entire family and had a great time. This first new blanket is an ice hockey pattern and intended to Hockey Moms for warmth while watching their son and/or daughter practice ice hockey at the ice skating rinks in the area. A similar blanket can be made for the mothers of those aspiring figure skaters. This blanket is a smaller version of earlier blankets. Measuring about 48 inches wide by about 60 inches long. It has a solid white reverse, but can be made with any solid color. Will Cost around $50.00.

Length wise view of Hockey Blanket.

Width wise view
Quarter fold view with corner turned back to reveal reverse.

The second new blanket is a new Breast Cancer Survivor Blanket. Material for earlier blankets made with the embroidered roses and ribbons is not available at this time so I found another pattern of fleece to use. This one is hearts and ribbons on a pink background and the reverse is a solid light pink. It too is small like most of the other Breast Cancer Survivor blankets I have made. Measures about 48 inches wide by about 69 inches long. Perfect size for wrapping up in and watching television or reading a great book.

Grandma Jim Out!


These blankets and my others can be purchased via the Shop Hand Made web site.
www.shophandmade.com/store/grandmajims

New Look Logo

I did forget to introduce you to the new look to the Grandma Jim logo

I also have a couple with text.....

and of course,

Front Royal Show!

Well the first large show I ventured to take part in was good for Grandma Jim. It was a good learning experience and I got to practice in erecting the tent with its sides and setting up the displays of my blankets.

I sold a few blankets and gave one of the Breast Cancer Survivor Blankets to the Susan G Komen display to raffle off.... so that went well. I did get a lot of interest in my blankets and a lot of people commented on the quality of the blankets and asked who made them. It was always funny watching their reactions when I explained to them that I made them and not my wife.

Here are a couple photos from the festival.


My lovely wife behind the table:

Grandma Jim Behind the table:

Tent and displays

I know it looks like a corn dog, but it is fried Snickers! She said it was good....

Grandma Jim out.

Ready for Front Royal Festival

The Front Royal festival is this weekend and I finally am out of material to make blankets. And I was told to stop until after some of them are gone from our basement!! I have a total of 64 blankets to take to the show. Up 8 from my earlier post. The reason for the increase is, I made 8 more (of course). I added four children's blankets. Two baby Mother Goose blankets and two Carnival blankets. I have also added four small throws made from Thomas Kinkade prints. One is double sides with the panel and the other three have the print panel on one side and a solid color fleece on the reverse side. One ivy color and the other two a doe color.

Children's Blankets

This gives me over 10 good blankets for children for the show.

The Kinkade blanket with the doe colored reverse is pictured below.

This is the blanket folded in half length wise to show the chapel.

This is full view of blanket.

No new blankets until after the Front Royal Festival, unless it is a special order.

Grandma Jim Out

Hello Kitty

A friend at work asked me to do a Hello Kitty blanket in pink for a friend's daughter. I found a couple samples and she selected the material and asked me to try and match the reverse side to the background color of the Hello Kitty design. A daunting task since it is pink. I had tried earlier with a couple of my Breast Cancer Survivor blankets and got close but not close enough. So I was shocked when I was able to find the perfect pink top match. The result is below. This turned out purrrr fect (could not resist) and the young lady loves it, or so I am told.

North Carolina Tar Heels

Last week a friend that had gotten a VA Tech blanket for one son asked me if I could do a North Carolina blanket for her other son. The answer was, of course. I really like the way this one turned out. The reverse matched perfectly, which is often hard to do with blues. Her son loved the blanket. The Tar Heel blanket or most any NCAA Division I school blanket can be special ordered by email at blanketsbygrandmajim@verizon.net