32 New Quilts & Blankets and a Gift of Funds

Last week, Lucile and Noble stopped into Poulsbo on their way to run errands. They brought with them 32 new quilts and fleece blankets! The variety of fabric, colors and patterns is a delight.

Lucile has a way of combining fabric which is very creative. Not only does she make her own quilt binding when necessary, she makes quilted blankets special by combining solids with patterns. She also applies this concept to fleece. When we receive donations of solid-colored fleece, Lucile adds fun to the design by sewing solid pieces to patterned fleece, using her sewing machine's decorative stitches, and creating an embroidered border around the edges. You can see what I mean here:

Thank you, Lucile and Noble!

Loyal guild member Ellie Boren does not sew, but is faithful in her financial support of our work; once again, she sent a gift which will help us to purchase fabric and other supplies (such as satin blanket binding and batting) for our guild members who do sew.

Thank you, Ellie & husband Phil!

Four New Blankets

Liberty Bay Books in Poulsbo is one of our beloved, consistent local supporters. We are grateful to them for so many things they do, for example: their knitting circle, which provides a variety of hand-knit squares, patiently knit into blankets for our guild; sharing our message with their clientele, and occasional delivery service of blankets. Last week, without fanfare, employee Nathaniel H. kindly showed up at our door with these two FUN knitted blankets.

Some of these squares are made of super-soft, fuzzy yarn, and some are made with tickly, shag-style yarn. Both of them will provide warmth and sensory stimulation for patients in the hospital.

Thank you, Liberty Bay Books Knitters

& Nathaniel!

Katie's Comforters Guild's Vice President, Mary Ryan, and her daughter, Briana, are also great helpers in our work. In addition to bringing the attention of their church's youth group to our mission - and enlisting the group's support - they contribute their own time, talent and materials to the hospital. The two soft, cheerful blankets pictured below were donated by Mary and Briana in memory of Mary's mother-in-law. Don't you just love the shamrock theme as we draw near to St. Patrick's Day?

Thank you, Mary and Briana!

Thanks to Auto Connections of Bellevue

A great, big, HUGE  

Thank You to 

Auto Connections of Bellevue!

Auto Connections of Bellevue is a wonderful, honest, no-pressure car company. They are the only car dealership I know that has a Charitable Giving Program.

A quote from their site:

"For every purchase you make, we in turn will give a proceed of our sale to one of three charities of your choice in your name.  It’s really as simple as that! Join us, as we make a difference in the lives of those who can use our giving."

Katie's Comforters Guild is indeed fortunate to be one of the three charities chosen by customers of Auto Connections of Bellevue. We recently received a check in the amount of $750 from Auto Connections, representing those donations made on behalf of their customers. Thank you, Auto Connections of Bellevue!

Thank you, Bethany!

Bethany M. met us a couple of weeks ago for a hand-off of donated fleece fabric.
You might remember Bethany as the teacher from Yelm Middle School, whose students have made and donated fleece blankets for our guild.* She made the drive up to Gig Harbor, which was a good half-way point between us.

Here is Bethany with the fabric in her car, ready to transport it:

Thank you, Bethany, and Yelm Middle School staff and students, for sharing your time and talent to bring comfort to sick children! Your help is essential to our work!

*If you are a student or staff member of a school or community group, and are looking for a service project, please contact us - we'd love to have your help!

Gifts from Near and Far

On Saturday evening, we hosted a gathering of local friends, and one of them (Angela) brought a soft, lovely baby blanket which she had knitted; what a treat it will be for the patient, and for the parents of a sick child. This is a busy friend with a full-time job and three children, so we appreciate what a gift of love and time it is!

Thank you, Angela!

Just this morning, another friend -Nan, also a mother with three active, growing kids - posted this photo on facebook:

This batch of five blankets was made by her daughter, Ava (a talented ballerina).

Ava's brother was treated for cancer when he was young, and he is not only in remission, but has grown into a talented musician; we rejoice with their family in his healing. The family moved from the West Coast to Colorado, so Nan will be shipping Ava's blankets to the hospital all the way from there - another act of generosity.

Thank you, Ava and Nan!

These gifts of warmth, softness and exuberant color will cheer the hearts of all who receive them.

A Visit to Lucile and Noble

We stopped by Lucile and Noble's house with a batch of material - cotton and fleece - for her to use in making blankets and quilts. We had a nice visit, and I got to see her new sewing machine; wow! That is one modern, "smart" machine! She is already enjoying it.

While we were there, Lucile gave us another 8 fleece blankets and 7 beautiful quilts to donate to Seattle Children's Hospital. Here they are:

We are running low on satin blanket binding, so she has been making her own quilt binding (our supplier has stopped carrying the binding we use, so we are in the process of switching to another supplier). Soon, we will purchase pre-cut satin binding to make things easier for Lucile.

Thank you, Lucile and Noble, for your continuing generosity to Katie's Comforters Guild at Seattle Children's Hospital! Your devotion warms our hearts, and the hearts of so many patients and families!

A Gift Card from a Generous Donor

Yesterday's mail brought a happy surprise: a gift card for use at Pacific Fabrics from a donor who I've never met, Lorrie T.. She sent a lovely note with it, which was forwarded to us from the Guild Association office (thank you, Melissa!).

We deeply appreciate Lorrie's generous gift, and will put it to good use, buying supplies for making more blankets.  

Thank you, Lorrie! Your gift will bring warmth and comfort to many patients.

A Surprise from Kim D. and Good News from Lucile

As I was going through the bags of gorgeous fleece donated by Kim D., I found this treasure,

almost finished, with just a seam open on the binding. I am going to see if Lucile can work her magic on it.

Speaking of Lucile, she has shared good news with us: the sewing machine repair shop - which could not fix Lucile's machine - has replaced it with a newer model! They had given her a new model as a "loaner," which Lucile enjoyed using, and they have now given her the "loaner" to keep, for good. We're rejoicing with her!

We're in the Guild News!

Katie's Comforters Guild is featured in this month's Guild News!
If you haven't received your copy, you can read it here:
http://www.seattlechildrens.org/Guilds/Guild-News/2015/Winter/Feature-Story/
Thank you for all you do to make this possible - you are Seattle Children's! Without you, there would not be any blankets and quilts for us to donate!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!

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!