Share a Square

When you are kind to others, it not only changes you, it changes the world.Harold Kushner

Though I have been quiet lately, that doesn’t mean I’m not working on the project! We ALL have been. More than 30 afghans are being stitched right now. I put together two last week (one was rimmed for me by Sheila B., and one by Donna N.). I have three afghans that Mo rimmed for me, and one that Tracey J. rimmed. I am in the process of arranging a day at my local coffee house to get local volunteers to help stitch them together.

At this point, I have 95 afghans here at the house. They are finished and packaged. I don’t have all the pictures on the afghan gallery.

I took the advice of Deborah Starobin-Armstrong, who coordinates The Handmade Afghan Project, and put the afghans in clear plastic bags tied with lots of ribbons.

Over the next couple of weeks, I hope to tell you about some “spin-off” programs that have begun AND tell you more about the bag project. At This Eclectic Life, I showed a medicine bag that I intended to put together. It’s finished and I’m teaching my husband how to sew so we can make more. I’ll post about it soon.

Squares are still coming in (and I promise not to waste them), but we don’t need any more for the current project. I still have a few more pictures to take. thanks to the following folks:

Betty in New York:

Jan H. in Aurora, Illinois

Shirley in Kansas City, MO

Toyoma in Japan

Nobue in Japan

First, let me apologize! I did not know that comments were being made on this site. Somehow, I have not got it arranged properly so that Wordpress notifies me via e-mail. I’ve just been going on my merry way working on Share A Square and Real Life. I’ve gone in and answered those comments.

Second, I need NO MORE SQUARES. I have enough packaged to make almost 180 afghans, and we only need 140. Please don’t send me any more. I have nowhere to put them!

View the afghan gallery on the sidebar. We have at my house almost 90 afghans! Thank you for all your hard work.

Sadly, I lost some pictures that were in my camera, and the squares have been put into afghan kits. One of those pictures was of a huge box of squares sent by Union First Presbyterian of Cowansville, PA. Thank you folks for your kind generosity.

And thanks to the following:

Yashiko in Japan

Valerie P. in Florida

Shirley in Kansas City Mo (my thank you note to you came back)

Mayumi in Japan

Kazumi in Japan

Rick C. in Pennsylvania

I still have about 10 pictures to snap, but I’m hoping after that to be able to just settle back and start stitching these together. I’ll show you how they are packaged in a few days.

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.

Sorry, I’m just trying to claim a blog at my
Technorati Profile

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, here they are.

These are from Jennifer W. (in Georgia, I think)

These are from Grace, Jan, and Ariel in California

Kazue in Japan sent these.

Jamie B., in North Richland Hills, TX sent these.

These are from The Family Rosenfeld in Cape Town, South Africa

And, these came from my friend Linda S., in Euless, TX. They are 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 these 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 this batch of beauties!

MJ in Dallas, TX donated these lovely squares.

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

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

I’m not done taking pictures. There are many more. But, I wanted to get a big thanks going to the folks whose squares are shown 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!

Real generosity is doing something nice for someone who will never find out.
Frank A. Clark

Before I left home for work in Beaumont, Texas, I uploaded pictures of almost all the squares I had into this post. I did stop at the post office on the way out of town, and discovered some more squares and an afghan.

Have you seen the 75 afghans in the afghan gallery? We now have two more. One from Robin S., and one that I finished as I watched television last night. Pictures of them will have to wait until I get home Friday. But, Robin, thank you, thank you!. And, if you see this, yes I will gladly send three more afghan kits for you to put together! You are a living doll!

Thank you to all of the folks below for their hard work!

Sue, Hannah and McKenna M. in Brush Prairie, WA

BJ in Roanoke, TX (she didn’t send me a return address for a thank you note, so I hope she sees this.

Irma F. in Montbelvieu, TX

Judith W. in Modesto, CA

Kathryn B. in Kingston, PA

Mayumi I. in Tokyo, Japan sent two packages, and she put a double handful of tiny origami ninja stars in them. Those might be fun to give to the kids in a little gift bag (more on gift bags in a later post).

Blessed are those who can give without remembering and take without forgetting.
Elizabeth Bibesco

I really have been slow in getting some of these posted, and I apologize. They are so beautiful that they should be shown off to you.

Thanks go out to the following folks for these lovely contributions:

Heather, in MA:

Jessica S. in Lancaster, OH

Sue G. in Sydney, Australia

Susan S. of Shelton WA

Adelina T. of Chelmsford, MA