My mom is a creative goddess!

Long-time readers might remember the tale of Annabelle's baby blankets and how New Blankie temporarily went AWOL in the Renaissance Hotel in Orlando. If you missed that story, I suggest you get up to speed. I'll wait here. OK, you back?

If I hadn't been thousands of miles from my house and all my photos when I posted that almost 4 years ago, I would have included this picture from 1998, which I like to think of as "When New Blankie Met Old Blankie:"



Time apparently is not a friend to blankets. At some point New Blankie surpassed Old Blankie in rattiness. This is Old Blankie:



And this is New Blankie:



It has been years since Annabelle refused to leave the house or go to bed without her blanket, but it was still kind of sad to see these beloved blankets waste away to nothing more than scraps. She had been thinking lately that it would be really nice to have a blanket that would last forever, now that it would not be required to do any more work than providing warmth to her while she's watching TV on the couch.

The problem with designer blankets is (1) you can't just go grab one at Walmart and (2) they aren't cheap if you can find them at all. My mom found one on eBay for a hundred bucks!

Mom has been saying for years how easy it would be to make a hankie-blankie, but I never really expected to see her produce one. We have a long proud tradition in my family of meaning to get around to craft projects, and if you don't believe me, maybe you would like to see the white corduroy with brown cats on it that I have in my basement. Mom got it to make me a jumper when I was 5 or so and then passed it on to me to make one for Annabelle when she was 5 or so. Perhaps one day I'll see my granddaughter wearing it. At any rate, you get the idea.

The other day a box arrived with some stuff in it that my dad had sent for Mike. (You will want to check the blog on Tuesday to see what was in that box! Trust me. Put it on your calendar.) There was also a little wrapped package for Annabelle. I had no idea what it might be and figured it was probably just some cute thing that Mom had found somewhere. So imagine my surprise when she opened it up and found THIS inside:



Annabelle was THRILLED to see her blanket that should last forever. She has grown up a lot, however, since the last time I wrote on this topic and says that blankets are now to be referred to as "blankets" rather than by name. I have also been informed that blankets are to be referred to as "it" rather than "she." But inside my mind, all I can think is, "Blankie Three! She has come home to us!"