Velma Update

Janet (in blue) and Velma (in black) work on a nursing home quilt.

Tonight at church I learned that Velma is now in a nursing home, with regular visits from hospice caregivers.  I think I'll plan to regularly go sit quietly with her, knitting and visiting as she feels up to it.  Maybe I'll take a little CD player each time (can't just leave one there because things "disappear" unfortunately.)  Her husband and daughters (out of the area) have worked tirelessly to take good care of her and keep her home, but her condition is such that she needs more than they can provide, as much as they love her.  I know it breaks their hearts to not have her at home any more. 

Please join us as we pray for God's merciful peace as they travel through this difficult season of life.

Velma, we love you.

Chaplain Donna H.

Burial Bunting

Today I'm knitting a sweet little white burial bunting for a micro-preemie.  I don't know who this is for, but I always find that when a project is finished, sadly, it has a recipient.  Some precious little ones are too tiny or too delicate to be dressed in a regular manner, but we still want them to be wrapped lovingly and beautifully for mommy and daddy's sakes.  So I make small buntings of cloth or knitted/crocheted yarns as very tiny delicate burial pockets.  It's very emotional to work on them, but so very fulfilling at the same time.  There are prayers and tears woven in every fiber.

I will post a picture when it's finished. If it's not needed right away, it will be part of our display and information table at the Cleburne County Fair in Heber Springs, Arkansas from September 7-11.

Nicholas' Gravesite

They were blessed with twins a couple of years after the unimaginable loss of little Nicholas. David and Andrea are wonderful and healthy at 5 years old now!  Thank you heavenly Father.

We Love You Velma!

This is Velma, one of our most faithful and steadfast members.  We are so sad that she's quite ill these days, cancer is a nasty thief, stealing people away from those who love them!

 Velma is a tough cookie and cares about quality control. When she was healthier (like in this photo) she was our biggest workaholic, always busy and super-productive.  When her cancer grew so fast in her wonderful brain, her biggest fear was that surgery would cause her to lose her memories.  Thank you God, for preserving her memories!  Her husband brings her to sit and visit with us on workshop days, when she is well enough, and we love taking turns sitting next to her and quietly enjoying her company.

To show our love, we all worked on quilt squares for a large quilt to wrap her in our love and prayers.  We received so many donated quilt squares from all over the country that the quilt grew and grew, then it became double-sided with piecing on the back too!  It was so generous of our local quilt shop (Heber Sew 'n Vac / Quilters' Corner) to donate the allover quilting, using one of their two new longarm machines!

Here's Velma's new quilt (front and back.)

Velma, we love you and plan to visit you this week.  We hope you are well enough for a short visit.

Love and blessings,  Chaplain Donna

Cleburne County Fair

Someone asked me if the Nicholas Project has a website, and it reminded me that I have not taken good care of this blog!  So here I am after a long absence, with an update.

Our little group has been busy little worker-bees.  Last Christmas we were excited to present 107 lap quilts to residents at Southridge Nursing and Rehab center in Heber Springs, Arkansas.  Then with the New Year (can you believe it's 2010?) we started making things for small children, to be donated to CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates.)  We are also making hot-weather clothing to go to a mission in Africa.

Now the organizers of the Cleburne County fair phoned to ask us if we'd set up a table promoting the Nicholas Project.  The Fair will run from September 7th through 11th -- come visit us!  We will have brochures, as well as samples of our work.  I better get busy and make a tiny burial ensemble to show people how important it is to recognize that a teensy stillborn baby is a beloved child -- not just a "fetus."

Shalon y'all!  Chaplain Donna

Prayer

 

Take comfort in the verses about the prayers of the righteous! James 5:15-16, Proverbs 15:29, 1 Peter 3:12-13. Peace.

 

New Year Project for C.A.S.A.!

Saturday morning we had our official Nicholas Project board meeting (required by law). We decided that for the next several months, at least through June but probably longer, we will adopt the C.A.S.A. (Court Appointed Special Advocates) organization. We'll make tote bags (maybe duffle bags) for the children (of all ages) who are taken into the system. The bags will be stuffed with socks, underwear, hygiene supplies, maybe coloring books, crayons, cards, whatever we can come up with. One woman said her church might be able to buy the things to put in the bags (at least some of it). The Nicholas Project will make the bags, putting outside pockets on them, maybe inside ones too, we'll see.

After the board meeting, we wrapped all those nursing home quilts in Christmas paper -- so fun!! We'll go to their Christmas party on the 22nd and hand out the packages, and sing and play with them!

We're dark for December but will start up again in January with our regular schedule. We meet twice a month, on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays for all-day sewing/knitting/crocheting workshops ("play dates" really). We always take a lunch break and walk across the street for southern BBQ -- yum! We started out with the purpose of making preemie and stillborn items, and still do those things at our first monthly workshop. Then the second monthly one is when we do other special projects.

So I will put my name on the stashbuster group's PIGS (projects in grocery sacks, or kits) list as a recipient. The Nicholas Project would be happy to take in PIGS, complete them and find worthy homes for the finished projects. If you have any cotton fabrics (cut or uncut) or useable remnants we'd take them too! We could also use donations of zippers, cording for drawstrings, velcro, batting, money, etc. Also items to put into the bags: socks, underwear, hygiene items, small activity things (maybe pencils, pens, crayons, coloring books, small stuffed animals, etc.)

If you send something, please include a little note with the value so I can send you a tax-deductible receipt.  (It looks like Jess and Samantha are having a dance party in the sewing studio!)