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November 

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What a lovely afternoon!  I actually sat and watched a recorded program (series finale of Poldark) while I was enjoying the rain and crocheting around a fleece blanket for Project Linus! 52 days without rain, it is a welcome sight. A lovely cozy afternoon! 

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What a wonderful year!  We have passed 50,000 blankets, reaching 50,000 children!  I am so proud of the Phoenix West Valley Chapter of Project Linus.  Not only have we met our commitments of approximately 500 blankets a month to local children in crisis (giving them extra love when they need it most!) but we have donated 225 to Camp Corral, 65 to Peoria PD for their Shop with a Cop program, 59 to Billy's Place and 50 to Teen Outreach.  My eyes are welling up as I type this newsletter ..... what an awesome group of Blanketeers!

 

We were the lucky recipients of patriotic fabric, from the American Legion.  We have decided to make kits with this fabric. There is a method to my madness, we have been asked to make and donate quilts using this fabric.  The request is to donate to Luke Air Force Base to give to the children of deployed personnel.  These quilts will be donated in April.  The request is for 50 quilts.

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Water bottle lids etc. are still ON HOLD, please don't bring them to the Bee.

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Tee shirts will be available for purchase, twice a year from now on.  The next time will be sometime in March. I will let you know when the date is announced.

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For those of you wanting to attend the November Bee, after a short discussion, it was decided to have the annual Pot Luck lunch.  Please bring a dish to share.  We always have the most delicious food! Our tenth annual!  

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Girl Scout Cookies will be available for purchase at the January 2020 Bee (January 25th).  The girls have been donating blankets to us for many years and love to visit our meeting.  I am trying to remember how many but ..... a long time!

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The October Challenge, with the theme of baby blankets produced some lovely blankets.  Thank you to those who participated.  Winners were (in the Quilt category) was Sheryl K., Donna C. came in second and third!  Winners (in the crochet/knit category) were Carol G., first, Brenda W., second and Jackie F. third.  We were hoping to have more entries and as a result, we have decided that the Challenge will be offered once a year from now on. Therefore creating more interest.  We will announce the theme later in the year.  Thank you Kathy H. for all your help with this and for buying the second and third prizes. 

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I would like to thank Liz M. for taking photos at the Bees and sending them to me. Please note that photos have their own page on the website. Also thank you to Sylvia F. for taking notes and reminding me about newsletter articles.

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I wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families.  I probably won't be writing another newsletter until January, so I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  I am looking forward to another wonderful year of Project Linus.  A huge THANK YOU to ALL of you.  Whether you donated one blanket or too many to count, I am grateful to each and everyone of you.  I am thrilled to be your 'leader' and I hope, with your help, we can bring smiles to many more children.  

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October

 

First of all please accept my apologies for the delay in the newsletter this month.  It has been a busy few weeks. Three events, collecting blankets, delivering blankets and everything else regarding PL. I bought fleece at $2.99 a yard with 20% off total purchase, saving $414. We are expecting company so have been 'fall' cleaning, planting winter flowers, creating Linus blankets as well as my other volunteer work, oh, and I must not forget the all imprtant hockey games!  All in all October has flown by.

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Thank you to every one who joined us in September.  Another busy month's work.  498 blankets brought in. Unbelievable!  We are doing so well this year, hard to remember this time last year when  we were struggling to make our commitments,   On Friday, I will be counting the necessary blankets to reach Shop with a Cop, Billy's Place and Teen Outreach - the extra's that have been requested by them. I will be able to let you know on Saturday how many more will be needed.  I have received many comments from the Blanketeers as to how much fun it has been to create Christmas blankets.  Yes, I will try and find another group to give Christmas to next year, 2020.

 

I was thrilled to introduce our new Project Linus Coordinator for the East Valley.  Cindy Palmer attended the Bee.  For those that may be interested in joining Cindy at her Bee's, they are held the third Thursday of every month at the Perry Library.  Cindy's phone number is 480 703 1037 and her email address is cindypalmer0257@gmail.com   Welcome Cindy, I am looking forward to 'working' with you.  The first time we spoke to each other we were on the phone for over an hour and a half.  Hopefully Cindy will have blankets to share next June when we give to Camp Corral and would also like to help us with the other convention that have requested blankets from us in July. (yes, the name escapes me at the moment, sorry!)  We also were able to share blankets donated by realtor,com, we are both very grateful for the over 200 blankets that they donated.

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I am looking forward to seeing the entries for our October Challenge.  Your baby blankets should be finished by now!  At least, you still have a few days if you are running out of time.  $5 to enter and prizes will be awarded. 

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Now for the latest on the 'Lids' that we all have been collecting.  I dropped off one bag just after the last Bee, then found another bag in storage.  I took that bag to the Dr. office on Friday, to find out that the person I was saving them for has left!  With no word from her. The other receptionist that I have been friendly with is going to try and find somewhere else BUT in the meantime I have told her I will wait to hear from her and put the collection 'ON HOLD'. So, until further notice please don't bring the lids to the Bee. If and when we collect them again, please make sure you wash them off, it's gross to pick up the bag and have liquid dribble out.

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There is still time to register for the National Mystery Quilt Challenge.  Each Chapter benefits from this challenge as long as when you register, you mention the name of our Chapter.  

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We recently were the recipients of a huge donation of yarn from a young man called Justin, whose Mother recently passed away.  His mother was an avid  crocheter, the sad part is that Justin found Project Linus afterwards.  I have never received such a wonderful donation before.  A U-haul had to be rented to bring the many tubs, boxes and bags of yarn to the storage building.  Thanks to my Friday set up team as well as Jackie W., Karen K. and Stacey L.  who spent most of the day sorting we left the office at 5:00pm after starting to sort around 10:00am!   We also donated yarn to Stitches of Love (yarn that was unusable by PL) and gave Cindy of East Valley a huge donation.  We asked for donations of the four tables of unusable yarn, which was perfect for the Blanketeers but not for PL.  We raised over $200.  THANK YOU! This money will be given to Justin after we have put out the remainder of yarn this upcoming Saturday.  Bring your money!  Needless to say, we have a lot yarn to use up!  

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As I have mentioned many times, labels are not to leave the premises ...... I received an email from our President who told the Coordinators that Project Linus labels were being SOLD on eBay.  So, if you are helping label at the Bees, the labels stay at the  office. 

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After a discussion at the last Bee, it was decided that we will have a Pot Luck lunch at the November Bee. This has been a tradition for a few years, no sign up sheet but we have the most delicious lunches!  One request, please no turkey!

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We have a new Blanketeer who has offered to do any long arm quilting for Project Linus, free of charge.  She will also quilt your personal quilts but will charge you for those.  Her name Is Joyce and she can be reached at 

623 251 3684      joycewex@aol.com

Thank you Joyce, I hope we can keep you busy!  She lives in the Pebble Creek area.

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As a reminder, tee shirts will only be available twice a year from now on.  March will be the next time to order.

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Two Bee's to go!  Then the year will be over! Can you believe it?  I appreciate you arriving closer to 9:00am instead of earlier.  There are always things to do on a Saturday morning and I normally arrive between 7:30am and 8:00am.  Very rarely do I sit and check my phone before everyone arrives. 

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Next Bee?  Saturday October 26th the last Bee of the year, November 30th.  Just realized there are five Saturdays in November!  Remember always the last Saturday in the month!!

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THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO FOR THE CHILDREN THAT WE DONATE TO! I appreciate the support and dedication from each and everyone of you!  As I often say, I couldn't do this 'job' without you!  

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PLEASE NOTE: Photographs have been moved to their own page.

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September

 

Hope everyone is well and enjoying the subtle changes in the weather, yes, we have almost made it through another Phoenix summer, 102 days of triple temperatures! Has it made a difference to the Blankteers of the Phoenix West Valley Chapter of Project Linus?  Has it stopped blankets being made?  The answer is NO!  I am so happy to inform you that 600 blankets were donated at the August meeting and 80 people were in attendance!  Wow!  A staggering amount for a very hot August day!  Thank you, I am so grateful to all of you!

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I had great pleasure in announcing at the Bee that our Chapter has donated over 50,000 blankets since I became Coordinator.  50,000 smiles from children (or their parents) that we have reached by our wonderful work.  THANK YOU!!

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Tee shirts may be ordered until September 23rd to be delivered around October 14th.  If you are wanting to purchase a new Linus shirt (they have various styles) you need to visit   https:/projectlinusshop.org      Our  PL National store does not have them in stock, you have to order through Western Associates. The Coordinators were informed that the sale of the shirts will only be twice a year from now on, so the next time won't be until March.  

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We have a new facility that has asked if they may receive blankets from Project Linus.  Billy's Place is grief resource center, located in Glendale.  I had the pleasure of visiting the center and was impressed with all I saw.  They have requested 50 Christmas/winter themed blankets for an event in December.  This will be the only time that I will accept 'seasonal' blankets.  The children who will receive the blankets are from 4 years old to 18, so all sizes please.

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I noticed that some of the Quilters have signed up for the Mystery Quilt Challenge, thank you.  I will be excited to see these finished quilts. It is not too late if you would like to participate in this challenge.  You will need to visit the National website for information.  

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Our October Challenge is on the horizon.  Baby blankets, any style, pattern etc as long as it is baby sized.  We donate to Teen Outreach every December and hopefully the extra blankets from the Challenge will help us meet our goal of reaching out to the Teens as well as our monthly commitments.

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Believe it or not, this is all my news!  I know, hard to believe that this is such a short newsletter. I am looking forward to the next Bee, September 28th, usual place.  Thank you for not arriving so early!  Hard to believe that 2019 is almost over, meeting wise, only 3 Bees until the end of the year!  As usual, a big thank you to each and everyone of you, those I see at the Bees, and those that drop off at various locations.  

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August

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Good afternoon.  Well, here we are almost to the end of August. 2019 is flying by, the stores are ready for Autumn and Halloween, it's 101 out there and really humid!  I am sad that we haven't had any rain, perhaps September will produce some. I remember one September day a few years ago.  We attended a Diamondbacks afternoon game, we left the game and straight into a typical 'monsoon' storm, we were drenched by the time we got to our car! Fingers crossed that this will happen this year!

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Not much news this month!  Dog days of summer!  

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I need to thank Jackie F. and Gay F. for all their help.  They sorted our stash of fat quarters and challenged the Blanketeers to creating a 'fat quarter' quilt.  Not only I am grateful for this chore being done, but I also need to thank them for helping me sort out the fabric that we have acquired over the past year and we were able to donate fabric to Stitches of Love, Happy Trails and to Ramona, who makes our Pet Beds for us.  We also donated non Linus fabric to Goodwill. The shelves look wonderful. Thank you Gay and Jackie.  

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As I mentioned, at the Bee, Ramona is our Pet Bed creator.  Thanks Ramona, for taking over this job a few years ago.  We give Ramona, scraps of flannel, fleece, batting and polyester filling to make the Pet Beds that are given to various shelters, veterinarian offices etc.  At this time I would like to clarify the items that Ramona cannot use!

Unfortunately, for whatever reason, there are some 'weird' things added to the bags.  Bunches of thread? NO! Small, stiff quilting pieces, NO! Thin or flimsy material, NO!  Pieces of cut up shirts, including buttons, cuffs and plackets, NO!  NO crocheted or knitted 'blankets', too many holes for claws. Heavy fabric, NO! (too thick for a regular sewing machine) Ramona has also received, decorative patches, tea towels for cross stitch, decorations for coats, oh, my!  Ramona is NOT a dumping ground.  The selvedges from the fleece, yes, please save them but from now on, let's keep those separate and we will turn them into tug toys for the dogs.  Perhaps, you could braid (two minutes) and donate them to Ramona, ready made!  Pillow cases are great, flat sheets can be cut and sewn, please NO fitted sheets. At Ramona's request, cotton, linen, felt, flannel and fleece can all be used, plus soft quilting pieces. Please help me make this an enjoyable job for Ramona, not a 'chore'! 

 

Our October challenge - baby blankets!  Any pattern, colors that you choose.  We need extra baby blankets for Teen Outreach, to be delivered the beginning of December. $5 to enter, your fellow Blanketeers judge the entries, prizes are given and your Chapter benefits as well.  Thank you Kathy H. for all your help with this event. 

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Quilters:- I hope you have signed up for latest Mystery Challenge that National announced recently.  Our vice president, Mary Balagna, designs these quilts and this year's challenge is 'Logey Bear Leads the Way. Mary has designed these quilts for the past few years and they are always named after one of her grandchildren. Please visit the National website to read details about the 2019 Mystery Quilt Challenge. If you designate which Chapter you are part of, the entry fee is given to our Chapter. Registration is open now and the first clue will be revealed on September 14th. It is so exciting to see these finished quilts, especially when I enter the challenge and haven't made one of these special quilts yet!  Thank you to everyone who has supported our Chapter in the past by registering.

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Tee Shirts:- Should be available for you to order On Line in September through Western Associates. Please check the National Website for information. I do not have an actual date as yet.

 

Renee Morgan has retired from her 'job' as the East Valley Chapter Coordinator.  Thank you Renee for all you have done to help Project Linus the past six years. At this time, there is not a new Coordinator to take over the East Valley Chapter. 

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I am looking forward to the next Bee, August 31st, 9:00 am.  Thank you for arriving at 9:00 instead of earlier, allowing me to get the last minute 'things' done before everyone arrives.  Thank you, as always to everyone who supports our Chapter.  

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July

 

Hello and good evening from yours truly. Yes, we arrived home safely from a magnificent, awesome trip. The whole family had a wonderful time, even the ones that were a little scared about traveling on a cruise ship! However, there is always a downside to our travels.  This time, three of us caught a 'bug'! One got over it well enough to continue taking photos, one of us got ill the day before we were due to return home (and on her birthday) and traveled home feeling very sorry for herself (an overnight from Anchorage on Monday evening) and was on the couch for the rest of the day Tuesday, the third one was in bed from Tuesday until Friday! A nasty end to such a wonderful time!

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Camp Corral

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Karen and Patty had a wonderful time visiting Camp Corral.  213 blankets were donated to the campers and the counselors.  The director actually wrote to me the Tuesday before the event, I'm not sure where he thought I was going to find 213 blankets at such short notice, it's a good job I had been in touch with the camp a few months ago.  Anyway, he was chastised by me as to the late notice and  we now know when camp will be next year! June 21st 2020 will be registration day.  We can now start planning for next year.  The military blankets were a hit and so we will need to concentrate on that theme as well as the usual blankets we create and donate. Thank you, friends for driving all the way to Oracle, it was much appreciated!  

 

Retreat

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As most of you know, I attended the Project Linus retreat in Kansas City, Missouri at the end of June.  We had so much fun and it was great to see so many Coordinators again as well as meeting some new faces.  I had the pleasure of finally meeting Patty our President, as well as her husband, John and the National Treasurer Charlotte Bradford.  I obviously have talked to Patty many times over the three years that she has been our President but it was lovely to meet face to face!  The highlight of the trip being our trip to Missouri Star. As I got off the bus, Meg, greeted me like a long lost friend. It was nice to be remembered from February when I volunteered for Jenny on the Road. What a lovely little town, one that you read about in books. One traffic light that flashes red all day! The Doan family is putting new life into the town with their fabric shops and we enjoyed a cup of coffee (and a break) and a delicious cookie while others enjoyed a hamburger. Lot's of shopping! A fun day, capped off by seeing the largest spool of thread in the world! 

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Websites

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I brought some patterns back from retreat that I was allowed to copy and hand out, to save paper and ink, I will just tell you that the patterns were from www.QuiltingFastandFun.com.  You will be able to choose what you want.  Also, during retreat we were treated to a Trunk show, given by Vicky Beasley who brought many quilts for us to see and marvel at! Most of her quilts are sewn with one inch squares! Unbelievable! Visit her site to see some of these spectacular quilts. vicky_beasley@yahoo.com or thescrappyfarmer.blogspot.com well worth a visit!  I also learned about a knitting/crochet website where the hostess, Kim, creates Scrappy crocheted blankets.  Kim's Magic Blankets on Facebook and possibly on another site although I don't have that address.  

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June Bee

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June's Bee was well attended!  Thank you to everyone that helped label the 611 blankets brought in! I was thrilled and amazed to receive so many.  The summer months are a challenge here in Arizona but somehow my Blanketeers still work hard and create blankets even though it is so hot!  We welcomed some new people, hope we haven't frightened them off and I hope they will attend a Bee again soon! 

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A huge thank you to all of you that continue to support the West Valley Chapter of Project Linus.  I appreciate all the help I get, creating blankets, set-up, labeling, bagging, putting things away again, all of which does not go unnoticed! I am so grateful for my fantastic Linus Family.

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Next, Bee, July, 27th. 2019. Please remember the meeting starts at 9:00 and I really need to have time to finish the 'odd' jobs that need to be done before the 'day' begins, Please do not arrive before 9:00am.  On occasion we are still creating fleece kits or yarn kits etc and need the extra time before everyone starts arriving. Also, please note, August has FIVE Saturdays this year which means August's Bee will be on the 31st of August.  Try and keep cool but please keep blanket making!  The children need us! 

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June

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Good evening!  I hope everyone is well and enjoying the 'summer' now that it has finally arrived! 

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Our May Blanket Bee was awesome!  Many new people joined us and even though it was the Memorial Day weekend, the room was full!  Approximately 520 blankets were brought in which certainly helped our totals for Camp Corral. I am thrilled to let you know that we met our goal of 250 blankets for Camp Corral, bagged almost all of June and made a very good start on July's deliveries.  Thank you all so much for making sure we had enough blankets for Camp Corral.  Please continue to produce blankets, if you remember we got into 'trouble' last year when we were not able to bag ahead for each month.

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Karen K. and Patty A. have very kindly taken on the 'job' of driving down to Oracle to deliver to the camp as I will be on a plane coming back from Kansas City where I am going to join other members of Project Linus in a retreat.  A HUGE THANK YOU to both of you and your passengers who will be going with you!  I appreciate you taking on this event for me and hope that you all have a wonderful time.  It is heart warming and tear jerking to meet these wonderful children.

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Will (Our scissor sharpening 'guy') came and sharpened scissors for us.  Thank you, Will.  For those of you that forgot, I will arrange to have him come back in a few months time.  He was certainly busy for a few hours and was very pleased with how many people brought their dull scissors, knives etc to him.

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We have planned our October Challenge.  Most of you will remember that we have two special donations to deliver in December.  One is Teen Mom Outreach the other is Shop with a Cop which is run by Peoria PD.  We obviously need baby blankets for the new Teen Moms and so that will be our challenge.  Baby blankets at least 36" x  40", baby colors, any pattern you want to do!  We need 50 extra for this event.  For Shop with a Cop, apparently, fleece blankets are the favorite!  They need to be at least 48' x 60'. We also need 50 for this event on top of our regular November delivery.  

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Entry to the Challenge:- $5 with members of our Blanket Bee voting on entrants. The winner receives half of the 'pot', the other half going to the Chapter.  Second and Third place winners receive a prize.  There are two categories, knit/crochet and quilting.  The Challenge will be held at the October Bee. I hope there will be lots of entries, so much fun to see them all.

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At the Bee, Jo Ellen U., Liz M. and Margaret S. showed us their National Knit/Crochet Along Blankets.  They all turned out great, perhaps one day, I will be able to show my blanket!  (I think I got to week three!) Thank you all for participating!  

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If you need to get in touch with me, I leave for Kansas on Tuesday, June 18th and return Sunday, June 23rd.  I will have phone and iPad with me, but might not reply immediately!  

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Our next Blanket Bee will be June 29th. (another month with five Saturday's), usual time, usual place.  I look forward to seeing you then.  As always, THANK YOU for all you do!  I hope to come back from retreat with entertaining news, perhaps a story, we will have to wait and see. 

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Happy Blanket making.

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May

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Good evening.  No, I haven't disappeared. April was a very busy month and I ran out of time to compose the newsletter. I had plenty of time to write May's until I suffered another allergy attack!  So, please forgive the absence from yours truly!

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As I said, April was a very busy month.  We met for a Make a Quilt Day, creating over 50 quilts and self binding blankets.  A huge thank you to Jackie Fairfield. and Trish Seidel for organizing the event.  It was a great success and we will plan another one in a few months or so. Everyone had a good time. 

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I also was involved in a couple of Midwestern University events, the students making no sew blankets for our Chapter.  We all enjoyed working together and creating blankets for our Chapter.  Midwestern provided the fleece for the event.  Thank you Midwestern.

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I am involved with  Pencil Pals, a program run by my friend, Karen O'Keefe, who is a teacher at Mountain View School.  This program is for the children to learn how to compose, write and answer letters.  At the beginning of the school year we are given the name of a fourth grader and we write to them and they reply for the whole school year.  This year as a community event, Karen wanted to give blankets to Project Linus. I went with her to purchase fleece (she was awarded a grant for this purpose) and a group of us prepped the blankets.  A fun couple of hours were spent as the children and their Pal tucked the fringe into the holes.  Everyone enjoyed creating these blankets especially when they were asked to give each finished blanket a hug to pass onto the child who will receive it.  It was such a success that I think Project Linus might donate the fleece next year and ask the children to help once more. 

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As most of you already know, we donate blankets to Camp Corral. These special children receive our blankets when they register for camp.  These campers are the children of 'fallen' or disabled military personnel.  We have been involved with Golden Corral and the camps for some years now and I hope to continue as long as we are allowed.  Every year I ask for help in making extra blankets and these blankets will be due at the May Bee. To help with the blankets needed and so we don't run out of blankets, we had a Fleece day. Over 50 blankets were made and we are close to our total needed for the camp.  Of course we still need to reach our monthly quota.  So any help will be appreciated.  

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The next Bee will be this upcoming Saturday, May the 25th.  Please remember that we always meet the last Saturday of the month even on 'holiday' weekends.  Sometimes there are 5 Saturdays in the month, we meet on the the fifth one.

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Will, our friendly scissor sharpening 'guy' is coming to sharpen scissors.  Please put your items in a plastic bag with your name on it, he will sharpen as we are having our meeting.  Will charges $4 to sharpen a pair of scissors, $2 for knives, $10 for salon scissors.

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Tee shirts are available again, but only until the 20th.  Please accept my apologies for not getting this out sooner but as I was not well, I was not able to type. One of my symptoms was a very painful, stiff neck, could not move my head, still bothering me but not as bad as it was. The link for the tee shirts is www.projectlinusshop.org        The shirts will be available to order again in a couple of months.  Project Linus National is not ordering the shirts.  They are printed by pre-order only.  Some people have commented that the shirts are sold for about $5 but the shipping cost is over $7.  Tee shirts in the past were ordered through the National store, we still paid shipping for them and the price started at $10 per shirt., so it comes out to roughly the same price.  The only difference is that Blanketeers/Volunteers have to order their own.  Coordinators are not to order in bulk.

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We had a few participants who entered our April Challenge.  The theme was Spring - pastel colors including white.  Thank you Kathy Hodges for taking over this task for me, I appreciate it very much.  The winners were:-

In the Quilt Section 1st. Jackie Fairfield, 2nd Donna Campbell and 3rd Donna Englehart

In the Crochet Section 1st Brenda White, 2nd Donna Campbell and 3rd Donna Englehart

Thank you everyone for participating.  Our next Challenge will be in October.  This Challenge will be 'Baby' blankets.  We need extra baby blankets in November for the annual donation to Teen Mom so Kathy thought this would be a good way to receive extra blankets.  

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Unfortunately, I will not be able to add photos to this newsletter, my neck is complaining, so as I have brought you up to date with the news I am going to end this newsletter.  I will add photos next time.  Thank you to those of you that attended the Make a Quilt Day and Fleece Day, I realize I took two Saturdays from all of you.  I hope you know how much you are appreciated.  Thank you to everyone who donate and attend meetings on a regular basis, helping to quality control and label the blankets that come in every month.  Thank you to those that donate and I have never met you. Thank you for the help setting up and taking down the room on Bee days and thanks to all that help with deliveries.  As I have said many times, I can't do this 'job' with out you!  I am so lucky to have such a great Linus family that are willing to go the extra mile. Just think about the smiles we put on the children's faces who receive our blankets.  

 

 

March

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Good morning. Please forgive me for the delay in getting the March newsletter written.  I have been suffering from an allergy attack (yes, medicine, inhaler and nose spray used everyday) which then went into a severe sinus infection. A Dr. visit, a trip to the Minute Clinic, a few phone calls to the Dr., I finally got everything under control.  Still not feeling back to 'normal' but much better. This is going to be a very long Spring for the allergy sufferers among us!  We even cancelled our trip to Florida as I was not well enough to go.

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February Bee

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520 blankets were donated at the Bee in February.  Most were labeled and bagged ready for our March deliveries. Thank you everyone, it is such a good feeling to know we are 'ahead' again.  Please continue to 'work hard' and donate as many new, handmade blankets as you are able.

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Camp Corral

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At the Bee, we discussed donating to Camp Corral.  At the time of the meeting I was undecided as to whether we should donate this year or not.  It was suggested that we donate every other year.  After much thought (and an email to our Vice president) I decided that we WILL donate again this year.  We have decided not to donate to Snowball anymore as they have moved the event to Orlando, Florida, shipping cost being the first concern.  I know most of you will agree with me that we would like our blankets to remain 'local' (unless there is a natural disaster somewhere that might need our help) and giving to the children of fallen or disabled military personnel here in Arizona seems the 'right' thing to do!  A lot of these children are returning to the camp and look forward to receiving a blanket even though they might already have received one.  They may have siblings that are now old enough to attend the camp, receiving their first blanket is so exciting for them.  I spoke to the Education Director at the camp this week and she assured me that our blankets are well loved by all that receive them.  So, that being said, we need 225 extra blankets by the May Bee. We do put aside a few every month, as of today I am not sure how many we have but will let you know by the next newsletter.  The campers range in age from 8 to 16 so please create larger blankets to donate to Camp Corral.

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Spring Challenge

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In April, we will have the Spring Challenge.  Spring colors (as well as white) but please no Easter motifs, fabric etc.  $5 to enter, a prize for the winners and the rest benefiting our Chapter.

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National Challenge

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Project Linus National is offering a new Challenge for the knitters and crocheters - Knit and Crochet Along. There are five parts to the pattern, clues being given every two weeks.  It's not too late to join.  I am keeping up with the knitted pattern but am also downloading the crochet pattern to do at a later date.  If you would like to join, please go to the National website. Instructions are there for you.  It is $15 per pattern ($30 for both) benefiting Project Linus and our Chapter if you request your donation to come to us. This is one Challenge I might be able to finish!  Cathrine McClure is the designer of the patterns and we are so lucky as she is part of our Chapter (she delivers for me) and is going to be be at the March Bee in case anyone has any problems or questions with either pattern.  Of course you will have had to have signed up and paid your money to ask her any questions - the patterns will not be available at the meeting.

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Plastic Drink Lids

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We are continuing to save plastic 'drink' lids for Kidney Dialysis - please no food lids!  (Or wine bottle corks - one was accidentally added to a bag of lids which I thought was funny!) My contact person is thrilled to receive the bag when I take it to her.  In return she is saving the metal tabs from soda cans for us to donate to Ronald McDonald House. 

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Quilted Country Bear

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I want to extend a HUGE thank you to Dana from the Quilted Country Bear.  Dana is closing the shop but is going to be continuing selling fabric etc through an online business, hopefully by August of this year.  Dana very kindly offered me her 50% off fabric which of course I accepted.  We are lucky that most of the fabric we will be able to use, the rest will be donated to the Blanketeers who may have other projects they would like to use it for.  We were lucky to receive two quilts that Barb (Dana's right hand) had created.  One will be given to a child in special circumstances the other will be raffled later in the year.  Both quilts are gorgeous (I was allowed to pick which ones I wanted!) THANK YOU Dana and Barb.  

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Fry's

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Thank you to those of you that requested that Fry's donate to our Chapter when you go shopping for groceries.  If you are interested in joining the Fry's rewards to benefit our Chapter, please visit their online Community Rewards page.  It will instruct you on how to join.  Our account number is XS902.  I am expecting a check for $184  - yippee!  

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Thank you for all you do to put smiles on the faces of children we don't even know, that can benefit from receiving a new, handmade blanket made with love. I look forward to the next Bee, March 30th, same time (9:00 am) same place.  I hope no one turned up to meet today (23rd)!  There are five Saturdays this month, remember, ALWAYS THE LAST SATURDAY of the month! 

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February

 

 

 

Brr!  My goodness, can you believe this weather that we have been having?  It's been a long time since we have had a winter like this.  I am not complaining, actually enjoying the colder temps and the rain.  At least we don't have to shovel and dig our way out of our houses!

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January's Bee was very busy!  940 Blankets were brought in, checked for loose 'tails' and pins, labeled and then bagged ready for delivery.  The good news is that we have bagged most of February's deliveries and even started on March!  I am thrilled and happy with the amount brought in.  Yes, this number far exceeded our winning total of 647 blankets brought in at one Bee.

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This past Saturday,  February 16th, Joann's held a Make a Blanket Day. As I have written before, Joann's is now partnering with Project Linus and the blankets that were donated to each store have been donated to Project Linus Chapters across the country. We received a few from each store, with more having been promised after fleece and fleece kits were bought at the store and taken home to construct.  I visited 'our' three stores and was thrilled with the enthusiasm from each one for Project Linus.  

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I hope you will have seen the new National Knit and Crochet Along.  It will be $15 donation for either/or a knitting or crochet pattern, with 'clues' coming out every two weeks. You will be able to sign up starting February 23rd on the National website. Please state the Phoenix West Valley as the Chapter you represent as the money will then be donated to our Chapter. You will be allowed to 'buy' both patterns if you would like to, however you will need to pay for both.  The clues will be posted starting March 2nd. There are 5 parts to the pattern. I am excited to participate, I should be able to finish this 'challenge'

 

Our Challenge for April is Spring colors and yes you may use white!  

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I have sent an email to the Camp Director at the YMCA camp in Oracle which again will be hosting Camp Corral this year.  As of today, I have not had a reply from him. I suspect the Director may have left and a new one is in his place.  I did 'Google321' the event, and it will be held from June 23rd for a week.  I will have to phone them and ask if they would like us to donate blankets again this year. Please think about participating as we will need over 200 blankets for these children of fallen or disabled military personnel. We do have some blankets put aside for these children but will need many more.  I will need them by the May Bee. Some of you may not know that we were the first Chapter that started donating to Camp Corral and now I am happy to tell you that many Chapters across the nation donate to this wonderful camp.  

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Thank you for saving the lids from water bottles, milk jugs etc, BUT PLEASE NO food lids, just drinks or medicine bottle lids. 

The person I deliver to is ecstatic when I walk into the office with my huge bag full!  For every 1,000 lids turned in, a patient receives a free dialysis treatment.  Yes, I know some of you think this is a scam, but so far it seems legitimate.  Until further notice please continue to save for me.  Also, we have received letters from Ronald McDonald House charities, thanking us for the 'pop' tabs. We will continue to save these as well. 

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As a reminder, I am sure most of you will remember and some have already done so, but our collection of a 'flat fee' to raise our $500 for the year is due at the February Bee.  Thank you, everyone, who donated money last month, we are well on our way to the $500 goal.  

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The February Bee will be this upcoming Saturday, 23rd, same time (9:00), same place.  I am looking forward to another productive day. Thank you, for a wonderful start to this new year of our Chapter, especially to those that donate but are unable to attend our meetings. 

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Happy Blanket Making!  

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