Checking In

My week is off to a great start, I'm being a bit facetious ;). We arrived home last night to find our hot water heating spewing water. Exciting! So I am now waiting for the guys to arrive and install a new one. I find it rather interesting whenever something happens and I'm without one of the modern conveniences that I've become so accustomed to, be it electricity, hot water, or even something like the dishwasher, and how life just suddenly seems to get rather complicated. Some talk about returning to the "good old days," well, I like these brand new days just fine and I'll be VERY happy when I can take a nice hot shower. I think everyone around will be too!!!

I opened my Facebook page this morning and found that the video below was posted 4 years ago. For any of you who are new to the blog, this was a project that so many participated in. I found out about a project at the Mary Bridge Children's Hospital in Tacoma, WA. Each child who is admitted is given a special handmade pillowcase. Such a lovely way to help calm a child. 

My goal was to collect 1000 pillowcases, and we made that goal! It was so exciting to see the pillowcases come in from all over the world. 

During the project, I heard from a few parents who had lost their children, and they told how much the pillowcase that was given to their child continues to mean to them. You would think that something that was attached to the death of their child would not bring comfort. But as I thought about it, I realized that there is something almost magical about the pillowcases, and it's because they were made with love, and I think that this is what the parent continues to feel. Not only did they love their child, but a stranger cared enough to make something that exhibited their love for a child they would never meet.   




Once I learned more about this project, I found out that hospitals all over the U.S. have similar programs. You can read more about the program HERE. And if you would like to make a pillowcase, click HERE. The video above was done early in the project. You can scroll though and see more pictures HERE.   

As soon as my new hot water heater is installed, and I can get a shower, the next post will be up for the Islander Patterns Easy V Express Top. Thanks for your patience :)

The Mary Bridge Pillowcase Project

The new issue of Sew News arrived yesterday and to my surprise.... 

there was a lovely piece written about the Mary Bridge Pillowcase Project that so many of you, so very generously contributed to last year. If you are new to the blog and would like to read about it, here's a link to all the posts that were done last year, http://rhondabuss.blogspot.com/search/label/Mary%20Bridge?updated-max=2013-05-24T09:04:00-05:00&max-results=20&start=60&by-date=false. There were a lot of posts as I documented all the pillowcases that were donated!!!  

A friend of mine donated his time and fuel to fly over and do the aerial photography for the project. I hung the first 100 donated pillowcases, then 450, and the picture below represents the final collection. Amazing!

     

Sew News is participating in a wonderful project called Conkerr Cancer. Much like the Mary Bridge Project, they are asking that you make a handmade pillowcase. There are regional drop off sites, so no mailing :) You can find the information here,  http://www.conkerrcancer.org/ with links to all the drop off sites in every state.
The Mary Bridge Project was one of the best experiences of my life. Just remember...

When sleeping women wake, 

Mountains move!  

Who would have thought that mountains could be moved with a sewing machine?!!! 

Pillowcases For Mary Bridge, The Final Chapter

Good Morning Everyone!! Last week was quite a whirlwind of a week. My husband and I had planned a trip to Big Sky, Montana. As it turned out, the week I was supposed to be in Montana was the exact same week of the sewing expo in Puyallup, Washington. Thankfully, I was able to do both. Isn't that mountain incredible?!! I actually went all the way to the tip top peak. It was a breath taking experience.

On Friday of last week, I caught a plane out of Bozeman, Montana and flew to Seattle, Wasington where a friend of mine picked me up at the airport. It's always such a treat to have the opportunity to spend time with an old friend.

Saturday morning the two of us made our way to the sewing expo. If you've never had the opportunity to attend, I hope you will as it is an incredible experience. And yes, I did buy fabric. Please don't tell my husband!!! 

When we arrived, I made my way over to the Mary Bridge Children's Hospital booth.

All of our pillowcases were there. They had decided to leave them boxed rather than unpack them and pack them again for their trip to the hospital. 

When I arrived at the booth, I was so surprised to see the tally. As of 3:30 on Saturday afternoon, they had collected over 6000 pillowcases. Over 1000 of these belong to so many of you :) 

I was told that the number of collected pillowcases each year always runs somewhere in the 4000 to 4500 range. I was also told that we were a great inspiration for the project. They said that many people came by the booth and said that they had never donated before, but they saw here on the blog what so many of you did from all over the world, so they too wanted to contribute. The representatives from Mary Bridge said that you made the difference this year. All of you who contributed have so much to be proud of!

Before I left for my trip, I received a note from Andrea of  http://knit-knac.blogspot.com/. She said that she had her pillowcases cut and ready to go and wondered if it was too late to send them. I told her that if she could get them to me before I left, I would gladly take them with me. They made it just in time, so I put them in my suitcase and off we all went. Above is a picture of some of the 10 pillowcases that Andrea made.

Just to prove that I really did make it, here's a picture of me with Mallory, the Mary Bridge representative. When I met her last year, she was a skinny little thing. She is now pregnant with twin boys!!! So wonderful!

On the left is Susan, another representative from Mary Bridge. Wow, are they ever lucky to have her. Such an upbeat lady, so full of joy.

Home and Garden magazine is promoting  a campaign to make and donate 1 million pillowcases. The booth was humming away. I was told that by Saturday afternoon, over 900 pillowcases had been made at the expo.

So our pillowcase journey comes to an end. They have officially been handed over. I didn't cry, for a change ;). It was much too happy of an ending to cry, even for joy. It has been one of the most wonderful experiences of my life. I feel that so many of you have become friends and I so hope that somewhere along the way our paths will cross, but if they don't, please know that you will forever hold a very special place in my heart. 

As we put this project to bed, I'll share one last picture with you. For some reason, my friends enjoy taking pictures of me sleeping. Funny :) A blanket and a comfortable chair is a dangerous place for me!!

Just remember, there is strength in numbers and when we come together, even what seems impossible is possible. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.
Rhonda

Shipping Day

Well, I'm just full of funny photos today :) and who better to laugh at than yourself?!! My husband snapped this shot of me at the UPS store this morning. Yes, those are tape measure pants. Crazy but fun.

I rather took over the store this morning. There are 8 boxes of pillowcases making their way to Puyallup, Washington. So very exciting! You wouldn't believe how heavy these things are!!

The next post I do about the pillowcases will be from the expo. What a joy it will be to officially hand them over. I've said it before, but thanks cannot be said enough, thank you for all so many of you did to make this happen. Each and everyone of you are angles in my book.

Mary Bridge Pillowcase Journey Update

At long last, the Mary Bridge Pillowcase Project is coming to an end, and I must say, a very successful end. With your help, the goal that I set was made and now boxes and boxes of pillowcases will begin to make their way to Seattle, Washington.
Here are a few highlights from the journey.

The first 100.

 The goal met!

  You saw my garden through all 4 seasons.

 The bag that held my clothespins.

Packing.

So far, I've folded and packed away 470 pillowcases. I hope to finish today.

In case you are wondering, the shipping cost has been generously donated.

There will be one last chapter to this story as I will be going to Puyallup, Washington the end of February to officially present the pillowcases. Let's see if I can get through the presentation without crying. I doubt it :)

This has truly been one of the sweetest journeys of my life. Thank you for all that so many of you did to make this happen.

Pillowcases For Mary Bridge and More

The weather in Chicago has been incredibly cold and snowy for December. We've had a few days that were a little warmer, but then it rained. So, all in all, not a good month for hanging pillowcases out on the line. When I walked out the door this morning, I couldn't believe how lovely it is, almost 39 degrees, and sunny!!! After all the extremely cold days we've had, it feels like spring! I always laugh about how in the beginning of winter when we first get into the 30's, we're all so cold. Come March or April with temps in the 30's, everyone pulls out their short pants!!!! 

I have two donations to share with you and something new which will be at the end of the post.

First up is a donation that was spear headed by Lisa of  http://www.poldapop.com/. She organized a sew-in at her church. You can read all about it here, http://www.poldapop.com/2013/12/sewing-for-charity.html. FYI, she gives me a little too much credit. Once you read her post, you'll see what I'm talking about. Anyway, her efforts yielded 15 more pillowcases for the Mary Bridge Children's Hospital pillowcase project. If by chance you are new to the blog, here's a link to all of the posts that have been done on this project,  http://www.rhondabuss.blogspot.com/search/label/Mary%20Bridge. It has truly been a labor of love and one of the most enriching experiences of my life.

For those of you who have followed all of the posts, you have seen my garden in every season. Because of the warms temps, most of the snow is gone. I'll try to post some pictures when we get a really big snow as the garden is so lovely under a blanket of fresh snow.

Lisa had some adorable fabrics like the circus print with Dumbo above and Holly Hobbie below. I was such a Hollie Hobbie fan :)

So lovely! Thank you Lisa for your efforts. Because of Lisa's project, I'm now thinking of organizing a project at my church. What a lovely way to pay it forward in so many ways.

The second donation comes from Willi. I did a post here on the slippers that she made for her granddaughters and their dolls. Willi combined her pillowcase making efforts with teaching her granddaughters how to sew. How sweet!

Their efforts produced 10 more pillowcases for the project.

 The cases are just adorable, baseballs and monkeys...

cupcakes and sharks!!!

Thank you so much Willi for your contribution. With both Lisa's and Willi's efforts, new sewists were born and that's always a wonderful thing.

This morning I received this note;

Dear Rhonda,
I had taken a blogging sabbatical (nearly eight months) and am just getting around the blogosphere again. I set about checking out all your recent blog updates when I came across this post.

It's my turn...
It's my turn with what I've called "The Pillowcase Project." It's in honor of my mother-in-law who sewed pillowcases for pediatric cancer patients when her own grandson, our nephew, was also dealing with cancer last year. Fortunately Blake is back in college and cancer-free, but Mom's pillowcases inspired an idea for me...
Across the street from where we live in Manila, Philippines, is a pediatric charity hospital, National Children's Hospital. Since my precious MIL is a December-month baby and just turned 80, until Thanksgiving we will accept NEW pillowcase contributions to "The Pillowcase Project" to be gifted at Christmastime 2014 to the pediatric patients at NCH.
Wow. I had forgotten all about your pillowcase drive... This is soooo cool. I hope you'll share more images about the journey of the contributed cases from clothesline to Mary Bridge's. So awesome!
Would you like to join "The Pillowcase Project" See my blog post at http://kelleyhighway.blogspot.com/2013/12/ethel-pillowcase-project.html.

Happy highways,
Kelley of Kelley Highway

You can read her post about the project here, http://kelleyhighway.blogspot.com/2013/12/ethel-pillowcase-project.html I think this is a wonderful project and one that I intend to contribute to. It's rather exciting for me to be on the contributing side rather than the organizing side for a change :)

I have been asked if I will continue with the Mary Bridge project, and my answer is no. As I said earlier in the post, it has been a wonderful and enriching experience, but I feel that I did what I was supposed to do and now it's time to move on. The Mary Bridge project has been a lesson for me in the power of positive thinking. As I've shared along the way, there have been times when I was a little unsure, but I would not give a voice to my feelings, and look at what has happened, people from all over the world have come together and over 1000 pillowcases will be shipped to Tacoma, Washington in February. Absolutely amazing. 

Thank you for all that so many of you have done to make the Mary Bridge Project such a wonderful success!

Rhonda

The Big Hang

Good Morning Everyone! Well, it happened, but not without a few glitches. I decided to make this a day to celebrate all the donations, so rather than hang mine, we hung a total of 800 pillowcases. I did have a few maybe 30 or so sprinkled in just to make sure we made it to 800 :) A friend of mine who is a professional pilot, came to fly along with me as I really wanted to fly the last photo mission. Well, this is where it all sadly went wrong. The lens on my camera is just too small for such a fast moving target. I got pictures of everything but the pillowcases. By the time I would get the camera focused on what I wanted, the plane had moved on. The only picture that at least gives a glimpse of the pillowcases is below. It's not a great picture, but at least you can get a small idea of just how lovely it was from above.

Here's my friend Keith who flew along with me and his two boys. This was their first time in a small plane and they LOVED it!!

Pilot to be George :)

and my little godson, Kenny. What a cutie pie :) I'm not at all partial ;) Recognize my bag in the back on the floor?!!

As we drove back from the airport, I thought that I could possibly leave the pillowcases up over night and have my friend who has a large camera flyover first thing this morning. He told me that the winds were supposed to pick up and become quite gusty, so I didn't want to take a chance of leaving them up and the pillowcases getting blown to kingdom come. Then Keith, my pilot friend had an idea, "why don't I get on the roof of the house?" Hey, it was worth a try. The next two pictures are from the roof of my house and I think they are really quite wonderful. 

I really love the one below.

Our neighbor has a beautiful deck that looks out over the river and he offered for us to come and take some pictures from the deck. He said that the pillowcases looked amazing from there and I think they really did. The deck isn't as high as the roof of my house, but it still gives a nice perspective

This isn't a bad picture, it was taken from inside the house. You can see that there are a LOT of pillowcases!!!

Below is my girlfriend Pam, her oldest son Bill, Pam's mother Cecilia and my fellow Haute Couture friend, Alison. They stayed behind and finished hanging while we drove out to the airport.

Bill is quite the accomplished musician. I think this is about the best compliment. He said, "I really wish I could keep one!" I now know what I can make for him for Christmas :)

Once the pillowcases were hung, the ladies and Bill went in for a bowl of Pozole, you may remember I made it here, and a spirited game of Monopoly. I put the Pozole together on Thursday night and set it on low in my crock pot. Worked out beautifully!

I love the candid shots that my husband was able to catch.

 A final shot of all who participated, well, except my husband and he deserves a big, big thanks for all the work he did to help make this happen.

When I began the drive for the pillowcases, all I had was a thought that it could be done. Now it has been done and it's even bigger than I imagined. So I would like to leave you with this.

Thank you to everyone who made this happen. On a quiet street in Chicago, you were celebrated.

Grandma's Garden

Unless I receive a package in the mail tomorrow, this will be the final Mary Bridge Children's Hospital pillowcase post until Friday. What's special about Friday? That's the day of the final big hanging!!!! Exciting :)

Kimberly, a lovely lady who belongs to the Haute Couture Club of Chicago made 26 pillowcases over the summer and into the fall. She told me that her daughter moved away and it really helped to fill the void of her daughter being so far away. Below is one of my favorites. I had a puzzle map as a child and it was one of my favorite toys. By the time I started school, I knew all the states as well as their capitals.

All of the prints that Kimberly used have a lovely homespun vintage feel, like Grandma's garden.

I was so cold hanging these pillowcases!! We had snow yesterday. Although it was only a dusting, I had hoped that it would still be on the ground for the pictures, but it warmed up just enough to melt it.

So what's our current total? It's an amazing 986!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Woo Hoo! Thanks Kimberly for helping us get so close to a 1000. I haven't given up, we'll get there :)
Be sure to check back Friday or Saturday morning, it just depends on how long it takes to get all the pillowcases hung, pictures taken and then get the cases down. So I have a feeling it will probably be Saturday before I can get everything posted. I'm just so excited!!!