This blanket has a story to tell.
The daisy petals holding memories of hurts and fears, growing into blooms of blessings and healing.
356 days ago, my kids and I made an exit in record time from the home I thought was going to be our forever-home, from Mr. 2.0 whom I thought was my always-future, until the mask crumbled. And when masks fall, they do so brutally.
I made this blanket for him – for us. During the design process, I had in mind the child’s game of “Loves Me, Loves Me Not” – daisies and sweetness and innocence. It was for Valentine’s Day that year. When I gave it to him, he said something like, “We don’t do gifts for Valentine’s Day.”
I wasn’t aware.
Turned out, I wasn’t aware of a lot.
He left the gifted-blanket in a heap on the sofa, and for the next two years, every effort was made to turn me into a heap as well
I had all the feelings – shame, sadness, anxiety, fear that my marriage was crumbling and that my kids were getting the short end of the stick again. Clinging to the hope that the blanket’s sentiment could be a subliminal message to him, I got a few coordinating pillows and used the blanket as decor in the living room.
Clients ordered it for weddings and engagements. Anniversaries were celebrated with my daisy blanket as a featured gift. It was finding its way to the celebration of other people’s love stories.
That was bittersweet.
It wasn’t long ’til he escalated to the point that I moved to the sofa and began sleeping with this blanket every night. I enlisted prayer warriors, got us on waitlists for a couple of therapists recommended by trusted friends, and spent my time praying for guidance on how to heal our home, reclaim our marriage, and keep “our” family intact.
As things spiraled, I could feel my nervous system and my body doing all the things they do in abusive relationships.
Every night, as I pulled the softness of this blanket around me, my answers began to arrive.
Admittedly, they didn’t seem to be answering the questions I was asking. But, as they came, I gradually began to read the blanket’s message differently.
The message was for me.
I needed to love me enough to make the hard decisions. Again. As things continued escalating, I would look at this blanket folded neatly over the sofa. The rest of my bedding was tucked away in my oldest son’s bedroom so visitors wouldn’t see these obvious signs of my world falling apart, so my kids could bring their friends to their home without revealing that they were having band practice or game night in my “bedroom.”
2.0’s behavior soon turned on my children. He increased his rhetoric of all the “wrongs” I was committing daily, berating and belittling me when I shared stories of the grief I needed to process after losing my mom, mocking the most painful of my feelings – saying “I’ve never loved someone enough to care that much.” When I shared wishes and reflections, he responded, “If you’re really a Christian, you should have done that anyway.”
2.0 was mocking, chiding, and degrading my love for my mom, my kids, him, mocking my faith and my compassionate, empathetic personality.
2.0 interfered with and criticized my professional life – while doing his best to hide his extracurricular behavior.
But his best was failing.
Cracks and hints that had been alerting my intuition turned into fully open phone screens of text messages with her and his “accidental” public Facebook posts of the “her-of-the-moment,” messages from his co-workers checking on me and sharing what they thought I might not know. They all knew. He knew I wasn’t powerless, because of course, I kept the receipts, as they say – and she was his subordinate.
I offered him an escape plan, allowing the kids and me to keep the house he said he never wanted. {Not true, but that’s another story.}
I offered a simple separation of assets and debts without paying attorneys. He said, “I’ll go to jail before I’ll pay you spousal support.” {INSERT SHRUG}
After a period of my only response to his ranting being a blank expression while physically standing my ground in whatever space we were in, he declared, “I’m keeping the house.” I responded with, “Okay.”
He never saw tears or anger. He spent his time in “our” bedroom talking to his girlfriend, sometimes “accidentally” texting me when he was writing to her. I never responded, just took screenshots and smirked when he came running down the steps to ascertain if I had seen his blunder yet.
He never saw me pull my daisy blanket over my head at night.
He never saw the trembling.
He never saw my face striped by the tears.
My blanket gave me a mask to conceal that I really was crumbling as he wanted.
He never saw my daughter and me hiding in my office. (And he never saw her stealing his hidden Pop-Tarts, saying, “Ummm. A Pop-Tart never tasted so good before.”)
As our home became increasingly mentally and emotionally unsafe, for me and for the kids, we were blessed with the offer of pulled resources to provide private financing so we could make a cash offer on a home and get out quickly. We enlisted the best realtor – Rebecca Bowman, Realtor – who helped us to secure a home and five weeks later, we were spending our first night here at #TaylorUponAvon – the new home of #DPPHQ. We are well aware of how incredibly blessed we are to have had such support.
Our trifecta of that season: fiercely protective loved ones, the expertise of a top-notch professional, and of course – divine intervention. There simply weren’t homes in our price range on the market at that time, and when there were, they were sold quickly – often above the asking price. But we dug deep into our faith, trusted Rebecca, and prevailed.
Somewhere in my subconscious the color scheme of my daisy blanket stood its ground.
(It makes me think of the days when the kids were little. I’d pick out clothing for one of us, and before I knew it, we were all matching because I just kept pulling out garments that matched my first thoughts of the day.) Somewhere in the back of my mind, as I scrolled the interwebs making a wish list for our new home, I decided my bedroom would be navy and gold. I would make it a sanctuary of books, children’s art, memory-artifacts, with gold mirrors and frames and LOTS of blankets and pillows.
I started collecting frames and mirrors – old ones, simple ones, ornate ones. With few exceptions – free ones; after all, I still needed a mattress at that point!
When 2.0 and I bought the house he was now claiming, I had purchased a new bedroom suit for us. For reasons that are probably obvious, I was not taking that bed with me. By not taking that, he would allow my middle guy to keep the bed he had given him six years before.
That left me bedless.
For a several months, I had the headboard I had gotten on the Buy Nothing Group but no mattress. I padded the hardwood floor with the hand-me-down rug (that just happened to match my intended color-scheme) and several blankets, and that’s where I slept. This daisy blanket was my “comforter” or duvet or whatever you want to call it. Fast forward a bit – now, with a mattress and navy and gold bedding, my daisy blanket is always folded across the foot of my bed.
Honestly, I’ve wondered if I should replace it – create a new design that’s just for me. But yesterday, hearing the forecast for really low temps, I topped my bed with it – with the help of #PenelopeSoup, obviously. This was an act of practicality and preparedness.
Except – Instead of counting off petals while chanting a children’s game, I counted so many blessings.
I now have a safe home, a home I told my kids I’m staying in ’til they have to wheel me out one way or the other. I have a mattress and some of the navy and gold motif for my room – eventually I’ll be able to paint it navy and replace the flipper’s ugly light with the sparkly dandelion-looking one I picked. No rush, I’m not going anywhere.
But the bigger blessing is the healing. It’s been a year of many good days and still a-plenty of foggy-brain days, continued reactions from my nervous system and my body, but the healing is happening. (There was a turning point a few weeks ago. It started in the form of a truly beautiful dream. I haven’t managed to write about it just yet, but I will.)
Now, though this isn’t the love story I thought I was celebrating with this blanket design, it’s the one that found me and eventually lifted me up.
So to my #TeamIronClad and to me, I sign my days – with my finally-returning flair – Love Always, Me and Love Me, Always.
Donna Taylor, Scott Taylor, Chapin Taylor, Lydan Douglas Taylor, Alyanna Montgomery, Lynne Vanderveen, Mary Cay Hess, Sara Naomi – Love Always, Me
This blanket is a reminder of why Dani’s Pixel Place continues to support survivors of #DomesticViolence.
A portion of our December 2025 earnings from all blankets, #FOREVERPillows, and #FOREVERPermanentStorage sales will be donated to AKT Foundation to aid them in their continued mission to provide hope and resources to those seeking safety and peace after the devastation of abuse.
- You can personalize your own blanket at CREATE & PRINT BLANKETS (#BetterThanShutterfly). THE BIG PICTURE design offers a blank slate, allowing you to design in any software, save your design as an image and import to your blanket.
- You can order the DAISY BLANKET.
- Check out our ARTISAN 6 design software and take it for a test drive with our 30-DAY FREE TRIAL to create your own blanket design or CONTACT ME about design services.
- Choose from CREATE & PRINT designs and make your blanket in minutes!
- This design from 2019 was a gift from the kids to “Grammy Cay” for Christmas. It still looks brand new after six years!
- This blanket features artist and her artwork in a CREATE & PRINT design.
- 2025’s new WOVEN BLANKETS have amazing, vibrant colors that make it look as if your kids are actually sitting on the sofa beside you … but that’s a story for another day. HA.
- This “FAMILY” themed CREATE & PRINT Blanket features the kids and me, mostly pictures from our trips to Baltimore.
- #PixelChixDesigns LOVES to create exclusive designs. We are happy to help you or send you links to some of the ones we’ve made.
- For Christmas 2021, I gifted a design to my mom. She asked each of the kids to choose a favorite photo with #Nonnie. She became like Linus, carrying her blanket everywhere as she took her final journeys here with us. Now, it warms my dad and keeps him company.
- #ZuZu likes when I design a winter blanket with blues and snowflakes. He thinks he can camouflage himself there. The design peeking out behind him is available to order, and I can personalize it for you.
- My Daisy Blanket standing by for cold nights and afternoon naps.
- Be sure to check out #AKTFounmdation to see how you can help. If you’d like to gift a blanket or pillow to one of their clients, contact me to make those arrangements.
If you or someone you love is living in a dangerous situation, please reach out for help. In Cumberland County, PA, contact dvscp.org. For help from anywhere in the country call 1-800-799-7233 or text 88788. Someone is available 24/7 with English and Spanish speaking volunteers plus interpretation services for over 200 languages. Remember, not all violence breaks bones and leaves bruises.
AKT Foundation – #BlanketsMatter #PixelChixDesigns by Dani’s Pixel Place FOREVER #Artisan6 #CreateAndPrint #Fundraiser