I come from a large family. Every year I made family gifts. Lat year I bought velvet and made bell pulls and embossed the velvet. I put a bell on the botton of each.
This year I am in the the process of making fleece throws for the cold winter nights in New England. Fleece comes in 54" width. I bought a printed fleece the the fronts and I solid color for the back. Just lay them out and even them off and cut and tie fringe.
I'm not sure of the exact link but it came from about.com Collectibles and was called Fleece Throw No Sew Pattern. They are really coming out great as a could custonize them for each family (ie. dogs. soccer. etc> :P