More than a blanket

When we were children we had a couple of very special family blankets. They wern't special in the fancy sense, but were so so special to us.

One of them was a bog standard, scratchy woollen checked blanket; not comfy or cosy, but it was covered from top to bottom in all of our achievement badges from swimming and brownies and school. They were painstakingly sewn on by our mum who had already sewn them on once before to our uniforms and swimsuits. Once we'd outgrown and moved on they were taken off and added to the "brownie blanket". None of our achievements were above or beyond that of any of our peers, but it showed that unconditional parental pride which, even as children, made us swell with self-belief.

Our other blanket was known as "the sick blanket"; dug out of a cupboard whenever our mum deemed us to be poorly enough to need it; swaddled onto the sofa with it and nursed back to health. It was usually accompanied with some sweets to suck (the perfect sore throat remedy) and hot squash to drink. It was the ultimate in being looked after, and that blanket extension of our mums arms and love was the cosiest thing ever! Many years later I realised that our "sick blanket" was actually just a small duvet, something that could be packed away when noone was poorly and transported to the sofa with ease when needed. There was nothing special about it, but at the same time it was the most special thing.

So, when first one of my sisters, then the other told me they were expecting babies I knew instantly that I wanted to create for them a special blanket that could be both treasured as well as used.

My middle sister was due first and so I embarked on making her blanket to be finished in time for the baby's arrival. It was a lot of work but the results were gorgeous.

I had been playing with making things from unwanted and recycled clothing for a while, so knew I wanted this to be a feature in the blanket. I scoured charity shops far and wide and sourced bundle after bundle of knitwear to use. I chose clothing made from supersoft yarns; cashmere and wool, and felted them all in the washing machine to create dense cosy fabrics. I then painstakingly cut all of these pieces into squares in order to patchwork them together. I used scissors at first to deonstruct the garment and for the more intricate work, but found my fiskars rotary cutter an incredible tool to use for accurate patchwork cutting.

I wanted some really personal touches in the blanket too, so enlisted my mum to knit some panels. She used knit patterns and stitches to mirror those used in the first baby garments she had made for the little one; gorgeous little cables and basket-weave formations. They were adorable, made by the granny-to-be and the perfect addition.

On several of the squares I added appliques, again from the recycled felted wool garments. An appliqued "A" with an apple next to it, a "D" and a dog (a representation and ode to our family dog, so greatly missed, espacially by my sister).

But importantly I left lots of the sqaures blank, ready to be added to with achievement badges and other memories they would want to attach over the coming years.

Just after Oliver was born and named, I embroidered his name and date of birth on one of the patchwork squares and gave it to my sister. (She has since had two other babies and their names have also been embroidered on it). Her reaction was priceless, she was over the moon with it and said it was going to be her families "sick blanket", because every family needed one. My point precisely!

And so I had set a precedent. So, when we found out my big sister was expecting too I needed to work fast and make her one! Her family scenario was slightly different though. She already had two wonderful step daughters who needed to be represented in this quilt, because I felt it needed to be a family blanket, not just something to celebrate the arrival of the new baby. My step nieces were growing up fast, so we collected together some of their outgrown clothes and decided to use these within the quilt. There were pretty cotton florals, stripes from pjamas, we even used a couple of the fathers shirts (he was partial to a bit of pink gingham!), so everyone in the family was represented. I again used salvaged and recycled knits for that supersoft finish too. Appliques this time included the childens initials and appliques of the two family cats; never ones to be left out! And once Niamh was born, her name and date of birth were embroidered alongside those of her sisters and the gift was finished.

Over the years little extras have been added, a Hamster patch to remember the girls' first pet, a cute bunny button that I thought the little ones would like; and there is still plenty of room for all those extra memories and achievements, should they want to add them or indeed get round to it. In truth, they will probaly only get added if I do the sewing for them, so I imagine there is a box somewhere full of things waiting for Aunties needle and thread!

My ongoing project that was started several years ago, but typically lies abandoned and unfinished, is my own "sick blanket". I started it before my first daughter was born, aimed to finish before the second was born but inevitably has quite a way to go before it is complete! A work in progress, a labour of love which for now is put on hold while I care for my babies. Lets hope I can finish it soon so that the memories from their childhood can include mummy making them feel cosy and loved and looked after, snuggled under their own special blanket, just like my own memories. Now, that is definitely an incentive to get back to it, isnt it?