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Love the quality of your products. Have made several quilts, favorite was combining (6 of each) "Sue & Sam" and "Sunbonnet Girl" done as redwork. Ordered some directly from you, others I found while vacationing in Clear Lake, Iowa. (The old fashioned mercantile store had a huge supply of your goods) I have enough to keep me busy for a long time. Thank You!!!!! ~ Ann Boettcher
Hillcrest students make 'journey dolls' for unknown friends
Reprinted with premission from:
By Fines Massey The Daily Record
fmassey@lebanondailyrecord.com
For some kids, life can be pretty hard, but receiving a handmade doll from another child that they don’t even know might just be what they need to cheer up their day.
About 40 students at Hillcrest School volunteered over the past ive months to make a “journey doll” for children they’ve never met. The dolls will go to children aflicted with cancer spending the summer at a camp just outside of Springield or patients being treated at the St. Jude’s Hospital in St. Louis. Sixth-grade teacher Debbie Staats said the experience has been very moving. She said it was good to see so many students doing things for other children they didn’t even know. “There was a lot of compassion shown through what these kids have done,” Staats said. The dolls are called journey dolls because of the journey they take from the maker of the doll to the person it is gifted to. They also are given the name because they are very similar to the cloth dolls that children heading West onto America’s prairies would have had in the 1800s. Sixth-grade teacher Debbie McGinnis first learned about journey dolls in December when she was approached by Mary Johnson, the owner of TMD Outlet in Lebanon. Johnson donated a doll kit for every student who wanted to make one. Students in the classes of McGinnis, Staats, Melissa Goans, Ashley Sutherland and Andrea Foster volunteered for the program, even though many of them had never picked up a needle and thread. Through the project,
the kids were able to learn the basics of sewing and following directions. The majority of the students’ work was done on their own time, either after school at home or at the school. Teachers McGinnis and Staats both said they volunteered more than 10 hours after school to help the students complete the dolls. A student’s grandmother, Lawana Hulsey, brought in a sewing machine to help the kids with some of the work. Along with the dolls, each student is attaching a handwritten letter for the doll’s future owner. The letter lets the new owner know about the journey the doll took to get in their hands. Many of the students were excited about the project, saying that they learned a lot from the experience while having fun at the same time. One student who didn’t get involved even expressed his regret in not making one of the dolls after seeing how much fun the other kids had. “It was a really good experience to know I’m helping out other kids that need it by showing them people care about them,” said Faith Alwardt, one of the participating students. The students will be shipping the dolls off this week.
Sixth-grade students at Hillcrest School show off the journey dolls they have made to give to kids in a summer camp and in St. Jude’s Hospital. Forty students from Debbie McGinnis, Debbie
Staats, Melissa Goans, Ashley Sutherland and Andrea Foster’s classes made the dolls almost entirely on their own time. Along with the doll, each student wrote a letter to the dolls’ new own
ers, so they know a little bit about where the doll came from and who made it. The kits to make the dolls were donated by Mary Johnson, the owner of TMD Outlet in Lebanon.LDR photo Fines Massey
Pattern 732380 Rose & Heart, King size quilt. This quilt was constructed with 25 blocks and measured 102" x 102" at completion. The motivation for this quilt originated when my husband was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia in February 2009. We picked this pattern together so that I would have something to occupy my time at the hospital while he was battling his illness. We quickly learned that my husband’s only hope of a cure from his leukemia would be a stem cell transplant which would require several months of recovery and that we would have to remain very close to the hospital during this time. My niece graciously offered to let us stay at her house during this time since the hospital he was being treated in was about 70 miles from our home, therefore we chose her to be the recipient of the quilt. I worked on this quilt for 17 months while my husband battled his leukemia, and he would continually ask me how much I had done and when it would be finished. He saw a lot of the progress of it; however he passed away shortly before it was completed. This quilt symbolizes the generosity of my family, and will serve as a memory of him, and the courageous battle he fought with leukemia. ~ Jan Mitchell - Many thanks for your excellent service and care in getting my order to me in plenty of time before Christmas. I'm teaching my grandchildren embroidery and at first we just took their pillowcases and drew their name in pencil and they cross stitched and outlined. Then they did a pillowcase for their parents for Christmas last year and I thought they were ready for a "professionally stamped kit". The little animal pillowcases will be perfect for them.
As an aside, a number of friends and I embroider pillowcases all year long, we buy new sheet sets (twin, queen and king-always looking for good sales) and we incorporate our embroidered pillowcases with the new sheet sets and donate them to an organization on the North side of Chicago that helps many needy families. We donated 24 sets this year and about the same amount last year. We've picked up a few more stitchers so we're looking to break out record and get out the 20's and into 30 or more sets. It works well both ways. It helps families and we all love to embroider throughout the year. We call outselves the Stitching Crew.
Happy Holidays to all of you and thank you once again. ~ Mary C.
- I used this pattern (XX Pets Nursery Quilt Squares ) with my 3 yr old daughter to teach patience and stitching side by side with mommy. It is a wonderfully simple pattern with very little color changes. Start off with the one color blocks and move up to the more difficult ones as patience and talent increase. Never force a child to sit and finish. Let her come to the project light-hearted and with a fun attitude. When she tires let her go play. Slowly warm memories will form and your little one will grow a love of needlework. ~ Debbie H.
- I made this pattern (Band 9" Quilt Square Theme 737532) into a much larger quilt by adding nine inch school color squares so that it would cover a single or full size bed. The instrument details are great. The floating notes are really neat. ~ Sharon P.
- I finsihed this quilt (Cardinals 18" Quilt Squares ), and it looks beautiful. Love how easy the printing washed out. ~ Joan
- I did this pattern (Birds Lace Edge Pillowcase 180031) with not having done cross stitching for 17 yrs. I enjoyed it and I did mine with different colored flowers. I made my flowers red and gold for Christmas. It was a very easy pattern. My step mom started me doing it when I was 13 and all I had to left to remember her was the pattern that she left. Thank you so much for helping me bring back great memories. ~ Hollyann P.