Straw-ba-ba-ba-ba-berry: Cheater Quilt

My girls are HUGE fans of Strawberry Shortcake and can be heard singing the songs from the movies all the time. Even the baby attempts to sing the main theme, joining in with an impressively synchronized "ba ba ba ba" at the right moment.

E saw this fabric panel at JoAnns and begged for a blanket out of it. It was on clearance for $1.50. I bought the last two panels. But how to finish it into a blanket? I know the standard way would be to purchase quilt batting and a cotton print for the back and quilt it ... but since I had to make two to keep the peace, I was looking for a shortcut. I decided to try using the same technique for making a self-bound flannel receiving blanket. (There is a great tutorial here at Everyday Mom.)

I used fleece as the backing/binding fabric which made it really soft and cozy. It also made for a nice quilted effect (with no batting) when I top stiched around some of the designs in the print to secure the two layers together.