Taggy Blanket

I've neglected my poor little blog as bad as the withered English ivy I have on my kitchen counter. I don't know why I keep the plant corpse displayed like a monument to my ineptitude, but there it is to greet me every morning.
Back to the blog...I've been silent for a few months, but all the while I was taking before and after pictures of my projects, pictures of Suzy doing funny things, and anything else that I thought would be a good post.
Thursday I decided I really had to upload them and get back into the habit of posting regularly again. But they were gone! All my pictures! Hundreds! Except for about thirty pictures - pictures of the floor of the middle bedroom, the upper door frame of the same room, and some incriminating shots Yo Gabba Gabba and Dora on tv. Yes, my darling Suzy had deleted all my pictures and then played photographer.
So no cute before and after project posts. Nope. But not all proof that I haven't spent the past several months laying on the couch reading library books has been lost. My friend Mendi became my first-ever customer and commissioned me (it sounds so important!) to make a taggy blanket for her baby Lennox. I forgot to take pictures of it before I sent it, so Mendi went above the duty of a customer and took them for me. The bonus is that my four year old couldn't delete them.
So here it is:

A close-up of the print:

It's by Mary Englebert Breight. The illustrations are the same as in her book of fairy tales, which is one of the cutest I've ever seen.

Here are some close ups of the tags. I LOVED layering ribbons and trims to make the tags. They were so fun.



I embroidered Lennox's initials in the center. His name is Lennox Melville Carlson. That sounds so dignified, like a president or a transcendental author. But let us hope for better things for him. ;o)


This is what it looked like all wrapped up and ready to ship. Except it's after shipping because I forgot to take pictures. So all wrapped up and recieved:


And my favorite, of the little chunk of love himself using the taggy at nap time. Isn't he cute? And huge. I'm pretty sure when he's two, he'll be able to tackle Suzy to the ground!


Mendi was my first paying customer. Don't tell her, but I would have made it for her anyway. This is her:


When my mother-in-law Jan was diagnosed with cancer, Mendi donated her hair to Locks of Love in her name. She had never even met Jan. How can you not love a girl like that?