Thank yous

Blogging takes a lot of time.  It gets put at the bottom of my list of "to dos".  That being said, I always am glad when I get something posted.  It has been a ridiculously long time since I have posted and my goal is to do much, much better!  That being said, I have  my excuses ready.  Simon and Wesley.  If you can't use them for an excuse who can you use??

 

We recently received a thank you from a mom whose three week old baby was in the hospital for three days.  Ooh.  Only three weeks old.  That has got to be really tough. 

 

We also received a thank you from a family.  It has really touched me and I want to share it with you.

 

Marla and the entire Pieces team,

 

I want to send you a huge thank you for your selfless and kind time you put into your quilts given to the Peds at LMH.  We rushed our 21 month old to the ER on 2/17 who was later admitted to the peds unit with pneumonia.  I was immediately brought to tears when they bought the quilt in and I still get choked up when I tell family and friends of your group and the work you do.  We hang the quilt on the crib--

1. because it is beautiful and

2. because it reminds us of that night and how a group of quilters helped ease our worried minds. 

I often look at the quilt and think, "what can I do for our community?"

Our son loves the bright colors and the fish on the back.

Again, thank you!

 

What a beautiful thank you!!  We don't do what we do for the thank yous, but when you get one, it reminds me why I started this project.

 

 

 

 

 

We have now donated 865 quilts.

I want to leave you with a picture that touches my heart.  Recently Simon and his daddy came to meet Wesley.  Joel was able to snap this quick picture.

I think this is one of the sweetest pictures I have!

All Good Things

So last week the local paper ran a story on Pieces.  A kind friend nominated me for a series called Only In Lawrence.  It celebrates unsung heroes who are making a difference in our area.

A friend told me you are a big deal if you make it above the fold of the newspaper.  I call it a very slow news day.  Lots of nice people have had positive comments.  Thanks everyone!

Another piece of good news...we are now at 840 quilts delivered to Lawrence Memorial Hospital Pediatric Unit!!

This is one we've delivered.

And this is one we delivered too.

Speaking of delivering, Greg and I are grandparents again.  Wesley David was born February 4th.

Kindness

There are lots of groups out there that donate quilts or other items to those in need.  Lots of people call the quilts they give "charity" quilts.  While what they are doing is a good thing, I have never cared for that term.  In fact, I would have to admit I really don't like it when talking about Pieces.  I don't think of what we are doing as charity.

Our quilts are made with fabric and thread with a lot of care and love thrown in.

These quilts are waiting to go to the hospital.  They will be given to just the right boy or girl to take home and love.

You could call these love quilts.  Or you could call them comfort quilts.

Recently I ran across a quote that stuck in my mind.
  
"Kindness" has many synonyms: words like love, service, or charity.  But I like the word "kindness" because it implies action.  It seems like something you and I can do.  Acts of kindness reach both the giver and the receiver, enlarging the souls of both.

I couldn't have said it better.  It says exactly what I feel.  I guess you can call the quilts what you feel comfortable with.  To me they are kindness quilts.  They are something we choose to do. And just for the record? We have chosen to donate 800 quilts.  Isn't that awesome??

What is it you choose to do?

Emma

Happy  2015!

I'd like you to meet a special little girl.  Her name is Emma.

Emma is three years old.  She's been very sick.   She had several stomach bugs and was severely dehydrated.  That is a bad combination in a three year old.  She was a patient at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.  If you are a parent, you know how scary this is.  You don't want your child to be sick, or hungry, or hurt, or disappointed.....I  could go on and on and on.  You simply want to make everything right for them.

The good news is Emma is now healthy and back home.  Guess what she got at the hospital?   Besides getting well, she got a quilt!  Mom says they were very surprised and they love the quilt.

And we love the fact that Emma is smiling again!

Just a Few Quilts

You've probably heard that about the time you have things under control, life happens.  That is so true!  Rather than focusing on that, I would much rather focus on some of the wonderful quilts we have given to some awesome kids!

 

I think this is a great group of quilts.  I hope you enjoyed looking at them.  It is hard to pick a favorite!  I made the pictures bigger this time.  Let me know if you like those better!

Halloween and Fall

Halloween has come and gone but I wanted to share with you a couple of the Halloween quilts that went to the kids at the hospital.

These two quilts were made with the same pattern but different fabrics.  I used the same backing fabric and quilted two different designs.  They are so bright and lots of fun.

This quilt is darling--even if the pictures are terrible.  Hopefully three kids have new quilts that they are enjoying now.

This is a cool fall themed quilt.  The pictures?  Terrible too.  I promised to show you quilts, not good pictures!

With temperatures dropping this week, I am not sure if we have much fall left.

We are heading into the season with lots of flu and respiratory problems.  We are trying to get lots of quilts ready for the hospital.  We always hope we have too many.  That means not as many kids were sick.

See you soon!

October Quilts

It has been far too long since I have posted on this blog.  I had promised myself I was going to do so much better!  But Greg and I took an anniversary trip to Jamaica (it was heavenly).  Not long after we got back, we flew to Las Vegas with our two sons.  The girls stayed home, so it was just the four of us.  Frankly, that is probably good they stayed home.  They might have been appalled at how silly the four of us acted!  What fun we had!

Here's some quilts for you.

I'll bet you can guess which one is my favorite.  Which one would you choose?