I've got one of those!

I bet you Cath Kidston fans know what's coming next, don't you?

"Badge Blanket
£60.00
In homage to the Scouts, we have introduced this nostalgic blanket to our range which is ideal for sitting on outside or curling up under on the sofa. The blanket has a number of patches on depicting familiar images from around the British Isles

L 166X166cm (50% wool 50% man made fibre)

Machine Wash one blanket at a time in cool water.

Line or tumble dry on gentle lowest heat setting."

Well, I'm happy to tell you that "I have one of those!" and I made it, too. Obviously, my mum helped...

j

First I was an American Brownie Girl Scout.

Then I was a British Brownie Guide. Wasn't so convinced by that stage...
But I went on to join the best Girl Guide Unit in our area...

... and finished off in the later '80s as a Ranger Guide.

I wasn't one of those gung-ho campers. For me it was all about good food and activities and songs round the campfire, not starting a fire with one match, I'm afraid.

But I faithfully recorded all the camps and jamborees I attended around the hem of my utility-blanket poncho...

...and swapped (and bought) badges with enthusiasm.

Our Guide Captain, who was the village butcher's wife, was a marvellous woman - one of the best leaders I've known. She had a stunning Camp Blanket, probably dating from the 1950s onwards I suppose, and she inspired a lot of us to start our own.

I did go for quantity rather than quality, being me - a friend collected only Guide and Scout badges, and had a fantastic collection - but I loved to buy or be given badges from anywhere I or a family member had visited.

My dad was in the Navy, which gained me some excellent glittery badges - all sewn on the front where I couldn't accidentally sit on them - ouch! The old green and blue guide badges near the top of the above photo were earned by my mum. A real family blanket...

I really adored all the embroidered badges. The US and British Navies made some really plush ones...

And this Canadian Trillium badge is probably my mother's favourite - she had been a Guide in Canada and was in the Trillium Patrol, although I don't think the badge dates from her time.

And that's the story of my Camp Blanket - my "homage to the Girl Guides" as Cath would put it!Our boys aren't Cubs or Scouts - the Toulouse English-speaking troops don't appeal to them and there are no French ones in our immediate area, sadly. (Boy, do they have great hats? I would do a lot to get my sons wearing a Baden Powell hat like some of the French Scouts who hike through our town, but it's not to be...) However, Son 1 found me editing the first photo soon after I'd been working on my Blog Shop, and exclaimed in concern: 'You're not selling THAT, are you?' so he seems to have some appreciation of all things Scouting and Guiding...

j

I'd really like to thank you all for your kind comments on my last post. It is wonderful to me how loving and supportive this blogging community can be. My mum had a marvelous weekend - friends from her church choir came to sing for her in her own sitting room!