Carrying on a Tradition with a Little Lagniappe

During WWII my mother worked for Knickerbockers Garment Plant in West Point, Mississippi sewing uniforms for soldiers. I can't remember a time in my life that she didn't sew on something, but her very favorite thing was making quilts. There is no way I could come up with how many she made over the course of her lifetime, and how most of those were given away. One of her favorite things to make for new babies were oversized doubled flannel blankets. I think she thought the receiving blankets you buy at a store were a joke, since they would barely wrap around a newborn. Her blankets were at least 44" x 44". Once she was no longer able to see well enough to sew, I took up the torch. I've continued the tradition by making these blankets for my friends' grandchildren, but I've done that little bit extra(lagniappe), by crocheting a border around them. The great things about these blankets is that they'll still cover a child that's 4 or 5, and they're perfect to throw down on the floor for a quick pallet.

Here are the blankets I made for my newest great niece. The pink one is spread on a queen sized bed, so you can see the size of them. You can see one of my Mom's quilts on the bed underneath the blanket. Before I left for Phoenix, I got the blankets sewn and turned. While I was in Phoenix and on the way home, I was able to get the one blanket finished and over 3/4's of the second one. I finished it this afternoon, and got them washed and dried and ready to be wrapped and delivered.

Here's a close up of the crocheted edging on the blankets.

Thanks for letting me share a memory with you.