March Angels' Meeting

“It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.”
― Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa knew her stuff and it is such a gift to Sandy and I at each meeting of the Crafty Angels to see how much love goes into the yarny goodness created by the Angels.  Our latest meeting was on Saturday, March 16th, and there were fourteen angels in attendance.  Of course, we were reminiscing about our March 2012 meeting when the temperature made it feel like summer.  Not so much this year, but, the Angels always bring a little sunshine into our lives in spite of what's going on outside!

I wanted to share with you an excerpt from a recent copy of the Swedish Covenant Hospital Newsletter that was passed on to me from a woman in our church who is a nurse at Swedish.  The newsletter has a picture of me with some of the nursing staff on the day this past December when I delivered all of your love gifts to the hospital for the new moms and babies there.
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February 13, 2013

Thanks, Edgebrook Covenant Church Crafty Angels!

Thanks to the Crafty Angels for providing handmade gifts for mothers and infants during the holiday season.

These bags of knitted and crocheted blankets, hats, infant clothes and washcloths come from the “Crafty Angels” of the Edgebrook Covenant Church in Chicago. A sincere thanks to the Crafty Angels for providing handmade gifts each year for hundreds of mothers and infants during the holiday season!

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In addition to this shout out in the hospital newsletter, we also received a "Thank You" note from one of the moms who had recently given birth to a baby girl there.  She wrote to thank the Angels for the beautiful baby afghan, sweater, and hat her daughter had received at Swedish.  She said that the fact that it came from a church convinced her that these were a gift from God for her baby girl.  I was so touched by this note!  We don't often hear from the actual recipients of your many love gifts, but rather from the charities to which we donate.  Hearing first-hand how touched this mom was was such a blessing and, of course, I had to share that blessing with all of you!

 

So, on with the show!  We received a few shipments of yarny goodness since our January meeting and then, of course, there were the items that were brought by the Angels in attendance. 

 

These beautiful spa cloths were sent to us courtesy of Angel Karen Gwynne from Schererville, IN
 

These lovelies were provided by Carol Stephan of Forest Park, IL Who knows?  It might have been a set just like this that inspired the Thank You note from the new mom at Swedish Covenant.
 

Penny Sawczak was busy - as always!! - making all of these lovely hats and scarfs.



This was my contribution.  I'm trying to challenge myself this year to make something each time that I haven't tried before.  This time it was the baby penguin toy and the flower spa cloth.
 

 



Oh, Debbie Kreusch!  How DO you do it?  These toys looked WAY better in real life than they do in my photo.  Mr. Sleepy Owl was my personal favorite, but they were all adorable!  And, of course, there were also her beautiful baby
sweaters and afghans and a really cool hat and mitten set.  She's got some skills!
 

Doris Ahlstedt came with a bunch of her famous knit baby hats, which are so sweet!  She also was able to use up some of her scrap yarn with these lovely spa cloths.
 

Somebody was busy, busy, busy making all of these fabulous spa cloths and that somebody was Heather Groh.  Beautiful colors and such a wonderful assortment.  Thanks, Heather!

Jeannine Patt came bearing these gorgeous items.  The baby hat/sweater sets were just beautiful as were the afghan, the prayer shawl and the curly scarf made with the Red Heart Sashay yarn.  Jeannine just taught me how to make these so that will be my "something new" next time!

Peg Kingsley brought in all of this wonderful yarny goodness made by her friend, Jo S.  Thank you, Jo, for the love you put into these items, and thank you, Peggy, for delivering all of this gorgeousness!

I always anxiously await to see what Maureen Martin will pull out of herbag of tricks!  Her baby sweaters...well, what can I say?  Just look at this lovely!  She was also busy with her wonderful hat and scarf sets.  Finally, look at that adorable little bunny "comfort cloth" (my phrase for it - but,the equivalent of a security blanket, but much smaller and more easily handled by tiny hands.
 

That's a wrap on the yarny goodness most recently received.  I've been thinking lately, however, that I don't include enough pictures of the Angels on this blog, so at this latest meeting, I snapped some pictures of some of the creators of all of this yarny goodness.

Left to right:  Pam Gantzer, Doris Ahlstedt, Peggy Kingsley, Debbie Kreusch, Marcy, Evelyn, and Adelaide Stowe.  Evelyn was our youngest Angel prior to the arrival of her younger sister, Adelaide.  LOVE that they're starting so young!!
 

Left to right:  Penny Sawczak, Heather Groh, and Jeannine Patt

Left to right:  Joyce Dattalo chatting with Sandy Rice
 

I'm thinking these candid shots of the Angels don't work so well!  Maybe next time I'll just have to make them POSE for me!!  Those Angels who cannot attend our meetings, we think of all of you often and hope you are doing well.  Our next meeting will be on Saturday, May 18th, same time (10:30 a.m.), same place (the chapel at Edgebrook Covenant Church - 6355 N. Spokane Ave., in Chicago).  We'd love to see you there.  In the meantime, happy stitching!