A Meaningful "Thank You" to our Guild

Yesterday, I received this lovely message on our guild's facebook page from Mickie:

"My 3 year old spent three days at Children's this month, and received a wonderful shark fleece blanket (made by Briana and Mary). He LOVES it. He was so pleased when we were brought to his room to see his bed made up with a fuzzy blanket, and was really excited when the nurse told him he could keep it. He got a monkey blanket when he was admitted last year, and it's one of his favorites to this day! Thank you so much for your work, and please know that you brought a big smile to my toddler!"

How wonderful to know that our blankets are indeed bringing comfort and happiness to patients and families. Thank you for taking the time to write, Mickie, and for making blankets as members of our guild, Mary & Briana!

Fabric and Four New Blankets

We have been blessed by donations of fabric, and four lovely new blankets.

The fabric was donated by Judy O., who I know from our pediatrician's office and from women's soccer (I played long ago). Thank you, Judy!

The four new blankets were donated by Janice O. and Sherry B. I met Sherry and her family years ago through women's soccer and church. Janice O. is the dear nurse who worked with Diane Fuquay, M.D., and pierced Katie's ears for her. Janice reminded me that Katie was so happy about having her ears pierced that she kept announcing from various rooms around the house, "I'm in the kitchen, with pierced ears! I'm in the bathroom, with pierced ears!" I had forgotten that, and loved being reminded of such a happy memory.

Snoopy & Woodstock fleece blanket

Fleece horse-themed blanket and Sock Monkey quilt with plaid binding and backing

Space-themed quilt

 Thank you, Sherry and Janice!

Holiday Blanket Bounty

It's time to give thanks to our many donors for their thoughtful generosity. As you know, we are trying to do all we can to fill the hospital's request for blankets with holiday/winter themes. Of course, we are grateful and delighted to accept any theme/design of blanket at any time of year, but there was a special request at this time for blankets for the children who will be inpatient during the holiday season. Our members and friends have come through for the hospital's patients - THANK YOU!

Here are some of the newest donations.

4 quilts from our friend, Karla W.

8 fleece blankets from Karla's friend, Heidi K.

Fleece blankets from our friend, Cami H.

More fleece from Cami H.

How cute are the cat and dog Santa prints?

More fleece from Cami H.

A combination of 8 quilts and fleece blankets from Lucile & Noble

7 fleece blankets from your president (with help finishing the fringes from Cami H.)

Four quilts from Karla.
Eight fleece blankets from Heidi.
Cami donated 13 fleece blankets, and helped me to finish the seven which I donated.
Lucile & Noble donated eight blankets and quilts.
Member Ellie B. donated funds for more materials.

Thank you, friends and guild members, for all that you do to help us bring comfort and joy to patients at Seattle Children's Hospital!

13 New Blankets from Deb P.

Katie's Comforters Guild has a new friend: Deb P., who has generously made (and delivered today) 13 blankets to Seattle Children's Hospital! Though we've never met in person, Deb took our purpose to heart, and just look at these beauties which she made and delivered:

 There are some "tidings of comfort and joy" for sick children. 

Thank you, Deb!

What a Great Week!

I hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving holiday. We have had a wonderful week at Katie's Comforters Guild, and we want to share it with you, in the spirit of Thanksgiving.

I received a phone call from Paige (the manager of Kenneth L. Salon in Poulsbo), telling me that she had shared our information with a group to which she belongs (thank you, Paige!). One of the group members responded by making a donation to our guild. A hearty thank you to Joey G. of Meineke Car Care Center! After Paige gave me Joey's donation, I went directly to JoAnn Fabrics and bought 8 yards of winter-themed fleece with it, to help fill the need for blankets for children who will be admitted to the hospital during the holidays.

I will be working on cutting fringe into these blankets soon.

I also met Lucile and Noble to pick up a delivery of quilts. Lucile had made 5 new quilts, and had finished 8 more (which I had pinned, but was not able to sew, due to time constraints). This was in addition to celebrating her 90th birthday and cooking Thanksgiving dinner for her family. (I hope to be that productive if I ever live to see 90 years of age. Lucile continues to inspire me.)

Thank you, Lucile and Noble!



Lucile's quilts

Winter-themed quilts from me, finished by Lucile

Other quilts from me, finished by Lucile

More quilts from me, finished by Lucile

Quilts from Maribeth, finished by Lucile

 Many thanks to Maribeth Hinderer for donating the beautiful fabrics for the two quilts above. Though she has moved to Kansas, Maribeth is still our vice president and a great moral support to our guild.

We received two more generous donations this week: one from our dear friend, Liz D., in Chicago, and one from our dear cousins Eva and Bob in San Francisco. Thank you, Liz, Eva and Bob for your generous support of our work! We will use the funds to purchase materials and continue our work of bringing comfort to sick children. We could not do this without the help of people like Lucile, Noble, Paige, Joey, Liz, Bob, Eva and Maribeth!
Thank you all!

Holiday Quilts from Shannin

Today, we had the privilege and pleasure of picking up six beautiful holiday-themed quilts from the very talented artist Shannin Strom-Henry. She made each quilt unique, embellishing them with buttons and rickrac that will delight each recipient.

See the rickrac and button details?

Lovely, festive fabrics!

Thank you for this generous

donation, Shannin!

Children who are patients during the holidays will be delighted by your quilts.

Kenneth L. Salon and Spa in Poulsbo

I get my hair cut (my mom and dad, do, too) at Kenneth L. Salon & Spa in Poulsbo. The manager of the salon, Paige, has a generous spirit. She has taken Katie's Comforters Guild to heart, and decided to highlight our guild in a new display in the salon.

It's the first thing you see as you step through the front door. Two blankets (one quilt and one fleece), brochures, photographs, cards - all telling about who we are and why we do what we do - have been given "front and center" status at Kenneth L. Salon & Spa.

Thank you, Katie, for doing such a nice job with the display, and thank you, Paige for your warm and open-hearted welcome at
Kenneth L. Salon & Spa!

Lucile is Turning 90!

Our dear guild member, Lucile N., and her husband, Noble, dropped off

33 new quilts today!

33 new quilts from Lucile & Noble

Close up of one bag of 12...

Close up of another bag of 12...

 

Close up of a bag of 9 quilts

Lucile and Noble pack their quilts so well that I don't like to take them out for photographs, so please take my word for it that these are beautiful.

Lucile has a birthday this month...she is turning 90 years old!

And she sews a quilt a day!

Happy Birthday, Lucile!

We admire and appreciate you VERY much.

Project Teen II

In fiscal 2009, the Guild Association–wide effort Project Teen collected hundreds of items for Children’s young-adult patients and raised more than $10,000 for the purchase of additional items.
Project Teen II launches this year, and we again ask for your help.

Project Teen II supports Seattle Children’s Child Life Department in providing items for teens such as:
- gift cards for chain stores such as Target or bookstores
- iTunes gift cards
- books
- DVD movies (new release, PG-13)
- nail-polish kits
- bath supplies such as bubble bath, lotion
- electronic games (E- or T-rated for Wii, Xbox 360 and Nintendo DS),
- journaling supplies (journals, sketchbooks, gel pens, colored pens sets)
- college or professional sports team items (hats, t-shirts, blankets).

You can support Project Teen II by purchasing an item, making a cash donation, organizing a drive in your community or asking guests at your own event to bring items for our teen patients. New items only, please.

Mail items and financial donations to:
Project Teen II
Seattle Children’s Hospital Guild Association
PO Box 5371/S-200
Seattle, WA 98145-5005

Project Teen II concludes at our 2012 annual meeting (April, 2012).
Call Melissa Cardenas at the Guild Association office 206-987-6806 with questions or for more information.

Thank you!

Calling All Guild Members & Friends...

...I made a blanket delivery to Seattle Children's Hospital today, thanks to the generosity of our members and donors! THANK YOU!

While we were delivering the blankets, we saw Jane Humphries, the Guild Association Board member (a.k.a. "The Blanket Lady) who hands out our blankets and quilts to patients. Jane told me that there is a great need for blankets for children who will be in-patient during the holidays and through Christmas (she mentioned the number 100), and she asked if we could help.

Yes, of course we can!

Would you please consider telling at least one friend about this need? If each one of us told one person, and that person either donated funds to purchase materials, made a blanket, or told someone else who would help, we could get to 100 blankets in no time! Please think about what a pleasure it will be to bring comfort and joy to children - especially to those who will be stuck in the hospital over the holidays.

Thank you for your support!