Taggy blanket

My friends Lesley and Darrell had their baby on Sunday morning. He weighed 11lb 12 ½ oz and his name is Arthur John. Thank you God for a safe delivery and a healthy mum and baby. His big brother James must be very excited.

As a welcome to the new arrival I wanted to give them something; we are on a tight budget and I wanted it to be something personal and special... Something I noticed when Gladys was small was how much she played with the labels on her soft toys so when I saw a baby with her taggy blanket I thought it would be a perfect gift for Arthur.

They are very simple to make. I raided my ribbon jar for a selection of different textures and sizes, and to continue the textures used soft blue fleece for one side, and rough cream linen for the other. As a finishing touch I embroidered bright red stitching, deliberately naive, around the edge and his initial in the middle. I hope he likes it!

Trefoil craft day

Hello everyone. Been a bit manic recently - my business is taking off now, my daughter caught chicken pox, and it has been her first birthday - so sorry for the humungous gap - I will try to do better.

Last time I posted I was about to attend a craft day with the Trefoil guild. The Trefoil guild are responsible for organising the monthly craft night I attend and once a year they arrange a craft day. You can find our more about the Trefoil guild here.

Beforehand the ladies send out forms asking you to pick your top six 'makes', and then let you know in advance which three you are doing. It is very organised, just what you would expect from guiders.

The three crafts I did were beaded Japanese braiding, daffodil bag and thimble pod.

Japanese braiding I have done before; but the inclusion of beads was something new. Japanese braiding was originally used in Samari armour and made from silk threads - now it is used for many things including belts and necklaces. The class was for an eight strand beaded braid - and I was so proud of mine I have made it into a bracelet.

The second class was a daffodil bag, this is also Japanese in origin, and reminds me of origami. The bag is created from two triangles of fabric sew together. Gladys really likes this bag, and I think it would make a great Easter present with some chocolate eggs inside.

The final class of the day was the thimble pod - this was also the trickiest. This is completely hand sewn and each side has two pieces of fabric (red and green), two pieces of plastic milk bottle, and two pieces of wadding. The end result is very clever as it creates a little pod that opens and closes by squeezing it. You were meant to attach the pod to your scissors and use it to keep you thimble in but it would drive me crazy having something hanging off my scissors. As soon as I had finished I could see a frog staring back at me. I added the eyes and nose at home and there he was. I just wish the ribbon was in the middle of the pod so it looked like his tongue.

Which one is your favourite?