Late Night Musings and Charity

Today, I read on Gail's blog.... Big Horn Mountain Creations - quilting and crafts, about her disappointment with not being able to effectively sell her wares. I want to first say that I really understand where she is coming from! It hurts to hear that something you have worked so hard on is of little dollar value to someone. That said, I believe its symptomatic of the economy, which here in the West is rather tight AND its really important to display our creations in the correct venue. The audience and timing is everything. So.... Gail.... Please hang in there and keep at it! You WILL find your niche and things will work out! Just keep up the faith in yourself and your abilities! It takes time to develop everything! This is an issue I have struggled with for quite awhile, even within my commercial embroidery business as well. Theres always someone out there willing to sell "themselves" for less than you. I have actually done that occassionally just to keep the machine going, but have rather evolved past that of late because the customers themselves are more demanding than the little bit of money I get EVER begins to be worth. It skews the pricing for other embroiders too which defeats the purpose of being in business. So, I fired one of them this week.... graciously....but they have moved on and I can't say i'm sad about it. It frees me up to do what I need to do creatively!

I "think" i'm evolving into what I am meant to be doing, which is using more of my creativity in special projects for folks rather than the run of the mill, 100 shirts with the same logo embroidered on them. I am content to puddle along and experiment with new things as money allows. I'm challenging myself with new ways of doing things and operating under the "pay it forward" type philosophy. Its been amazing what comes back! It feels SOOO good to give of yourself with no expectations.

With that in mind, I have headed up a project for mini quiltlets to be made into a wall hanging for the brain cancer ward of the Childrens Hospital. Why this specific choice? Well, i've been working with a friend for the last several years who participates in the "Ride For Kids". This charity is for children that have been diagnosed with brain cancer. This year, she collected over $11,000.00!!! WOW!!! I am soooooo impressed! And... she said that she is actually seeing that the donations are making a difference for the kids. Many are now in remission and finally enjoying better lives! As a result, I thought that it would be a nice treat for these kids to have a visual wonderland to look at and perhaps help take their minds briefly off their pain and the treatments they are under going and came up with this idea. At first I wanted to be able to give a quiltlet to each child, :(not dissimilar to what Pat Winters wanted to do with her Comfort Doll project) but that would restrict what we are able to put on them, so the project morphed into a wall hanging. Each quiltlet will be attached to the others with free standing fish i'll embroider on my machine. Sounds fun, I think!!! Anywhoo, I would like to invite anyone who might be interested in making one to join in! The theme is Under The Sea.









These are my two nekkid blocks that will be formed into quiltlets. If you are interested in perhaps joining in...please let me know and I will HAPPILY send you the guidelines. Dependent on the response, I may extend the deadline that is currently set for September 30. Heck, if this goes well, maybe we'll make this an on going project and donate wall hangings to other Childrens Hospitals! The more quiltlets created in love for these courageous kids the better!! I can't WAIT to see their smiles when its delivered!! Thanks for reading and listening. Off I go to get some things done!!