Starting a new chapter for Humboldt County Project Linus has made me think about patience.  I know that there are agencies who need blankets, but I do not have any to give them at the moment except for what I make.  I know that there are  blanketeers out there, but we have not yet connected.  I am confident that  connections will be made and over time the blankets will come in.  I know that they will be beautiful and reflect the spirit and personality of the blanket maker. I need to remember to enjoy the journey and think about where I am, not where I want the chapter to be.…

Part of the experience of making a blanket for a child I will never meet is that it makes me think about kids and their parents. My children are well into adulthood, but I can remember the experience of raising them.  Kids are not like appliances.  They do not come with a manual.  Even if you read up on child development, books are not going to help you in times of  parenting challenges. Fortunately, I only dealt with broken bones, allergic reactions and the usual kid illnesses. Project Linus blankets go to children who may not recover from an illness or who may be challenged by it for their lifetime.…

I was invited to speak at the Redwood Empire Quilters Guild(REQG) by Judy De Graff, current President.  I had spoken with Judy earlier in the week and she was quite helpful. REQG members share their special talents by making community quilts.  She started off the meeting by reading thank yous from people who were recipients of their quilts. I wanted REQG to know about the new Project Linus Chapter and thought there may be a person or two who’d be interested in making a few blankets. PL blankets are not works of art like the quilts that REQG members make, though I have seen some simple, yet beautifully quilted PL blankets.…

It’s rippling!  I delivered my community letter to Rima Greer of Eureka Fabrics.  She knew about Project Linus and its important work.  Without hesitating, she made space on her lovely fabric store’s community bulletin board for Project Linus information. Thank you Rima. On to Ocean Wave Quilts.  I met Sarah, co-owner of the store- and she kept the stone rippling.  Sarah was happy to post the Project Linus information. She also offered her business as another blanket drop off location.  I am hoping to have locations for blanket drop offs make it easy for people to get them to Project Linus if they are unable to attend our monthly meetings. Thank you…

I sent out my Community Member letters introducing the Humboldt Co. Project Linus to people I thought might be interested in either making blankets or donating to our chapter.  I’ll also plan to hand deliver this letter to fabric, yarn, quilt stores and other places where creative people go! Hoping that this letter is like skipping a pebble into a lake: you lightly toss it out and it ripples along in all the ways you want it to!

Even though I do not have blanketeers, I wanted to reach out to those organizations that work with kids who can use a blanket.  I spoke with Steve Volow, Director of CASA. CASA stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates. (Disclosure: I became familiar with CASA when I trained to be a CASA and worked with two children in the foster care system. I also helped fund raise for their annual CASA Kid Walk.) They have blankets for younger children, but none for teens 13-18.  I put CASA on the list for blankets for that age group. I also spoke with Jill Maples.  She is actively involved with foster care children,…

Finding a meeting place was like Goldilocks and the Three Bears…one place was too expensive, one place could not schedule a recurring date, but the third place was just perfect. As mentioned in About Us, I called Brigitte Fleck, owner of The Bunny Hop Quilt Shop in Eureka, and she warmly embraced the new Project Linus (PL) chapter.  And by warmly, I mean she offered us an ongoing meeting time each month in her lovely sewing studio as an in-kind gift.  She also suggested other ways she could support the project with potential Make-A-Blanket Days, possible fabric donations from people downsizing their fabric collections and being a blanket drop off…

It’s official!  Humboldt County now has its own Project Linus Chapter.  Patty Gregory, President/CEO, at the Project Linus Headquarters in Belton, Mo. has approved a new chapter on the north coast. Though I have enjoyed making blankets for the past two years for the Petaluma Chapter, I am happy that the blankets I make, along with the blankets that new blanketeers will make, can be delivered to agencies here in Humboldt Co. who work with ill or traumatized children. Hoping that this chapter would become a reality, I had already written out a big to-do list: create publicity, find a meeting place, find blanketeers, find organizations who work with kids…