A blanket for a newborn baby

A good friend of mine has recently had a baby boy, who they have named Zachary [well his wife actually had the baby, but you know what I mean].  So I decided to make them a homemade baby blanket to celebrate.  I found this really cool Alexander Henry 2D Zoo fabric, which [I know is conforming to social norms] is totally perfect for a baby boy.  The other side is a nice soft fleece.  Here's a pic of it laid out:

I also decided to applique his initial in felt in the corner and embroider around it.  I love blanket stitch!

The felt actually matches the colour of the rhino in real life.

Even though I'm fairly new to sewing, a lot of the things I've made have been gifts for other people.  It's so lovely when you can see how much people appreciate a gift you have made them.  It makes the whole process 10 times more rewarding.

An explanation of the situation

I have a very uncreative career.  It’s not that it’s uninteresting, but it does not involve any creativity whatsoever.  So I really want to do something creative in my free time, and have been learning to sew this past year, and have recently taken up embroidery and crochet.  I want hobbies to have a practical purpose, I would love to be able to create beautiful and practical objects.

As a beginner to all these crafts, gazing at all the beautiful blogs out there I was filled with two emotions.  Although hugely inspired by other people’s achievements, I was also seriously overwhelmed.  There already seemed to be so many hurdles and challenges to overcome to reach a stage where I could proudly display, wear, use or gift my work.  Sometimes when seeing other peoples amazing Handywork online, that always seemed to be created with such ease by the maker, the task I faced seemed all the more impossible.

But everyone has to start somewhere right?  And maybe we don't document the beginning of the process because it's not so pretty, but perhaps we should to remember where we started.  So my blog is intended to be honest and frank, with the bad bits as well as the good bits making an appearance. I want to show my progress from mess to masterpiece.  I’m sure even the most experienced sewer comes a-cropper now and again, or really fluffs something up, I just want to reassure every beginner out there that problems and mistakes are all part of the process of learning.  The trick is to make sure you do learn from it and to not be disheartened, oh and to never give up.