When you make something for someone you may never know what becomes of it…and you may be pleasantly surprised…and even DEEPLY touched when you find out!

Back in 2023 I did a post A Reminder on Why I Make Quilts in which I shared my surprise that a baby quilt I made (now) 16 years ago for my “Danish Brother”‘s first born son was being used as a “family heirloom” in their family – passing it around to all newborns in the immediate and extended family. I was blown away and very honored 🙂

Well recently I discovered that my long time (and at times long lost) friend’s daughter, who is now 24, has been dragging around the baby blanket I made her 24 years ago! It went to undergrad and graduate school with her and is always by her side.

I made this blanket back when the “no sew/tied fleece” blankets were very popular.

During my lunch hour at my job in Seattle a group of us used the conference room to teach each other how to make them! It seemed like I made at least 10 of them on year to give as gifts on Christmas!

Example of a “tied fleece blanket/no sew blanket”:

Image Source: https://createkidscouture.blogspot.com/2017/09/kid-project-no-sew-double-layer-fleece.html

I met my friend K when I moved to Seattle, Washington in 1997 and we became fast friends. I was her doula when she got pregnant and was there for the birth of her daughter. My friend K moved to Bend, Oregon and it was because of her I discovered Bend, Oregon and spent 14 glorious years of my life there.

A couple years of living in Bend, she and her young daughter and husband moved to Kodiak, Alaska and we stayed in touch on and off over the years but not as often as we’d both like (life happens when you are raising a family and/or building a career). We reconnected after my husband Terry passed in 2018 and stay in touch on and off.

Recently she notified me that her amazing daughter just graduated from her Masters program, just got engaged, and still carried around the baby blanket I made her over 24 years ago! It is her security blanket and although pretty shredded, it is still beloved.

My friend K, her husband M, their daughter, and her fiancé were going to be in the continental US for a week and John and I decided to meet up with them for a reunion.

K sent me a photo of the very loved/shredded/in tatters blanket her daughter carries with her:

I decided I needed to make her a replacement.

I searched and searched but the original fleece pattern was not available however I did find another cute dog themed blanket to make her for our reunion:

For the back of the blanket I chose a fleece that celebrated her growing up in Alaska:

So when we recently met up with them, I got to take a picture of her daughter and her beloved 24 year old blanket:

It looks even worse in person, ha! It is so well loved. She said she actually has a box of pieces that she rotates.

By the way, here is what the blanket originally looked like (I was able to locate a phote online but not any resource in which to buy this fleece pattern):

Although it could never replace the original blanket I made her, I think the new blanket I gave her daughter was a hit (she appeared to be deeply touched)!

After we returned home from meeting up with them, my friend K sent me a photo of her daughter with her new Tierney blanket on her lap!

You just never know what a handmade item you give means to someone else (and that for 24 years they would make it an intergal part of their lives).

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Postscript

06/20/26

Going through comments on this post, one person’s awesome comments made me think of that famous passage from the children’s book The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams Bianco (published in 1922):

“Real isn’t how you are made,’ said the Skin Horse. ‘It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.’

‘Does it hurt?’ asked the Rabbit.

‘Sometimes,’ said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. ‘When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.’

‘Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,’ he asked, ‘or bit by bit?’

‘It doesn’t happen all at once,’ said the Skin Horse. ‘You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”

(Source: Google AI)