Tuesday 2 June 2015

Apologies folks-I meant to post Sunday or yesterday but I've been having some problems with migraines of late and haven't been able to string a proper sentence together :-(




Before I show you the results of the square drive, I have the last few donations to share with you.

First of all, all the way from America, I have these two beautiful squares from the wonderful Debi Y.






I have been a fan of her blog for a few years now-I LOVE her patterns and she's a really lovely lady.  Thank you so much Debi, these are perfect!

The other squares are from the very talented Gaelle who I met through the crochet alongs we've been having.  She is a very experienced crafter who teaches crochet locally-I must pick her brains soon as I'd love to know how she does some of these stitches!






Thank you Gaelle-you have made a lot of beautiful squares for this project and it's been a delight to get to know you!




So, we've reached a deadline for the squares!  And I have to tell you, the results have STAGGERED me.

From the end of April, when this all started, to the end of May, there have been over 430 squares made and donated!This means there are enough squares to make THREE child size blankets, FOUR toddler blankets and maybe another baby blanket or two once the final donations are in.






This has been an INCREDIBLE result-I was hoping we'd get enough squares for two, maybe three blankets-to have enough to make SEVEN (and in larger sizes) is amazing.
There have also been a number of donations of baby blankets-so far, there are ELEVEN piled up.  There are a couple of other baby blankets on the way in the post so I want to wait for those before sharing a beautiful photo of the pile with you.  There are also still some squares on the way!

I keep saying how blown away I am by how kind people are but truthfully, words can't describe how completely overwhelming it's been.  The crafting community is full of kind and generous people and I'm proud and humbled to see them swing into action for such a good cause.

This is what it's all been about-

Cwtch of Comfort is the blanket project associated with the 2 Wish Upon A Star foundation.  This is a charity that helps those families going through their worst nightmare-the death of a child.  I'm a mum and I cannot imagine how devastated I would be if I lost my daughter-I can't even bear to think about it.  These families need support and unfortunately, given a lot of the funding cuts that have taken place within the NHS, there's been a lack of facilites and help available in hospitals across Wales.
2 Wish seeks to ensure that there is immediate grief counselling available, that there are private rooms for families going through this loss and that there are 'bereavement boxes'.  This boxes contain a few things-something to dress the child in, a disposable camera and a blanket to wrap the child in.  This is where 'Cwtch of Comfort' comes is-they ask people to make blankets in a range of sizes to donate.  These give such comfort-they are a reminder that people care.

I've made a couple of blankets for the SIBOL project in the past-the amazing lady who started it used to ask people to donate squares as many people find making a whole blanket to be a bit much.  I thought this would be a good idea for the Cwtch project and I asked my crafting friends to help. 

Things kinda took off after that-I got in touch with MrsTwins of SIBOL and she shared our need with her SIBOL group-these amazing ladies have donated so many squares to us!  A local group of women, the Pontypridd Women's Collective, organised crochet/knit alongs, spread the word as well as making loads and loads of squares/blankets.  A large number of people have not just made squares themselves but they've had their own groups join in and help.  We've had crochet/knit alongs, there's been a radio interview, there's been squares and blankets flying through the post!  It's been fantastic to see the support for these poor families.  You are all such fantastic people xxx


So if you do have any squares, please get them in the post ASAP!  We're going to be putting squares together throughout June (and possibly July) so there's still time to send them in.  Just don't make anymore for me at the moment ;-)


Lastly, I want to say-

THANKYOU!!



2 comments:

  1. I am absolutely over the moon that the 'SIBOL' Group has been able to help you. Congratulations on getting such a wonderful response. I just love this post thank you so much for putting up photos for the Ladies in our Group to see.
    All the best with the assembling! What fun!
    Sue/SIBOL
    www.sunshineinternationalblanketsoflove.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. You're very welcome Liz - I'm glad that you like them. :)

    ReplyDelete

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