First Prison Quilt Giving Coming Up!!!!

Hi friends!  I have been absent for a few weeks!  We moved into a new house (same island :)) and things have been c-r-a-z-y!!  Packing up one house, husband out of town for a whole week, setting up new house, cleaning old house, and of course, homeschooling, adoption details, and Margaret's Hope Chest.  I am thankful for a strong body and a high tolerance for stressful situations (lots of practice). 
Enough on that.
Let's talk about quilting!
The first prison giveaway is coming up quickly--April  5-6.  This One Day With God Camp will be held in Manistee, Michigan at the Oaks Correctional Facility.   There will be about 50 boys and girls coming into the prison to spend the day (April 6th) with their dad!  Margaret's Hope Chest offers these dads a chance to give their child a quilt. We are also able to share our story of forgiveness and HOPE.
I wanted to share a bit of letter that I received from one the dads after a camp last summer:

"I just wanted to drop you all a BIG THANK YOU for the beautiful, lovely, warm and very nice quilts that were made by the wonderful people who put their time, energy, creative design and efforts into such inspiring gifts of hope. My children tell me how nice their quilts look spread over their beds.  They say with pride when their friends come over "this quilt is from my dad." A part of me is there with them when they close their eyes and go to sleep.  They are comforted by the quilts of hope and they are assured that I love them very much and will be home soon to be the father they deserve.  My children are covered and protected by HOPE.

Thanks again and God bless,

D. Rogers"

Currently, we have 20 quilts for boys and about 30 for the girls.  What we could use the most is quilts for older girls and boys-emphasis on boys :).  Of course, if you have quilts for younger boys and girls we will need them as well because we have two more of these camps coming over the summer.  

Thank you for your continued support of this program--this is our 4th year of service to the prisons in Michigan. 

Ten More Quilts to 'A Mother's Hope'!!

Ten more quilts were delivered to the Mother and Baby program yesterday.  This is so exciting for all involved!  Maybe you see a quilt that you sent us?  I see two of my quilts in the pile and that brought a smile to my face.  Thank you to those who had quilts on hand and sent them right away--they were needed and will be chosen by a mother needing hope very soon.
We need more quilts to continue helping this program.  I would estimate that we could easily need 10 a month for the entire year--wow! Good thing we have so many generous volunteers out there!
Here is the original post with the directions on how to participate.

Finish it Up Friday

 {I am linking up to Amanda Jean's Finish it Up Friday}

 The last two weeks of December and the first week and a half of January have been good for my quilting.  I have gotten more finished over the past three and a half weeks than in the prior three months!
I finished these 'twin' Thomas the Train quilts this week.  I made them simply by sewing  6X9 inch blocks together.  I stitched in the ditch along the blocks and then tied it in the middle to add a little interest to each block.  Actually, my daughter was able to help me tie the blocks which she enjoyed.
These two quilts will go to 'Wrapped in Hope'- our program for children who have a parent in prison.  We always need boy themed quilts!

 My mom and dad have been here all this week visiting (my high productivity level may be due to the fact that she is here :)) and so we played around with different ideas.  The quilt top below my mom designed and I sewed.  We started with a 9 patch and cut it apart and rearranged it to this design.

 And finally, here are two of the first 'Fun in the Middle' tops.  One we tried monochromatic and the other was random.  My daughter also arranged an all pink one that I don't have a picture of yet.  I am still deciding how to quilt them but I do know where they are going when finished.......Guatemala!!!
I have made a friend who is building a 'Village of Hope' for children with various special needs (remember that Guatemala has closed all international adoptions) who need a family.  They just raised enough money to build the first two houses.  Each house will have 10 children in it--so I contacted her and asked her if she would like quilts for those 20 kids bed's.  Of course, she was so excited and said YES!  So, all of the 'Fun in the Middle' quilts will go to Guatemala!! 

Sorry for the wrinkles :)

URGENT 'A Mother's Hope' Update

It's looks like our new project I posted about last week has struck a chord with many of our quilters. The promise of many quilts has been made. Yeah!! I also found out today that these quilts are going to meet a real need.  {When my mom toured the program last week she was able to drop off five quilts to start with-those are the quilts this e-mail is referring to}Here is an e-mail that I received yesterday:

Carin, We gave away two quilts. It was so exciting for the ladies to pick out which one they would take. And emotional for them too. They were so touched/moved by the gift to them. One sweet lady picked one out initially (a blue one) and then the therapist told her that it was for her, not the baby. She immediately picked out a different one and could not believe it was for her.  Thank you again. I can't even tell you how touched we are by this gift.

So, my friends, until the promised quilts start arriving, we need some finished quilts as soon as possible.  Does anyone have a quilt already made that they could send?  The size at this point doesn't matter. Colors should be appropriate for a woman. Thank you in advance.
 

A Mother's Hope

{I am linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts--Finish it up Friday}

I have the pleasure of introducing a brand new Margaret's Hope Chest program today!  We are calling it 'A Mother's Hope'.  Through a path that only God could orchestrate, my mom heard of a new program starting up in town (Grand Rapids, Michigan) for mothers who are struggling with postpartum depression.  As I said in an earlier post, I had PPD after my 3rd and 4th pregnancies.  I could have used a program like this-especially after my 3rd child was born.  I had no idea what was happening to me and how to make it stop.

I am thankful that now there is a place where mothers can go every week day from 9am to 3pm with their baby and get some help and HOPE.  Can you believe that this program is only the second in the country to offer this type of program (where the baby stays with the mom)?  That was surprising and saddening for me to hear.

So, A Mother's Hope will offer a quilt for the mom to use while she attends the program and then bring home with her after she has completed her time in the program.  

{The director of the program told my mom today that the rooms they are using for therapy are cold so it's nice for the moms to have something warm to wrap up in}

Here are the details of what we are asking quilters to send:

1. A quilt that is appoximately 36X50 inches. (a little over or under is fine)

2. Please choose colors or a pattern that inspires you or brings you joy or HOPE.

3. Please include a short note to the mom on why you chose those colors or patterns--I think they will enjoy this.  Please sign it with your first name and hometown-it's always fun to know where your quilt came from :)

4. Please don't think of this as a 'charity' quilt.  This is a gift of HOPE.  These moms don't need charity--they need to know that tomorrow is a new day and there is hope for them and their family.

5. E-mail me or comment with any questions--we are accepting quilts immediately and will continue to accept them all year.

6. Our mailing address is Margaret's Hope Chest   630 Griswold SE  Grand Rapids, MI 49507

I want to share my first 'A Mother's Hope' quilt that I just finished this week.  I chose pinwheels because, as you may know, pinwheels are my favorite and the smaller the better.  These pinwheels were made from scraps.  I chose bright colors because they reminded me of joy.  I backed it in orange because orange reminds me of my best friend Jennifer who was a wonderful friend to me through some rough times.  I love this quilt--the back is a voile so it is extra soft and cuddly.  I pray it brings comfort and HOPE to a special mother.

New Year's Resolution

from Loder's "Prayer for New Beginnings"

"Help me to be a beginning for others,
to be a singer to the songless,
a storyteller to the aimless,
a befriender of the friendless;
to become a beginning of hope for the despairing,
of assurance for the doubting,
of reconciliation for the divided;
to become a beginning of freedom for the oppressed,
of comfort for the sorrowing,
of friendship for the forgotten;
to become a beginning of beauty for the forlorn,
of sweetness for the soured,
of gentleness for the angry,
of wholeness for the broken,
of peace for the frightened and violated of the earth."

What's Coming in 2013

Giving frees us from the familiar territory of our own needs by opening our mind to the unexplained worlds occupied by the needs of others.
-- Barbara Bush

Thanks to all who left such supportive comments on my post yesterday.  Isn't it a good feeling when you realize that you aren't alone in your thoughts?  It looks like many of us are ready to start 2013 by using what we already have to make our quilts.  I can't wait! 
So now I am here to write the post I was supposed to write yesterday--Margaret's Hope Chest 2013 Projects!
We have three major projects that we are looking at for 2013:
1. Wrapped in Hope--Quilts for children with a parent in prison.  We have committed to providing quilts for three camps in Michigan in 2013.  We need about 60 quilts for each camp--so we will need about 180 kid themed quilts!!!  The dates for the camps are April 4th, July 26th and September 13th.
We will not be creating a birthday quilt list this year for two reasons--1. God hasn't given us any children to add to it (that's a pretty big reason). 2. Things in my family life are a bit up in the air and will continue to be so until the adoption of our daughter is complete. The organization of the birthday list takes time and access to my home computer--both of which I will be short of over the next 8 months. I am sure that we will get requests for specific birthday quilts this year and I will post those on the blog when they come up.
We are asking that those of you who have, in the past, made a quilt for the Wrapped in Hope birthday list, choose a quilt(s) off of this year's list and send it to our address in Michigan. The 2013 list will be ready by next week--I will post a link to it here on the blog. These quilts will go to a child with a parent in prison. 

2. Postpartum Quilts--This project is so new that I don't even have a catchy name for it yet!  Maybe someone out there has a suggestion.  We have agreed to provide quilts for new moms who have completed inpatient treatment for postpartum depression.  These quilts are not for the babies--they are for the moms.   I had postpartum depression/anxiety after my 3rd and 4th child.  It was pretty terrible to be perfectly honest-especially after my 3rd child because it seemed to come out of nowhere.  I hadn't really had anything to this degree after my 1st and 2nd so it was a total shock to be virtually useless-sitting in a chair crying all day and awake and worrying all night.  I am so glad that in my hometown, there is a place where women can go to get help.  I am so glad that God is giving us a chance to give these ladies a quilt--a little piece of HOPE from other moms who know all too well (or could imagine) what they are going through.  I am working on my first quilt for this program right now.  Can't wait to show it and give you all of the details soon (including a program name).

3.  Project Hope-- I had a great time organizing four Project Hope collections last year.  It was a fun way for many people to get involved in a small way.  I have decided to go ahead and plan 3 projects this year.  More details to come on that too.

So, as you can see--God has led us to a new project and given us more work to do in areas where we have already been able to make a big difference.  We are confident that God has given us these projects and that he will give us the volunteers we need to complete them.  Thank you to all who will say YES to one or more of this year's projects.