For this you must buy a real blanket—­one of the small ones which come for use in a baby’s crib.  Those with blue stripes and a narrow binding of blue silk are prettiest for the purpose.  Baste a narrow strip of canvas between the stripes and the binding, and with blue saddler’s silk doubled, work in cross-stitch a motto, so arranged that it can be read when the top of the blanket is folded back.  If the stripe is red instead of blue, the motto must be in red silk, and it should, of course, have reference to the baby.  Here are some pretty ones in various languages:  “Nun guten ruh, die augen zu” (Now go to sleep, and shut your eyes). “Cap-a-pie” (From head to foot). “Ad ogni ucello, suo nido e bello” (To every bird its own nest is beautiful).  And here is one in English: 

  “Shut little eyes, and shut in the blue;
  Sleep, little baby, God loves you.”

The same idea can be beautifully applied to a pair of large blankets, but this is rather a considerable gift for young people to undertake.

SUMMER BLANKETS.

A pair of thin summer blankets, of the kind which are scarcely heavier than flannel, can be made very pretty by button-holing them all round loosely with double zephyr wool in large scallops, and working three large initials in the middle of the top end.

A WORK-BASKET FOR “SISTER.”

For this, you must buy a straw basket, flat in shape, and without a handle.  It can be round, square, oval, or eight-sided, just as you prefer.  You must also buy a yard of silk or cashmere in some pretty color.  Line the whole basket, first of all cutting the shape of the bottom exactly, and fastening the lining down with deft stitches, which shall show neither inside nor out.  Make four little pockets of the stuff (six if the basket is large), draw their tops up with elastic cord, and fasten them round the sides at equal distances.  These are to hold spools of silk, tapes, hooks-and-eyes, and such small wares, which are always getting into disorder in a pocketless basket.  Between two of the pockets on one side, suspend a small square pincushion, and on the other a flat needle-book hung by a loop of ribbon.  At the opposite ends, between the pockets, fasten an emery bag and a sheath of morocco bound with ribbon to hold a pair of scissors.  Finish the top last of all with a quilling of ribbon, and you have as dainty and complete a gift as any younger sister can wish to make, or any older one receive.  It will cost time and pains, but is pretty and useful enough to repay both.

A FANCY WHEELBARROW.

This cannot be made easily by any boy or girl who is not already acquainted with fancy wood-sawing, and to such the illustration gives all the hint that will be needed.  We would simply suggest that the body of this barrow is about six inches long, that it is lined with crimson silk, and that standing upon a dressing-bureau, writing-table, or mantel-shelf, it makes a very pretty receiver of cards or knick-knacks.  Many beautiful Christmas gifts can be made by boys or girls owning one of the little bracket-saws, which, with books of directions, can now be bought in almost any hardware shop.