Knit Blanket from Elizabeth A.

I just received a package from one of our guild members in California, including this beautiful, hand-knit blanket:

It's a lovely pink color, and is super-soft and cozy.

Thank you, Elizabeth A.!

I know that you knit love into every stitch.

Blessings to you and your family.

Jo-Ann Craft for a Cause Contest

Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft stores is sponsoring "Craft for a Cause 2010."

Here is a link to use if you want to learn more about how you can win a $1,500 Jo-Ann Gift Card, and how your favorite charity can win $50,000!
Thanks for the link, Karla!

Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores VIP Discount Cards

Dear Katie’s Comforters Guild members,

I hope you are all enjoying a happy and creative summer. Katie’s Comforters Guild is having a good one: we’ve received wonderful donations of quilts, fleece blankets and fabric/supplies, and our membership continues to grow. You can keep up with the news, and see photos, on facebook and here, on our guild’s blogspot. I hope that you will continue to help spread the word about your guild.
One of our members (thank you, Karen W.!) asked me recently about the discount cards that Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores generously provided for our guild members this year. The cards are due to expire at the end of August, so I wrote to our contact at Jo-Ann’s corporate office, and received the following kind and generous offer:

“The VIP cards from last year will in fact expire at the end of the month. We have changed the process a bit and now send the cards, with the member's name on them, directly to their homes.

“The new Jo-Ann VIP Discount Card is valid from 8/1/10-8/31/11. The VIP Card can be used for 10% off your total purchase, including regular and sale priced items. For in-store purchases, the Jo-Ann 40% off regular priced item coupons can be used in the same transaction as the VIP Card 10% total purchase discount, although the 10% would not apply to the item that receives the 40% discount. For online orders, the VIP discount cannot be combined with any other offer. The Discount Card is valid at any Jo-Ann store, and is also valid online at www.joann.com by using the promotion code supplied on the back of the card.

“[Guild] Members can request their card online at www.joann.com/VIP for expedited processing. For members who do not have internet access, they can phone in their information to 877-604-2280.


“Please be sure your members are aware that their new cards will need to be validated by store management prior to first use by providing proof of organization membership and a state issued photo ID.
“I look forward to working with you in the future.
Best Regards,
Rochelle”

If you would like to renew your Jo-Ann Stores VIP Discount Card, or if you’ve never had one and would like to receive one, please follow the directions that are highlighted in yellow, above. This is a wonderful opportunity for all of us to enjoy great prices all year long, when shopping for supplies for our guild. (This offer is for guild members, and is to be used for items purchased for the guild.)

Thank You, Jo-Ann Stores!

Girl Scout Troop Donates 25 Fleece Blankets

I have had the pleasure of corresponding with a Girl Scout Troop Leader, Heidi R., over the past few months. Heidi learned about our guild through the Internet, and she told me that her troop needed a community service project.

She asked whether a Girl Scout Troop could help Katie's Comforters Guild.

Could they ever!

Heidi R. and her troop are an industrious and lovely group of young ladies. They not only made blankets, they also traveled all the way to Seattle Children's Hospital on a summer day, to donate those 25 beautiful blankets (which they had made out of fleece) in person. (The troop and their parents gave me permission to post photos of our visit.)

First, they stopped in the Volunteer Office, to meet with Guild Association Board Member Jane H., and to fill out the brief  paperwork at the desk. Then they put the blankets in the Blanket Closet.

Here they are with their donations (on the shelf above them).

Then we took a tour of the hospital, (guided by Ashley, from Childlife) and visited the Giraffe area, Playroom, Hematology-Oncology area, Family Resource Center and Whale atrium.

The troop in the Giraffe area.

By the way, the hospital has its own beautiful quilt near the Giraffe elevators.

If  you are a leader of a Girl Scout Troop, or a Camp Fire Girl Group (or know of one looking for a community service project), please feel free to contact me about helping Katie's Comforters Guild! If every troop or group made just one batch of blankets, so many children would be blessed with comfort - and the troop/group members would be blessed by the gift of giving comfort to others.

Thank you, Heidi and all of your Troop members!

Thank you, Ashley of Childlife & Jane H. from the Guild Association's Board!

Gifts from Janice S.

Our guild has been blessed with great generosity recently. I received an email from Janice S., who had read about Katie's Comforters Guild in the article (written by Marietta Nelson) in the Kitsap Sun. Janice wanted to donate some of her quilting "stash," and had washed, ironed and sorted her fabric for us. She also wanted to donate some batting.

Gregg and I drove to meet Janice and her husband in our town, and they gave us the gifts for the guild. We appreciate them so much! (I forgot to bring the camera along to photograph the two of them, but here are photos I took of their donation, when I got home.)

Aren't those fabrics lovely?

Thank you so much for this generous gift, Janice!

It will be shared with a quilter (or quilters) in our guild, who will form and fashion it into COMFORT for a sick child at Seattle Children's Hospital. Thank you - this is a big help!