Stillaguamish Grange Sew-A-Thon

The good folks at Stillaguamish Grange #1058 are hosting a  

Sew-A-Thon  

on June 22nd, 2013 

from 

10 A.M. to 4 P.M. 

This event will benefit Katie's Comforters Guild and Wounded Warriors. What a super way to join in community and bless people in need! All of the information is in the flyer below.

If you have more questions, go to the Stillaguamish Grange's facebook page, or contact Crystal at the email address on the flyer.

Thank you, Crystal & Stillaguamish Grange #1058!

Thank you, Debbie P.!

The other day, I received this message from Debbie P.:
"Just letting you know I just dropped off 15 fleece blankets to Children's Hospital." What a lovely surprise!
 She included this photo in her email (we love to see photos of your creations and donations!):

Look at the variety of patterns and colors!

Thank you for your generosity, Debbie!

No Mountain is Too High for HOPE

Seattle Children's Hospital's Guild Association always has FUN in store for its members at the annual meeting. This year, we were treated to a video about Building Hope:
It is a miracle that such a place exists for sick children and their families. My personal passion is to see this standard of compassionate, family-centered care spread throughout the country - and the world. If you'd like to be a part of this movement of HOPE-CARE-CURE, please join our guild - or one of the many other wonderful guilds that exist to support Seattle Children's Hospital - by clicking HERE.

DANGER: Pins!

Dear generous donors to Katie's Comforters Guild at Seattle Children's Hospital: we need to ask that when you bring in quilts or blankets for donation, there can be NO PINS of any kind attached to the blankets - no straight pins, safety pins, etc. If you are planning to affix anything to your donation, please do it with tape or thread or ribbon. A stray pin could create havoc with a patient's central line, so please double-check your quilts and blankets, and remove all pins before donating.

Bless you 

and 

thank you!

Bonnie's Gifts

Guild member Bonnie P. has serious quilting skills, and she generously shares them with our guild. She stopped by today and donated eight beautiful, fun, quilts. The way she mixes donated fabrics with her stash and creates unique, new designs inspires me.

I talked her into posing with her gifts, so here is a gallery of photos:

Equestrian

Nurses!

Wildlife

Jungle Cats

Dogs at the beach

Thank you, Bonnie, 

for sharing your gifts 

with our guild 

to bring comfort 

to sick children!

Because of You, Building Hope - a Noun & Verb

On Friday, my mom and I attended (with hundreds of others) the 2013 Annual Meeting & Luncheon Celebration of Seattle Children's Hospital's Guild Association. This association is unique in all of the United States of America. It does a huge amount of good every year, and continues to grow. It does all of this because of you, its members and friends. Thank you!

At the meeting, they showed some videos and slideshows. This one introduces the new, state-of-the-art (and already FULLY occupied by patients - yes, every bed is full!) Building Hope:
I love the fact that the building is actually named "Building Hope:" BUILDING is both a noun and a verb. That tells you a lot about what kind of hospital this is - it's different, it's better than we could imagine, and it should be the model for others, including adult hospitals.

Here are some inspiring facts that were shared about the Guild Association, and what was accomplished during the year 2012:

7,000 members
500 guilds
21 new guilds
$10.46 million project revenue*
$145,900 membership revenue
$454,700 net Bargain Boutiques revenue (your thrift-shopping and donations make a difference!)
150,777 volunteer hours
* $7.1 million of this was raised by the Friends of Costco Guild/Costco. WOW!

Through its many supporters and wonderful employees, Seattle Children's Hospital is indeed "Building Hope." The Guild Association is part of the foundation supporting that hope. If you are a member, a special "thanks" to you.
If you are not a member yet, please JOIN US! For more info about guilds, click here; and here is a link that makes it easy to join.

Our Treasurer is a Treasure!

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of a visit from our guild's Treasurer. Her name is Linda, and she also happens to be my sister-in-law. Linda is a retired teacher with a heart of pure gold. She has generously taken on the role of treasurer of our guild (a volunteer position, as are all of our board posts) and does an excellent job of keeping track of the donations and expenses of Katie's Comforters Guild.

Not only does Linda give her time and talent to the financial side of the guild, she also sews, and has gathered a group of women to sew with her. They haven't given their group a name yet, so here is a photo of Linda's Quilters:

Linda is second from the left, and her daughter Marcy (our dear niece) is on the far right. This was taken recently, when they dropped off their beautiful quilts at Seattle Children's Hospital.

Thank you for all you do for Katie's Comforters, Linda, and thanks to your quilting group!

Beautiful Bounty

Katie's Comforters Guild has been blessed with bounty at the end of April - early May. Here is an update on what has been happening...

Our friends Mary & Briana Ryan have  been busy. They donated these cozy, double-layered fleece blankets:

Our friend, Norma Hutsell, a senior citizen in Kansas (mother of guild member Maribeth Hinderer) crocheted these two for us:

It's hard to see in this photo, but the one on the left was made with camouflage yarn

and dear Luclie & Noble Nilsen delivered 29 new blankets and quilts last week:

Thanks to each of you for your generous giving of time, talent and materials!

Our friend Michelle Ferris has also been busy spreading the word in an original and effective way. She sent out the following letter:

Hello, and thank you all for being interested in making blankets for Katie’s Comforters Guild at Seattle Children’s! More information about the guild can be found on its blog: http://katiescomfortersguild.blogspot.com/. I have quilt kits ready – fabric for backing and tops, and some batting and binding already made if you want it. I’ve put together a little flyer about this project, with links to tutorials and information. Please let me know if you have any questions, or need any pointers. I’m happy to drop kits off within the NE Seattle area, or you can pick one up at my house in Wedgwood. Feel free to forward this email to anyone you think might be interested in helping out.

 

Thank you again!

 

Michelle Farris

mgerifarris@gmail.com

What an awesome idea - and she is getting a positive response! If you would like to be part of Michelle's group, please contact her at the email address above, or leave a comment here or on our facebook page.

Thank you, Michelle!

Lastly, this coming Friday at 11:30, the annual Guild Luncheon will be held at the Westin in Seattle. If you haven't sent in your reservation, please call the Guild Association office as soon as possible. I hope to see you there