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!