Cutting and pasting letters to make the name is one of my first steps in making the baby blanket. I have made a little start, but very little on the bottom of the hearts part. I usually do the center first. The mom to be has a Western theme. I suggested a cactus as a decoration. She liked that idea. I made one by Saguaro Cactus Applique pattern by Rebecca A. Lang. It is the kind of cactus I had in mind with a little pink flower on top. I also adapted it and made a shorter one with this pattern I used the Cactus Applique pattern by Erin Sharp and substituted sc’s for the hdc’s going around the outside and sl st’s for hdc’s for the cactus arms. I had to be careful the green didn’t go all the way through the blanket when attaching the cacti, but being sure it was securely attached. The shapes got distorted a bit.

When I did the part of the center with the name, I first tried pink for the letters, but it seemed too light on the pale plum for the letters to show up well, so went with the tea leaf green.

I have started work on the “ribbon,” which I am doing in baby pink. Decided to do it in strips, each equal to sides or top/bottom. I chained close to number of side, then two rows of sc’s for each side and threaded them through the spaces, sewing them together on the corners and doing one stitch under a part of a blanket stitch on the back to help hold it in place.

The section with the hearts is done in Oatmeal.

The border is being done in tea leaf green. I’m using the lacy part of the special border Kim has a link to with this blanket pattern. https://crochetkim.com/afghan-border/