Ann Seggie spent months knotting wool into blankets for Edmonton police officers, before driving from Fort McMurray to personally deliver them.

She made the five-hour trek Saturday, a neat stack of blankets and handwritten thank-you cards in the trunk of her vehicle.

"It's from the heart — every stitch a hug," Seggie said.

"I just want them to know that their work is appreciated and if they've had a bad day, get hold of my blanket and there's a big warm hug from me."

Const. Lucas Braithwaite accepted the blankets on Saturday. (Ann Seggie)

Each blanket was destined for a specific Edmonton Police Service officer, including Const. Mike Chernyk, who was injured during an attack in September.

Seggie chose men and women who she had met online or in person, such as Const. Lucas Braithwaite, a young officer with an active Twitter account.

She said she got butterflies when his police vehicle pulled into the parking lot where they had agreed to meet on Saturday.

"My tummy was in knots because this is very emotional for me," she said. "When I met him, it was as if I knew him."

'It makes you feel good about the job'

Braithwaite said he wasn't sure what to expect as he parked his patrol car.

"She said she had blankets and I didn't ask questions," he told CBC News Tuesday outside EPS Southeast Division headquarters.

"This would probably take me a few years to make," he added, unfolding a burgundy blanket with white stripes.

'It makes you feel good about the job that you do,' Const. Lucas Braithwaite said about receiving a handmade blanket. (Zoe Todd/CBC)

Braithwaite, a recent recruit with the Edmonton Police Service, said Seggie's gift reassured him he had chosen the right career.

"Some days you don't know if you're doing a good job or not, just from all the backlash that police officers do get," Braithwaite said.

"But when somebody goes to the extent that they've done and makes as many blankets and puts as much effort in as she has, it makes you feel good about the job that you do."

A relaxing hobby

The blankets take up to a week to crochet. Seggie said she started the hobby last summer, after the Fort McMurray wildfire.

At the time, her doctor recommended she find a way to destress. Given the choice between yoga and crocheting, Seggie chose the latter.

"This is my way of relaxing, it's very comforting," Seggie said Tuesday at her home in Fort McMurray, as she looped green wool into what will become a Christmas-themed blanket.

Ann Seggie crocheted nearly a dozen blankets for Edmonton police officers to thank them for their service. (David Thurton/CBC)

Seggie gave the first blanket she made last year to her granddaughter, who promptly wrapped the gift around herself.

"She goes, 'Oh grandma, this is like a big warm hug,'" Seggie recalled.

That spurred the idea of making some more for police officers.

With help from her granddaughter, Seggie has since made more than a dozen blankets for officers in Fort McMurray and Edmonton.

She now plans to send the handmade hugs abroad to police in England and the United States.

"It's just my way of thanking them," Seggie said.

"It's a hug from me."