Love from Linda K-H

Our friends at Poulsbo's local independent bookstore, Liberty Bay Books, are always supportive and helpful. They often assist with delivery of blankets to Katie's Comforters Guild, acting as an informal "drop off" place for quilters or knitters who wish to donate.

Last week, Gregg stopped by and picked up two sweet quilts which had been made by the loving hands of Linda K-H, a teacher in our town who has a heart of gold.

Here are Linda's latest lovely quilts:

Blanket and quilt donations like these make all of the difference to sick children. They bring joy, comfort and warmth into the hospital room.

Thank you, Linda!

Liberty Bay Books Supports Katie's Comforters Guild

I stopped into our local "Indie" (independent) bookstore, Liberty Bay Books, and the owner, Suzanne said that she had a donation for us. Suzanne's bookstore is a hub of activity in our little town (I just typed "hug of activity" - it feels like that in the store: warm, inviting and enriching). Suzanne and her staff host book signings, book clubs (cookbook groups even get to sample recipes), game nights and a knitting group, among other things. The Liberty Bay Books Knitters have kindly donated a fleece and two knitted/crocheted blankets, which you can see here:

Something for everyone here - variety of color, material, design and texture

Thank you, Suzanne, 

and Liberty Bay Books Knitters! 

Katie's Comforters Guild 

appreciates your support!

Quilts and Blankets from Mary M.

After posting about Kim D.'s recent donation of fleece (see below), I received a message from Mary M., expressing her interest in making blankets. We arranged to meet so that I could give a batch of fleece to her, and she surprised me by having 10 blankets ready for us to deliver to the hospital! Mary made six beautiful quilts and four thick, soft, cozy fleece blankets with knots tied around the edges.

I flipped up the corners show you both sides of the quilts and blankets.

Mary's choices of color and patterns are sure to please patients at Seattle Children's Hospital, and will bring much comfort and warmth to them and their families. Receiving something personal, made by hand, by someone who is thinking of you (even if you've never met the donor) is a true source of solace when you are isolated in a hospital. Blankets silently communicate compassion, hope, love and solidarity to patients and families, which really helps if you are sick and miss being in your own home.

Thank you, Mary! We appreciate your gifts of time, talent and materials!

Gratitude for Gifts from Joanie R.

We recently received a surprise: the gift of six warm, soft, knitted blankets from a generous local donor named Joanie R. These are beautifully knitted with great precision and care; the colors are as soft as the yarn she used. The children who receive these will be wrapped in comfort and tender caring.

Thank you, Joanie!

Linda W. & Liberty Bay Books' Knitters

I just opened a bag and found these treasures inside. Linda W. has made a variety of quilts with her creativity which will delight each recipient in the hospital! Also included was a darling knitted blanket from the Liberty Bay Books' Knitting Group.

Check out the upper right-hand corner of this close-up photo and see what Linda included with the quilt:

a pair of ballet slippers, to match!
Slippers are always welcome in the hospital - what a great idea.

Linda is a talented quilter, and you can see that she has a real eye for design, color and pattern.
Thank you, Linda W. and Liberty Bay Books' Knitters!

Two Quilts from Shirley

Two beautiful new quilts were donated to our guild last week. They were made with care and artistry by Shirley F., and delivered to our guild's board member, Mary.

Those bright and cheerful fabrics are going to make a patient very happy!

These comic-book themes, combined with freedom symbols, will surely appeal to the "super-hero" in a young patient!

Thank you, Shirley, 

for sharing your time, talent and materials

with Katie's Comforters Guild! Your generosity will bring comfort to the patients who receive your quilts!

St. Olaf's Youth Group

On Sunday, I had the privilege of visiting St. Olaf's Catholic Church to make a presentation to the youth group. St. Olaf's is in Poulsbo, our hometown, and they have been supporting Katie's Comforters Guild for a few years now, making and donating warm fleece blankets for patients through the inspiration of one of their members: Briana. Briana is our one junior guild member - and we'd love to have more like her!

I made a tri-fold presentation board and mounted photo collage pages on it (mentioned in a previous posting). I included information about guild membership, as well as about Katie's endowment and the progress in cancer research and treatment since her passing. I brought Katie's own comforter with me so that they could see how much love a blanket gets in the hospital.

We took photos together, and then they got to work, making another batch of fleece blankets to donate.

Photos courtesy of Mary Ryan, with permission from St. Olaf's Youth Group

Photos courtesy of Mary Ryan, with permission from St. Olaf's Youth Group

Photos courtesy of Mary Ryan, with permission from St. Olaf's Youth Group

Photos courtesy of Mary Ryan, with permission from St. Olaf's Youth Group

Photos courtesy of Mary Ryan, with permission from St. Olaf's Youth Group

The finished product! Photos courtesy of Mary Ryan, with permission from St. Olaf's Youth Group

Thank you, 

St. Olaf's Youth Group and leadership! 

Your spirit of giving and 

your helping hands 

will bring great comfort to patients.

More of Linda's Spirit of "Aloha"

Living in a small town has its joys - like a local, independent bookstore such as Liberty Bay Books. 
LBB is a sort of "town hall," where people gather, not only to purchase books and gifts, but for book clubs (including wine & book club), knitting circle, author's events, to buy a hot or cold drink, and to drop off/pick up items left for one another. In other words, it functions a little bit like the post office or telephone switchboard did in days of yore. We are thankful for LBB!

We just received a donation of four more lovely Hawaiian-themed quilts from Linda K-H, which she dropped off for us at Liberty Bay Books. One of the employees, Nathaniel, delivered them to me on his way home from work. Now THAT's service, above and beyond the call of duty! Thank you, Nathaniel!

Here are Linda's latest creations, filled with "Aloha" spirit:

I LOVE that flower-and-leaf-printed flannel which she used for three of the quilts - how great that it comes in a variety of vibrant colors!

Thank you, Linda, Nathaniel and Liberty Bay Books!