I found this super cute flannel fabric that had all different sports balls on it. Isn’t it just perfect for a little boy!?

I didn’t really stick to one set of instructions (surprised?! Not so much..). Instead, I took bits from a few places and put them together.

I primarily used a rag quilt tutorial from Beverleys.com. This was actually a really great resource, as they had a video as well as detailed instructions.

I also used this video from the Missouri Star Quilt Company, which shows you how to make a minky rag quilt.

I cut the fabric several months back and had scribbled a pattern down on to a sheet of paper. When I finally sat down to make the quilt, I could not find this scrap of paper.. Nor could I remember what pattern I had intended to put the squares in to. So I decided to do a checkerboard pattern on the front with the printed flannel and plain white. The back would all be made in powder blue flannel.

The quilt took several solid days to make and two evenings to snip.

I didn’t want to share pictures as I went along, as I didn’t want my friend to see the quilt before I took it to her. But after I had finished piecing the quilt, I couldn’t help myself. I just had to take a picture of the back to share on Facebook.

And this is the front before the snipping started

Being such a nit picky person, I imagined that making this quilt would be 50% sewing and 40% unpicking and 10% cursing. But surprisingly, there was absolutely no unpicking! It was a miracle! (There was definitely cursing, which was primarily directed at my sewing machine.. I also managed to impale myself on pins.. but I guess that’s an occupational hazard.. :/ )

To finish the rag quilt, you have to snip all of the seam allowances, which causes the fabric to go all ruffly. I was told by several quilters that a pair of spring loaded scissors would make my life much easier. So I picked up a pair and they really were awesome for snipping all of those pesky edges!

The last step was to wash the quilt. When the time came to put it in the wash, I was afraid that it was all going to come apart. But the quilt survived two washes and about 5 sessions in the dryer.

I had some ribbon, so I folded it and tied a black (yes, I thought black would be ALL wrong for a baby quilt.. but it looked fabulous!) ribbon around it before delivering it to my friend and her gorgeous baby.

The rest of this post will just be pictures presented without commentary. Basically, this quilt ended up being too awesome for words.. Modesty is one of the many things that makes me so incredibly amazing

I found the pattern on the back of the the Loops & Threads wool label that I purchased.

I managed to find the full pattern on the Michaels.com website: Loops & Threads Crochet Baby Blanket. However, I did not follow the pattern (when do I ever follow the pattern?!).

As you can see from the picture, the blanket is made up of 2 different blocks. I only used one type of block in my blanket, as I did not like the snowflake looking block – Motif A in the pattern (the multicoloured block in the picture). So I just made the solid granny square – Motif B in the pattern (the multicoloured and coral block).

The pattern says to do 5 x 5. I think that a blanket should be a rectangle, so I made mine 5 x 6.

I made some minor changes to the pattern – because of tension etc. So here is the pattern that I used which is based on Motif B from the Loops & Threads Crochet Baby Blanket pattern.

4 mm Crochet Hook
Yarn A – Cream x 1
Main Colour (MC) Yarn – White x 2

(You should have 28 double crochet stitches)

(You should have 44 double crochet stitches)

Slip stitch in first chain 2 corner space.

Chain 3. 1 double crochet in the corner space. Chain 3 to make the corner. 2 double crochet in same corner space.

Make 1 double crochet in next 11 double crochet stitches.

2 double crochet in the corner space. chain 3. 2 double crochet in the corner space – to make the next corner.

Repeat 3 times

1 double crochet in last 11 double crochet. Slip stitch to join to the top of the first chain 3. Join Yarn A at the slip stitch

(You should have 60 double crochet stitches)

Slip stitch in first chain 2 corner space.

Chain 3. 1 double crochet in the corner space. Chain 3 to make the corner. 2 double crochet in same corner space.

Make 1 double crochet in next 15 double crochet stitches.

2 double crochet in the corner space. chain 3. 2 double crochet in the corner space – to make the next corner.

Repeat 3 times

1 double crochet in last 15 double crochet. Slip stitch to join to the top of the first chain 3.

(You should have 76 double crochet stitches)

Slip stitch in first chain 2 corner space.

Chain 3. 1 double crochet in the corner space. Chain 3 to make the corner. 2 double crochet in same corner space.

Make 1 double crochet in next 19 double crochet stitches.

2 double crochet in the corner space. chain 3. 2 double crochet in the corner space – to make the next corner.

Repeat 3 times

1 double crochet in last 19 double crochet. Slip stitch to join to the top of the first chain 3.

(You should have 92 double crochet stitches)

(You should have 104 half-double crochet stitches)

Now you have the fun task of hiding all of the pesky ends!

Next you have to join the blocks together. I joined the blocks twice – once on the back and once on the front. On the back I did single crochet stitches in white. On the front, I used a sewing needle with the cream wool to stitch the block together. After every 5 stitches, I went over the stitch again so that it wouldn’t pull and make an accordion effect going through the blanket.

Once everything is joined, then you have to go around the whole blanket to make the edging. I just did a plain edging using half double crochet stitches. On the rounded corners of the blocks, I used a 2 double crochet stitchs to make up the height to create a straight edge.

In the picture above you can kind of see the different joining methods in the back and front of the blanket and how the edge is finished.

You can make a picot edge or a more fancy edge – it’s entirely up to you!

Andrew, this is the first pattern that I have written up – so let me know if you have any questions! I’ll be glad to help you out!

I’m mortified at how long it took me to finish this crochet blanket!!!!

But, nonetheless, I did finish it and sent it to my friend. I didn’t want to make a post until they had actually received the blanky I mentioned that I was going to crochet a scalloped edge on it, but since the baby is a little boy, I decided not to. Scallops are a bit girly!

Ok, I’m not feeling so hot today, so I’m going to leave you with pictures of the finished baby blanket – LOTS of pictures!

This is my failed attempt at trying to pose the blanket:

The blanket was crochet with very soft baby wool in bright white and antique white. Depending on the light, the antique white looked a little bit yellow

I used 2 joining methods, which is the main reason it took so long to finish. I couldn’t decide whether to use the bright white or antique white to join the squares with – so I used both! The picture below shows the blanket folded over onto itself. The top layer (the right side of the blanket) was joined with the bright white wool, and the back was joined with the antique white. The bright white was joined with single crochet stitches, which gives the squares a “frame” boarder around them. Whereas the back of the squares were joined with stitching.

You can also sort of see the edge of the blanket that was finished with a half-double crochet (I think – I can’t actually remember) all the way around. I had to do a bit of fiddling with the corners of the squares along the edge, as the corners were rounded so I had to use different stitches to make up the height so that the edge of the blanket was straight.

This is the back of the blanket with the antique white stitching running through the white boarder between the squares. I thought it was really pretty. I did try using the bright white, but it was too solid, and the antique white was a nice way to break it up a little bit.

I fiddled with the colours on this picture below so that you can get a better look at the back of the blanket. You can just see the antique white stitches peeking through!

Making this blanket was really a pleasure, and it made me appreciate how much work my great grandma put into the blankets that she made for me

Kerry Robertson and Mark McDougall have their lives ruined by social services who take their newborn baby from them

I did a post in November about the young couple from Fife, Scotland – Kerry Robertson, 17 and Mark McDougall, 25. For those of you who can’t be bothered to click, I’ll do a quick summary:

- Miss Robertson and her fiance wanted to get married prior to the birth of their baby, but in September 2009, 2 days before their wedding, the council made them cancel their wedding – claiming that Miss Robertson who was 5 months pregnant at the time,“did not understand the implications of getting married” – because she has learning difficulties…

- So the couple didn’t get married, and by November when she was 7 months pregnant, social services said that they would take her baby away from her at birth because she was “not clever enough” to raise the child.

- After being threatened, the couple fled. They took whatever money they had saved and fled Scotland to raise their child elsewhere. An anonymous person had been helping them pay for their housing, and their family and friends had donated clothes, baby furniture etc.

Last Friday, in a hospital in Ireland, Kerry Robertson gave birth to her little boy, Ben – who they had picked out the name for back in November. Four days later, Irish social services came in and took the little boy away from them. The midwives who had been helping Miss Robertson had to leave the room because they were so distressed at seeing the young mother having her baby taken away from her.

According to Family Law, Fife social services are well within their rights to go after the couple IF they believe that the child is SERIOUSLY at risk by staying where he is.

I cannot see why they want to ruin these poor young peoples’ lives. It’s utter lunacy. All this poor girl wanted was to do was get married and raise her baby in a loving family environment, with her loved ones and friends nearby for support. But no, these bloody social services paper-pushing idiots are not letting her. They keep saying “learning difficulties”, “learning difficulties” .. well, bloody what kind of learning difficulties?! She was going to school (which shows that she has discipline and patience), and even her boyfriend didn’t know she had any “learning difficulties” until after they had begun dating.

The social services really need to get their arses in gear and stop harassing this couple. If she has learning difficulties then HELP her to raise her baby and go after the parents who are neglecting and abusing their children. It doesn’t make sense. Watch, they’re going to sterilize and CRB check everyone who wants to have a baby next. And then implant chips in everyone. And burn all of our books.

And apparently, according to the father, the social services had the wrong name and wrong date of birth on the “baby removal order” – which essentially makes this kidnapping. And what happens to all those underage parents who think that it’s fine to go on a 24 hr booze binge and leave their kids at home? Sh*t all happens – they have another baby and get more benefits.

I hope she gets baby Ben back and gets a whole lot of compensation from the council.

September 2009 – Young couple Kerry Robertson, 17 and Mark McDougall, 25 had planned their wedding. The church was booked, the wedding rings and dress had been purchased and the reception was organised. But 48 hours before they were due to say “I do”, social services made the couple cancel their wedding, claiming that Miss Robertson “did not understand the implications of getting married”. The young bride, who was 5 months pregnant at the time, was absolutely stunned when social workers arrived at her home claiming that the marriage was illegal under Scottish law because Miss Robertson lacked the mental capacity, due to learning difficulties, to understand what the constitution of marriage is really about.

Kerry Robertson and Mark McDougall have fled Scotland

The young couple tried to tell the social workers that they love each other and did not want to have a child out of wedlock – but their pleas fell on deaf ears. Subsequently, the social workers succeeded in preventing the couple from getting married.

But sadly the misfortune for Miss Robertson and Mr McDougall did not end there.

November 2009 – In the last few days, social workers have threatened to take their baby away from the young couple when he is born, as Miss Robertson is apparently unfit to look after her unborn child. It is unclear of the nature of Miss Robertson’s learning difficulties, but in my opinion, this young lady is already more of a parent when compared to other underage mothers. The couple had already chosen a name for their son – Ben, have brought new clothes for him and talk to him every day.

Her fiance has said that, although Miss Robertson is not an academic person, she can read and write – albeit not very well; she was attending college to catch up with her schooling; she is “nowhere near as stupid as social services are making out”. He admitted that he was not even aware that she had learning difficulties of any kind until 2 months into their relationship.

The chief executive for Enable Scotland, a charity for people with learning difficulties,  said “people with learning disabilities do not have loving disabilities”. He is completely right; IQ has absolutely nothing to do with the ability to love.

The couple have since fled Scotland and are believed to be living somewhere overseas to protect their unborn child and to keep their family together. They are living with the hope that they will be able to provide their baby boy with a stable life – away from the authorities that want to take him from them. They had even offered to attend parenting classes and have full support from their families and friends.

With the number of stories about neglectful parents, and young mothers popping out babies to get more and more government handouts, you would think that a young couple who are trying to create a proper, loving family environment for their unborn baby would be encouraged and receive help from the local authorities. But instead they are being treated extremely unfairly by these barbaric bureaucrats. I’m not sure what is more infuriating – the fact that Miss Robertson is not even allowed to prove the fact that she has the capacity to be a good mother, or that the baby’s father isn’t even considered. Why is Mr McDougall not being allowed custody?  And the social workers – they will quite happily leave children with “parents” who are feral, underage, alcoholics and/or benefit cheats in homes that have a “New Daddy” every weekend, while this poor young lady isn’t even given a chance. The “Big Brother Knows Best” philosophy of today’s Britain, is truly horrifying. This is yet another example of “Common Purpose” at work. The fact that a few paper-pushers in a office somewhere can tick a few boxes in an attempt to decide the fate of a young lady who they deem unfit to parent is absolutely ridiculous. It sounds like Nazi Germany or Stalinist Russia. It’s like they are fleeing from the Gestapo! This girl is not mentally insane – they were just easy targets. Social services have to appear as if they’re busy doing something, even if it means that they are ruining this couple’s life.

This poor young couple have to flee their home while the rapists and killers are given new identities and money to go back out to roam the world freely. Unfortunately, for this couple, the fact that they are running away will probably be used against them in court. I sincerely wish Kerry, Mark and Ben the best of luck, and I hope that they can keep their location secret for as long as possible.