Project Linus of Greater Kansas City KS/MO

Pictures from Blanket Day!

2011-02-21T07:35:00.000-06:00

This is our great group of volunteers that came to our Blanket Day!

This our group of ladies who were crocheting and knitting!

Some of our sewers!

More sewing!

This the first top completed at our Blanket day!

Blanket day

2011-02-19T16:12:00.000-06:00

I just want to say I LOVE my Volunteers!!! What a wonderful and fun filled day it was! Everyone who came early to help me unload Thank You!!! It was done in short order and then you all helped again at the end of the day...so awesome!

By the time we left for the day we had 308 blankets labeled, bagged and loaded to go to 3 area hospitals plus we had blankets for Crittenton! All I can say is WOW!

I also want to say Thank You to Elaine Bain for coming and heading up our crochet and knitting group! It was so nice to see that group come and work on some blankets, and I can't wait to do that again!

Thank you so Charlotte who labeled and bagged all those blankets with Nancy's help!

I always enjoy our blanket days so much, you all energize me much! See you at the next blanket day! I personally can't wait till then!

Newletter and Blanket Day Information!

2011-01-12T14:26:00.001-06:00

Hello Everyone, I do hope you are enjoying this new year and that your holidays were all you wished them to be.
I want you to know that we delivered 8781 blankets in 2010. Since our chapter opened we have delivered 60,242 blankets to children in need! I still remember when we are approaching that 10,000 blanket and how excited I was…I never thought we would be over 60,000 now! Thank you all for all your hard work!
I need to get the word out that we have our blanket day all planned. National Make a Blanket day is Saturday Feb. 19th from 9 am to 3pm. We have lots of exciting things planned for the day. We will be making the free pattern that Ellen Repogle designed for us and brought with her to our Sept event. Now for those of you who crochet or knit we have an event for you also, Elaine Bain will be working with you and working up a pattern for you for that day. For those of you who don’t sew, crochet or knit I have a plan for you. We have some fleece that needs some TLC.
Things you need to bring:
For sewers, a machine, extension cord or power strip, basic sewing supplies, 6 fat quarters, 5/8 yard fabric for borders, and 1 ¼ yard backing fabric. If you finish your top I will provide you with the batting to finish your quilt. If you received the pattern in Sept feel free to go ahead and cut it out or cut out several tops, it is the Caddy-Corners Small Lap quilt.
Crochet folks should bring, you will need 4 skeins chunky yarn ( 600 yds total) and size J crochet hook
Knitters you will bring, 40 oz 4 ply worsted weight yarn and size 10 circular needles
If you are coming to work with fleece…just bring yourself!
EVERYONE SHOULD BRING A SACK LUNCH, they have a pop machine there that we can use.
Crittenton Childrens Center is located at 10918 Elm Ave, Kansas City MO 64134, it is just off Raytown Rd south of 470 Hwy, we will have signs out and you can email me for directions if you need them.

NOW IMPORTANT NEWS!!!!!
Blanket donations are very, very down. We don’t have enough blankets to make our January deliveries! Donations were also low in December. I do understand that everyone is busy during the holidays but please if you have a little time make a blanket and turn it in so we can get at least our normal deliveries made. We’ve also had some requests for blankets from other groups this year and we are just not able to help them because we can’t even cover our own deliveries. I know money is tight for everyone but please consider making a blanket. If you need some fabric check out Addadi’s fabrics at 9629 W 87th St, Overland Park KS, they have great prices and tell them you are there to get fabric of Project Linus they will treat you right!!

Continue to save Best Choice labels, we receive $15 for every 1000 labels we turn in. You should only save Best Choice UPC codes. We don’t collect any other brand…we have received a few Always save and so others we don’t collect those. Please turn your labels in envelopes with your blankets so we can be counting them as we go, so I’m not counting thousands of them in November.
One last thing, when you turn blankets in they MUST be in bags! I have volunteers pick them and bring them to me and if you don’t have them in a bag it makes it very difficult for them to load and unload not to mention they are not protected and can get dirty.

In Remembrance!

2010-12-17T20:56:00.000-06:00

First I'd like to say Happy Holidays to each and everyone of you. Our volunteers are the most wonderful bunch of people anywhere and I want to THANK each of you for taking the time to make a blanket for a child in need.
One of the things that always gets my attention are the stories that my volunteers tell me as to why they are making blankets for Project Linus. Many of you make them because you know there is a need and you feel compassion for these children and you give of yourself so they will feel comfort. Some of you have had your children receive one of our blankets and wish to give back. We had one lady who came to me and said she only wanted make premie blankets in remembrance of her baby granddaughter who was premature and didn't make it, she wanted other premies to have the comfort of one of our blankets. Each of us has a reason.

I don't talk much about my reason. Today I'd like to share with you how it was that I came to be a Project Linus coordinator. Tomorrow in our family we will all quietly remember what happened 13 years ago. On Dec 18, 1997 my sweet little, almost 7 year old, niece died from brain cancer. Kendahl Dawn Runion got sick in Sept of 1997 and I remember making her hats to cover her little head. We never thought that in just a couple of short months we would lose her. I also remember being at Children's Mercy Hospital and seeing all the children in the cancer ward( yes they have one of those) These children had blankets and other security items. That was a seed of thought in my mind. I can assure you that this was a process for me. I quilt and I sew and I wanted to do something for kids and I thought well I can make blankets but I want to do it in a way that is bigger than just me making some blankets to donate I wanted to get all my friends involved too. I can also tell you that my family and friends would just look at me and say ok Patty and you could tell they thought I was crazy. These thoughts would come and go over the next couple of years. One morning I turned the TV on and was watching Alex Anderson's quilting show and she began to talk about Project Linus, a new organization that was making blankets for ill and traumatized children. Well that was it,this is what I'm supposed to do no more just thinking about it. I went to the phone and called Betsy in Colorado and said I want to join you what can I do. I was told to contact Dawn the coordinator here and if she agreed I could co-coordinate with her and work the Missouri side of Kansas City. Then just a short time later Dawn resigned and I took over.
I look back now and I think how far we have come in the past 10 years since I've been a part of Project Linus and how many lives we have been able to touch, both volunteers and the children who receive our blankets. I also know I'm the lucky one in all this, you see, it has changed me! I have made lasting friendships and experienced joy and love in ways I didn't know was possible. I've seen things done that we at Project Linus describe as our Project Linus angels doing, things that don't just happen under normal circumstances.
Thank you for letting me do this wonderful job and helping me to reach out to the children of Kansas City! We miss you Kendahl!

November

2010-11-01T07:41:00.000-05:00

Where did this year go??? Sorry it has been sometime since my last post but mini institute really did wear me out and I've had a lot of catching up to do on things I let go while doing all my planning and work on Mini institute. I do hope all of you who attended had a great time.
A couple of things.

If you have Best Choice Labels now would be a good time to get those turned in...I will be counting and getting those turned in by Dec 1st! We should have well over 2000 this year and would love to be surprised when I count to find more like 3000 or more!!!

WE need to continue to get the word out about Project Linus, with the economy the way it is and the hot summer we had our supply of blankets is down. I have had enough to keep blankets at the hospitals and shelters but I"m scrambling at times we other needs come up.

We are looking for a location for our Feb 2011 blanket day so if you have ideas or suggestions please get those to me. I'm very excited about this upcoming blanket day...I have lots of ideas and plans for this event....we just need a location!!

More Pictures from Mini Institute

2010-09-17T10:18:00.000-05:00

In order to make any of these pictures bigger please just double click on them.
In these pictures are myself and Ellen Replogle and the quilt she made for Project Linus, a picture of Carol and Mary from our National office speaking and then a picture of myself with my helpers for the 2 day event!

Pictures from Mini Institute

2010-09-17T10:11:00.000-05:00

Midwest Mini Institute

2010-09-17T09:09:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure where to begin to tell you all about our wonderful mini institute. On Friday we had coordinators from 11 different chapters of Project Linus here as well as Mary and Carol from our National office. We went to Addadi' Fabrics and then returned to the Church to make ironing boards from used ceiling fan blades, have a lesson in binding from Mary Honas and discuss all the things that come from being a coordinator for this wonderful organization.

On Saturday morning we all got to the church early and excited. We had 90 ladies and one gentleman attend this day. Many of you brought blankets to drop off and we filled Charlotte's van up, what awesome way to start the day. Ellen Replogle, author of Laps from Fats was one of our guest speakers. Ellen did a trunk show of wonderful quilts. It was awesome to see all her beautiful quilts in person. The greatest surprise of the day was that Ellen did a pattern for Project Linus to use. As soon as I can fix the other computer I will get it on here for everyone. You can print this pattern for use for Project Linus but you can not make this quilt to sell! Ellen also made one of these quilts and donated her first quilt to Project Linus.
I also talked about how to use up all your scraps and brought many examples of blankets made using nothing but scraps. I talked about how to come up with ideas and storage of your scraps.
Carol and Mary spoke to us about all the things our National office does and about all the things Project Linus does.
We had tons of give-aways and everyone who attended got a quilt pattern called Crazy Eights and 3 fat quarters.
I do hope that everyone feels recharged and ready to make blankets. I will be posting a talk given by Roland Gentzler(husband of Joyce, the coordinator in Joplin) that he gave on Friday on what it is like to be a coordinators husband...it was very entertaining. I do want to Thank, Judy, Charlotte, Wanda, Virginia, and Dee for all their tireless work on Friday and Saturday as well as Joyce from Joplin for helping to plan this event. Thanks to Kathy for letting us use your coffee pot and tea jug, as well as getting the donuts for Saturday. Thank you to Charlotte's husband Keith for going to get our boxed lunches and Charlotte's entire family for helping with clean up on Saturday evening. Thanks to my hubby too for coming to help us to clean up.
Our next blanket day will be the third Saturday in Feb. 2011 mark your calendars and save the date...I promise it will be fun...we have lots of new ideas for blanket days that you won't want to miss.

Update

2010-08-19T19:54:00.000-05:00

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted but we have been very busy with the Mini Institute and a usual blankets. Mini Institute is just a couple of weeks away and I'm getting so excited. We have 54 volunteers attending on Saturday and that is wonderful!

We are very low on blankets right now so if you have some laying around please get them turned in. I actually had to scrap together enough to make a deliveries for August. I know the 100 degree weather has not made any of us want to make blankets and I'm sure numbers will pop back up soon. You all have done a great job of keeping us in blankets this year and our numbers had been up until the heat hit.

Hope I'll be seeing you in September!!

Mini Institute progress and other PL news

2010-07-16T21:52:00.000-05:00

Every day now I go to get the mail and there are more envelopes from everyone with money in there for the mini Institute! We now have 62 or 63 people on Saturday. About half of those are other coordinators and their assistants and of course Carol and Mary from our National office. All the plans are falling into place which to me means that everything is just as it is supposed to be. Joyce(coordinator from Joplin MO) and I spend countless hours on the phone with our planning. We send pictures back and forth on email comparing ideas. I'm not sure what we would do if we had to pay for long distance phone service or didn't have email, I'm not sure we could pull this off. Please if you have not yet sent in your reservation do so...I really don't want anyone to miss out on this wonderful event!! It truly is going to be a wonderful time. On August first I will place orders for food for Saturday and I will be ordering some of our surprises and gifts. Please don't be left out!

Now having said all that I wanted to share a little Project Linus news with you, this week has been what I call a Kleenex week around here. Sometimes women my age can cry for no reason at all but this week life seemed to hand me reasons. Years ago, 11 to be exact a sweet little girl was born named Lea. Life has handed Lea many challenges, she was born with De George Syndrome. Lea got a trach following open heart surgery at the age of 6 months. Lea came into my life shortly after her sister was born and Lea was not yet 2 years old. I became Lea's sitter so her mom could work. Over the years this sweet and sometimes stubborn child taught me so much! She never gives up! Lea has received several Project Linus blankets over the years as she has endured so much. By 5 she had her trach out and things were going smoothly. Lea started school and I didn't see her much for several years. I got word this past week that Lea will be going to California next week for another Heart Surgery(her odds are better there)I got a hold of her mom and said please come get her a blanket. They came here yesterday and I laid out a stack of blankets for Lea to choose from she chose a pick fleece blanket with flowers on it. We so rarely have the chance to know where our blankets go, it we so bittersweet to see Lea chose a blanket...I wish so much that she didn't need one but know that it will provide comfort to her, she hugged it the whole time she was here. I will let you know how Lea is doing following her surgery.
Today I got an email from Marlene Manley, a fellow coordinator her keeps all of us post on the fallen heros effort. We try to get blankets to every child who loses a parent or sibling in the war. Today with Elaine Bain's help I've arranged for a 9 year old girl to receive a blanket here in Kansas City who lost her dad on July 10th. Once again I was in tears. Tonight I'm searching on the internet to find the family of yet another soldier lost here in Kansas City...I'll find them and we'll get more blankets to them as well.
I do hope by sharing my week with you that you can see how important the work we do is. Project Linus brings so much joy to my life and I do hope it does yours also.

Deadline Approaching!!

2010-07-12T13:13:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone if you plan to attend the Mini Institute the deadline to sign-up is August 1st. The event is Sept 11th for all Project Linus volunteers! I would really like to see many of you attend. This is going to be like no other event we've had here in Kansas City. We have Ellen Repogle, author of Laps from Fats speaking and do a trunk show. I will do a presentation of Cutting with a Plan, using up your scraps!!! Our national President and Vice-President, Carol and Mary will be here and they will do a presentation about our National office and there will be a question and answer time. The cost for the day is $20 this will cover your lunch for the day as well as the cost of the building, insurance and speaker. You will come home with over $15 worth of wonderful gifts! Please try to attend. Lastly as of right now the City of Joplin MO has more volunteers coming than Kansas City does, please don't let them show us up...let's show everyone what a great place Kansas City is and how wonderful our volunteers are. I must have a form and your $20 by August 1st!!!

More Pictures of the Blanket day

2010-07-01T12:44:00.000-05:00

Here are several more pictures that were taken by Donna Krebil at our Blanket day. Donna takes all our pictures at blanket days and I sure appreciate that because it frees me up to do other things that need to be done. There is a picture here of Donna and I will all the regular blankets that were donated that day as well as the weighted blankets we made.

Blanket day for making weighted blankets

2010-06-30T20:11:00.000-05:00

This past Saturday approximately 20 women gathered at a local nursing home called the Sweet Life to make weighted blankets for children with autism spectrum disorder. We spent 6 hours making these blankets and enjoying each others company. We completed 45 blankets and sent several home with volunteers to be finished. It was a great day. Here are some of this pictures of our day, you can click on any picture here to make it bigger and easier to view. I'll post more pictures soon. The top picture is Glenna Love and two blanketeers loading blankets, Glenna is the one who distributes many of the weighted blankets.

2010-06-25T14:49:00.000-05:00

Blanket Day

2010-06-22T14:15:00.000-05:00

Just want to remind everyone about our Blanket Day on June 26th from 9 am to 1 pm at the Sweet Life at Grand court in Overland Park KS. They are located at 12000 Lamar Ave. Please bring your machines if you can and sewing supplies as well as 1 1/8 yards each of a front and back so we can make weighted blankets. We have a large waiting list and we really need to get lots done on Saturday so please plan to attend.

2010-05-23T18:36:00.000-05:00

Directions for Making Lili’s Hug (A Weighted Blanket)

Finished size: 34x43 (approximate)
Fabric Needed - 1 piece of Kid Print 36 X 45 1 piece of solid for back 36 x 45
If the fabric is thin, use a backing for wearability. Printed corduroy, twill, denim all work well. Solids can be personalized with appliqués. Please make them as kid friendly as possible. The top can be quilted.

90 inches of Velcro (hook and loop sew-in tape).Each piece of fabric will need 2 sets of hook and loop approx 45” long per blanket which will close the top and bottom edge. These directions are for a blanket that is 36 x 45, but by using the basic format, you can make them 45 x 45 or smaller, 36 x 30 for different ages of children. All the weight can be adjusted by adjusting the amount of sheets that you use to stuff them. The sheets can be cut in half or used full size.

1. Cut 2 pieces of hook and loop tape 1” shorter than the long edges of fabric.

2. Place the two pieces of fabric (35x45) right sides together, pin and stitch the 36” sides with a 1/2” seam. Turn right side out. This will form a tube.

3. On the 45” sides press the edges under ¾ - 1 inch. On the pressed edges of one piece sew one piece of hook tape on the inside. Repeat on the other piece of fabric only this time sew on the loop tape.

4. Press the Velcro together on both edges.

5. Measure half way down from one hook and loop edge on both seamed edges to the other hook and loop edge to find the horizontal center. Mark this center and stitch from seamed edge to seamed edge. (See diagram.)

6. Measure long edge of blanket. Divide length into equal tubes that are at least 7” wide. Depending on the width, tubes can be 7 to 8” wide. This width is very important.

7. Mark stitching lines. Stitch along marked lines completely through Velcro edges. ZIGZAG with a medium, close, width zigzag 2-3 times across the Velcro to secure it as much as possible

8. These blankets are filled with rolled twin sheets and we do this once they are turned in to Project Linus. PLEASE DO NOT FILL THESE BLANKETS BEFORE TURNING THEM IN WE WILL DO THAT PART.

May 2010 Newsletter

2010-05-20T22:15:00.001-05:00

As most of you know there have been many changes again in our Chapter. On April 1st we merged the two chapters of PL back into one chapter. I took the entire area back as coordinator. What does this mean for you…? For the most part nothing. This chapter will continue just as we have in the past. We have all the same drop off points that we had before and all the same blanket making groups. For those of you who were in Susan’s chapter I will post my website and blog so you can stay up to date on all the happenings. I will also repeat needs, blanket sizes and fundraising info later in this newsletter. It is good to have everyone back as one group.

Up Coming Events!

On June 26th from 9 am to 3pm we will be having a weighted blanket making day in Overland Park KS. It will be held at a place called the Sweet Life. They have graciously allowed us to use their facility for free and we are very excited about this. They are located at 12000 Lamar ave, in Overland Park KS. They’ve told me this is behind the cheesecake factory that is off 119th and Metcalf area. I do know they are not far from Blue Valley Christian church, which is where we had our last blanket day in Kansas. Please bring your sewing machines, sewing supplies and enough fabric to make one blanket--1 1/8 yards of front and the same for the back. We have a waiting list of 60 kids needing these blankets right now and we’ve not been getting any in so please try to attend this event. Bring a sack lunch and join us! RSVP please at 816-331-9101 or email me at jgpg2@yahoo.com by June 7th if you plan to attend.

NOW for the really big news! On Sept 11th 2010 we are hosting our National office here in Kansas City. Each year National has held a conference for coordinators and this year they’ve elected to hold a mini version here in Kansas City and you all are invited to join us. We are going to have Ellen Roplogle, author of Laps from Fats and many other books here for trunk show and lecture. I will be doing a class on Scraps, Cutting with a Plan! We have many give-aways and I promise you will walk away with many goodies. Our national officers will be here to answer questions and share their thoughts and ideas with everyone. We will be inviting several of the quilt shops and yarn stores to join us. It will be a great time!! Please fill out the enclosed form and get it back to us as soon as possible. We are charging $20 for the event. This covers a catered lunch and the cost of the building and speaker. PLEASE come show our national office what a great group of volunteers we have here in Kansas City. The event is from 9 am to 3pm in Raymore Missouri, all info is on the registration form.

Project Linus Honored!
On Wednesday, April 21st 2010 Project Linus of greater Kansas City was honored by Children's Mercy Hospital with their Community Service Award. We were given a very nice trophy to commemorate the event. We attended a very nice meeting that honored their volunteers and Project Linus. Susan and I both attended and accepted the award. Without each of you we would not be able to provide the blankets that we do each and every year. Thanks so much to each of you for your contributions to Project Linus!!!

Fundraising!
As always we are collecting Best Choice UPC labels. All we need is the the UPC code and the words above it that say Best Choice. I’d like to double the number we turned in last year so please save those labels and turn them in with your blankets. I turn them in to Best Choice in December.

If you live close to a Wal-Mart and are willing to drop off grant forms for us please contact me and we can discuss how this works. We must raise $500 a year. Out of that $500 dollars $100, goes to National to cover our insurance, etc that they take care of for us.

Blanket sizes and Types!
This is easy! No smaller than 30 X 30 and we don’t need many of those. After that 36 X 45 all the way up thru 45 X 60. Please remember we serve children birth to 18 years so we need a variety of sizes. When making fleece blankets please no double layer blankets! Also fleece should be at least 40 X 60 this includes the fringe. We accept quilts, knitted and crochet afghans as well as tied blankets and lightweight receiving blankets, fleece and weighted blankets. We are very short on weighted blankets. We have a waiting list for 60+ blankets and we’ve received none since Feb. Please make one if you can. Also, if everyone will try to attend the blanket day in June, that will go a long way toward meeting this need. The statistics now say that 1 in 91 children will have Autism and 4 out of 5 will be boys.

Website and Blog
You can find info about our chapter at both our website and the blog. I’m better able to put pictures and current news items on the blog so you might want to check it first. As always you can email me or call me if you have questions of concerns.
http://projectlinusofgreaterkansascity.blogspot.com/
http://www.orgsites.com/mo/kansascityprojectlinus/

Patty’s email, jgpg2@yahoo.com or you can call at 816-331-9101
sMy assistant is Kathy Chrisman and you can call her at 816-331-5069

Future Newsletters

Due the cost of postage, printing and office supplies, this, will the last newsletter that we mail out. We will be doing a newsletter 4 times a year and you can pick them up at any Missouri Sewing Machine or Harpers Fabrics. Newsletters will be available Jan 1st, April 1st, July 1st and Oct. 1st. If you have email you will continue to get them via email. If for some reason you can’t pick up your email you can send me a self addressed stamped envelope and I’ll mail you one out.

For those of you reading this in the blog please email me at jgpg2@yahoo.com for the form to attend the Sept 10th event.

We are one Chapter again!

2010-04-26T18:50:00.000-05:00

First I want to say I'm so happy that we are all back together again as one group. This will be a good thing. Our city is big but we all work together so well for those in need that I'm so excited that we are one group again. I've missed seeing so many of you and I look forward to blanket days in the near future so I can see you again. We have so big plans and I'll be sharing them over the next few weeks with you. First for anyone who doesn't know or hasn't heard save the date of Sept 11th 2010! We are hosting the Midwest Mini Institute for Project Linus right here in Kansas City. What is that you ask well it's our national officers and coordinators from all over the US coming together here for a meeting and fun time. Coordinators and officers will meet on Friday and Saturday and then volunteers...that's YOU will meet with everyone on Saturday! We have Ellen Ropogle, the author of Laps From Fats will be here that day and will do a trunk show and speak to the group. I will be presenting Cutting with a Plan, this will include a plan for cutting up those pesky scraps we all have and some patterns to get you started. Of course you will hear from Carol, our PL President and Mary, our PL Vice-President and Jane. We will have many gifts and prizes for everyone who attends. We are charging $20 for the day and this will cover a catered lunch and speaker, use of the building! I know we never charge for our events but this is special deal and I promise you will come home with tons of stuff!!! Please come and show your support for PL and have a great time! I will send out forms in the near future for you to fill out and send in by August 1st...if you know you want to come now email me at jgpg2@yahoo.com and I'll send you out a form now.
We've been getting some Best Choice Labels and I'd love to have enough this year to double what we did last year so keep sending them in!!!
Also we have a waiting list of over 60 kids needing weighted blankets so if you can make one and send it please do so. Watch for a post soon of an upcoming blanket day where we will be making weighted blankets again.
Thanks everyone for all your hard work!!!

Project Linus Honored

2010-04-26T12:30:00.001-05:00

On Wednesday, April 21st 2010 Project Linus of greater Kansas City was honored by Children's Mercy Hospital with their Community Service Award and we were given this very nice trophy to commemorate the event. We attended a very nice meeting that honored their volunteers and Project Linus. Susan and myself both attended and accepted the award. I wanted to share it all with everyone one of you as you are Project Linus and without each of you we would not be able to provide the blankets that we do each and every year. Thanks so much to each of you for your contributions to Project Linus!!!

Changes coming!

2010-03-23T06:42:00.000-05:00

I wanted to share with everyone that as of April 1st 2010, Project Linus of Greater Kansas City will be back to just one chapter. Susan is stepping down to prepare to move to New Mexico. I will be running the chapter covering the entire metro just as I did before we split the chapter up a year ago. There won't be many changes...drop off points will remain the same and I'll be contacting those who have been helping Susan with deliveries etc and we will try to continue for the most part just as before. A newsletter will come out in the next couple of weeks with all the details and information concerning our event in Sept. please watch for it and read it well. I'm excited to have everyone back as one group and having all of us working together!

Food for Thought

2010-03-07T11:10:00.000-06:00

I wanted to take a moment and let everyone know about a couple of things. We got a phone call this week from Children's Mercy. Project Linus (both chapters) are being honored as one of Children's Mercy's charty's of the year. This is a wonderful way for them to let us know that we are appreciated. This is for all of you who have donated a blanket! You've made a difference and continue to make a difference long after you have finished that last stitch on a blanket. I do wish I could tell you how many blankets we've donated to Children's over the years but I can tell you that the number is great and we could not do this without each and everyone of you that donates to Project Linus. Our chapter donates blankets to both Children's Downtown and Children's South!

Now on another note. Glenna Love came yesterday and to pick up the few weighted blankets that we had so she can get them to the children that need them. She had some wonderful stories to tell and will be getting me some pictures of some of the kids with their blankets. She was telling me what a difference these parents are seeing with their kids and these blankets. She told me that 2 years ago the number of Children with Autism in Kansas City was one in every 250 kids... this year it is one in every 83 children will have autism. Folks we need more weighted blankets...if you can at all make one and turn it in that would help so much. One blanket from each of our volunteers would go a long, long way.

Donations have been steady and for this I thank you! We do need to try to increase the number of volunteers and increase our blanket numbers as the need just keeps getting greater so please spread the word...if your friends don't crochet, knit, sew or quilt ask them to consider making a fleece no sew blanket, many stores have fleece on sale this time of year.

Disney

2010-02-28T11:07:00.000-06:00

For the past two months life in our home as been crazy...mostly a good crazy. Shortly after Christmas I received a notice from Project linus National that we would be participating in the Disney give a day, get a day promotion and that we as chapters could sign up to be a part of this. Little did I know the impact it would have on me, my family, my friends, neighbors and my PL chapter. John and I spent New Years eve with our neighbors and got to bed around 2 am, at 7am my phone was ringing...how do I sign up for this Disney thing! From 7 am until after 7pm on New Years Day, I sat at my computer and was on the phone for hours...this continued for 4days straight! Without my fellow coordinators I do think I would have lost my mind...but we were able to share our experiences and help each other out and offer a good laugh here and there...it sure helped. As days past I got this Disney thing down to a science, and it worked so well. Sadly a few days into this great adventure we got word that Haiti had been struck by a horrible earthquake. We waited patiently for an opportunity to send blankets their way. Soon word came that we could help so we took some of our new "Disney" blankets and we were able as of Saturday, Feb. 27th to send 1450 blankets to Haiti. As our adventure with Disney comes to an end we have received 3628 blankets! I now have only 900 or so of those on hand and the rest are in the hands of children in need. What a great blessing this has been. To my wonderful family and friends who spent countless hours helping and working to get all these blankets processed I can't Thank you enough! To my neighbors Thank you for your patience as then endless parade of people made their way to our house to drop off blankets. To everyone who made blankets and sent blankets Thank you, you have sent comfort to a child in need. Project Linus and it's people are so good and have been a huge blessing for me!

National Make a Blanket Day Event

2010-02-21T09:38:00.000-06:00

I love planning blanket days. Yesterday I got up early and set off for a blanket day we got everything set up and the volunteers started to arrive. Since so many of our volunteers make their blankets and drop them off at drop off points we never get to meet them or see them. Blanket days change all that and I always look forward to seeing them! We had 32 volunteers and over 140 blankets come in. We worked on our patterned rectangle quilts and everyone completed a quilt top! In the pictures are Suzy and Sharon working on their quilt tops and the other picture is of blankets after they were checked in, labeled and bagged and ready to head to a hospital or shelter. Special Thanks go to Blue Valley Christian Chruch for allowing us to use thier building! I also want to thank Kathy C., Kathy B., Wanda for helping with set up and keeping things running smoothly, and of course a big thanks to all the volunteers who came made blankets!

2010-02-19T06:53:00.000-06:00

Here are just a few of the one thousand blankets that we processed and sent to Haiti this month, through Heart to Heart international. A huge Thanks to all the folks who donated single layer fleece and lightweight blankets for this need, and also to my family who helped get them counted, boxed and taken to Heart to Heart.

2010-02-16T17:40:00.000-06:00

On this coming Saturday Feb 20th we will be having our National Make a Blanket Day. I do hope many will come and make blankets with us. We are making a planned rectangle quilt. We always have so much fun so I do hope everyone will plan to attend. Remember to bring your fabric pre-cut and your sewing machines, extension cord, sewing supplies and something to drink and a snack if you want one. We will be at Blue Valley Christian chruch at 12251 Lamar Ave, Leawood KS from 9 am to 1pm.

New Adventure

2010-02-14T15:26:00.000-06:00

Just learning about blogging and we are going to see if this works for Project Linus of Greater Kansas City. This is a picture of our weighted blankets. For a pattern of this blanket please email me at jgpg2@yahoo.com These blankets require velcro and we can provide that a much lower cost than you can purchase it the store, you can contact me at the email address above about getting velcro for this blanket.