Share a Square

Giving frees us from the familiar territory of our own needs by opening our mind to the unexplained worlds occupied by the needs of others.
Barbara Bush

You might be wondering why I am putting effort into extra afghans. You haven’t seen the piles of squares at my house! The generosity has been absolutely overwhelming. But, we aren’t through yet, so be sure to scroll to the bottom of the post!

Just an update on the status of Share A Square:

Right now, there are

• 82 finished afghans for the Share A Square project.
• 56 afghans being pieced together (which makes 138!!!)
• Enough kits with 48 different names to make 15 more afghans…and I’m not finished sorting!
• Enough squares with no tags to make at least 20 more afghans
• I still have people wanting to help
• And, out of all the “strangers” to whom I have sent afghan squares, only one person was unscrupulous enough to “steal” an afghan

I’d say that’s pretty marvelous, since we have only been working on this since last June. My heartfelt thanks to every one of you!

Didn’t I tell you we aren’t through? We need some major help. We are wanting to give cloth gift bags to the children to hold their tags from their afghans. Sherry and Barbara are working on this, but they need some help promoting AND getting those bags made! If you have a blog, would you please link to them? And, if you feel handy at all, could you make one of the bags?

My friend, Alice (in Dallas) donated some bags that I have sent along to Barbara and Sherry to be decorated. If you think you could bead, embroider, or applique, write them and ask them to send you a bag or two.

Kindness is the golden chain by which society is bound together.Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Y’all, I apologize for not updating lately. I had gotten a new Mac computer (after my pc computers were dying) back in December. It has taken me this long to figure out how to resize pictures for the web! I’ve been skipping back and forth between my pc and my Mac trying to post. It just sorta bowled me over.

But, I am working on Share A Square, and YOU have been, too. Thank you all for your hard work.

Here are some squares that came in several weeks ago. They have gotten shuffled around, and I have no idea if thank you notes have been sent ( I’m pond scum). But, they are on the Flickr page. Click the picture below to see all the squares we have received.

But, a special thank you to Jennifer W. (in Georgia, I think); Grace, Jan, and Ariel in California; Kazue in Japan; Jamie B., in North Richland Hills, TX ; The Family Rosenfeld in Cape Town, South Africa; and to my friend Linda S., in Euless, TX (who sent squares from her friends Pat S, Amy R, Shari P,Joan S, Muriel S., and Donna B.

There are more in my car, and I’ve been afraid to unload them until I got these posted. Whew! Now if I can remember how to re-size and upload maybe I can catch up with all of y’all.

Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate. Albert Schweitzer

Two of my volunteers are working to gather small bags to hold the squares when a child removes them from the afghan. It would be such a shame for them to lose the tags. If you are interested, please visit Sherry at Yellow Rose’s Garden, or Barbara at The Purplemoose Gazette to get the details. If you would be willing to help us spread the word, please feel free to use the images below. If you don’t know how to upload them, I’ve given instructions beneath. Simply copy and paste the code, take out the three asterisks [*] and the image will show on your blog.

This connects it to Barbara’s post:
<*a href='http://purplemoose.kenaiwriter.net/2008/01/31/a-special-request/' title='bag_ladies_wanted.jpg'><*img src='http://thiseclecticlife.com/shareasquare/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/bag_ladies_wanted.jpg' alt='bag_ladies_wanted.jpg' /><*/a>

This connects it to Sherry’s post:
<*a href='http://yellowrosesgarden.com/2008/01/31/share-a-square-bag-project/' title='bag_ladies_wanted.jpg'><*img src='http://thiseclecticlife.com/shareasquare/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/bag_ladies_wanted.jpg' alt='bag_ladies_wanted.jpg' /><*/a>

For your sidebar, this image is 176 pixels wide:

Sherry’s Blog:

<*a href='http://yellowrosesgarden.com/2008/01/31/share-a-square-bag-project/' title='bag_ladies_sidebar.jpg'><*img src='http://thiseclecticlife.com/shareasquare/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/bag_ladies_sidebar.jpg' alt='bag_ladies_sidebar.jpg' /><*/a>

Barbara’s Blog:

<*a href='http://purplemoose.kenaiwriter.net/2008/01/31/a-special-request/' title='bag_ladies_sidebar.jpg'><*img src='http://thiseclecticlife.com/shareasquare/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/bag_ladies_sidebar.jpg' alt='bag_ladies_sidebar.jpg' /><*/a>

Sherry put together these images, if you want pretty:

For Sherry’s blog:
<*a href='http://yellowrosesgarden.com/2008/01/31/share-a-square-bag-project/' title='smallbutton.jpg'><*img src='http://thiseclecticlife.com/shareasquare/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/smallbutton.jpg' alt='smallbutton.jpg' /><*/a>
For Barbara’s blog:
<*a href='http://purplemoose.kenaiwriter.net/2008/01/31/a-special-request/' title='smallbutton.jpg'><*img src='http://thiseclecticlife.com/shareasquare/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/smallbutton.jpg' alt='smallbutton.jpg' /><*/a>

For Sherry’s Blog:
<*a href='http://yellowrosesgarden.com/2008/01/31/share-a-square-bag-project/' title='button2.jpg'><*img src='http://thiseclecticlife.com/shareasquare/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/button2.jpg' alt='button2.jpg' /><*/a>

For Barbara’s Blog
<*a href='http://purplemoose.kenaiwriter.net/2008/01/31/a-special-request/' title='button2.jpg'><*img src='http://thiseclecticlife.com/shareasquare/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/button2.jpg' alt='button2.jpg' /><*/a>

For Sherry’s Blog:
<*a href='http://yellowrosesgarden.com/2008/01/31/share-a-square-bag-project/' title='webbanner.jpg'><*img src='http://thiseclecticlife.com/shareasquare/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/webbanner.jpg' alt='webbanner.jpg' /><*/a>

For Barbara’s Blog
<*a href='http://purplemoose.kenaiwriter.net/2008/01/31/a-special-request/' title='webbanner.jpg'><*img src='http://thiseclecticlife.com/shareasquare/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/webbanner.jpg' alt='webbanner.jpg' /><*/a>

Thank you ALL for your help! Lets see some bags, shall we?

DON’T FORGET TO TAKE OUT THE ASTERISKS!

Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference. They bless the one who receives them, and they bless you, the giver.Barbara De Angelis

There have been so many squares in the mail that I just can’t keep up with pictures! Thank you ALL for your hard work. I think we have enough squares, but we have another project going on to make bags to hold the squares. Some of you might want to get involved. Barbara and Sherry are working at gathering these donations, and they can tell you more about it. I’ll write more as soon as I am finished snapping pictures and writing thank you notes.

Akiko, whose nickname is Daisy sent squares with a note. She was afraid that her squares had arrived too late. Daisy, if you read this, know that ALL of your squares will be used in afghans for children with cancer. You and the rest of the volunteers will be putting smiles on children’s faces

The Holy Spirit Singles Group in New Hyde Park, New York had a crochet day and the last one was to benefit Share A Square! They sent an ENORMOUS box filled with squares. I’ve already started using some of the ones they had rimmed in black to put together another of the “extra” afghans. Thank you, folks!

Joanne in Granite Bay, CA; Ariel in Auburn, CA; and Jenny in Arcata, CA sent a batch of beauties!

MJ in Dallas, TX donated some lovely squares.

Shirley, in Kansas City, MO sent another beautiful bunch.

The Dunn Family sent some “Hoosier Hugs” from McCordsville, IN.

You can see ALL of these pictures and more on my Flickr page by clicking the image below.

I’m not done taking pictures. There are many more. But, I wanted to get a big thanks going to the folks listed above.

“Do something for somebody every day for which you do not get paid.”
Albert Schweitzer

I came home from my roadtrip to find all these squares sent to me! I’m a little overwhelmed, so it may take me a few days to recover. I’ll show you pictures as I can find time to snap them and upload them. Thank you everyone!