The Giving Spirit

Last year I was a participant in a Facebook group project called Xstitch For Those Impacted By The Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting.  The project started in December of 2012, shortly after the tragic event.  The idea was to give the families of each child a quilt.  We were asked to simply cross stitch a quilt square or two.  There were size limits, but that was it.  We could choose any pattern that we thought was fitting.   Soon there were over 400 members of this group.  The group was spearheaded by a very generous woman named Kyla, who had the ultimate task of organizing all of the squares and finding quilters to donate their time and talent to put them together.  Last month, each family received a quilt and small pillows.  In addition, the school, emergency room, police department, and town hall (and others) were recipients of handmade quilts.  This was a project meant to give comfort and support to the families.  All of the following photos are courtesy of the "Xstitch For Those Impacted By The Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting" Facebook page.

Kyla surrounded by all of the quilts.

The quilts and pillows all packed up and ready to go.

Just one of the beautiful quilts.

It was an honor to be a part of this worthwhile project.   I am so grateful for all of the stitchers and quilters, and for Kyla for organizing this cause from the beginning to the delivery.

I recently took part in the Grow Your Blog event for this year.  I happily sponsored a giveaway on my blog, and also entered a few giveaways on other blogs.  Well, can you believe it, I won three giveaways!  I never win anything!  I'm not just saying that.  I don't.  So I feel like it hit the jackpot here.  All three of my wins were from other lands, and I have received the first one from Bonnie at Jasper's Gems.

Not only did I receive her beautiful handmade Tree of Life pendant, the package also included some notecards and a pair of snowman socks.  How fun to receive such cute things!

OK, so now I'm in the giving mood.  I see that my follower count is now 192.  Who would have thought that would happen way back four and a half years ago when I started my blog?  So here's the plan:  When I reach the 200 mark, I'm going to have a 200 follower celebration giveaway!  Come and visit often to watch the follower count and to hear the details about the giveaway.  Thank you to ALL of my followers!