Commitment

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.  Indeed, it is the only thing that has."   Margaret Mead

The quote above was included in a note we received recently from Margie Chan.  It got me thinking about how amazingly committed the Angels are in spending hours upon hours to do good for others.  At every meeting, we take such joy in opening the boxes of beautiful, hand-made, prayed-over goodness created by women with great big hearts for those in need.  We are so thankful for the selfless work you put into each and every item!!  We had a good turnout of Angels on September 21st, including some new Angels, but more to come on that.

Let's take a look at the goodness that was ooh'ed and aah'ed over at our latest meeting.  First up, some adorable hats sent to us by Kelly Sartori from Hobart, IN.  Thanks, Kelly!

Margie Chan, a local Chicago girl, provided more than the quote for this blog post.  Here are the very colorful spa cloths she made to go into the spa bags we provide to the new moms at Swedish Covenant as well as the women at Cornerstone Community Outreach's homeless shelters.  I love the variety of patterns and colors!

With my latest stash, I tried to make a little something for all of the charities we support.  Ear warmers for the folks helped by The Night Ministry (via our friends at the Edgebrook Lutheran Church), spa cloths for the spa bags we give to new moms at Swedish Covenant as well as to homeless moms at Leland House, some items for the Red Scarf Project, a blue set for Christmas at Sea, a few scarves for either the folks at Cornerstone Community Outreach or the North Park Friendship Center, and some baby hats for the sweet newborns at Swedish Covenant.  Looks like I missed doing something for A Just Harvest, so I'll have to make up for that with my next installment.  Here's the end result...

Donna Gonzalez, of Bayside, NY, who - I believe - is a new Angel, sent us these two lovely lapghans.  Each was beautifully wrapped so, of course, we didn't want to un-do the packaging, but they look great!  Thanks, Donna, for your wonderful donation.

Next up, Carol Flowers.  Okay, so Carol didn't think she'd be able to make the September 21st meeting due to a family function so she dropped off a bag on my front step with all of these lovelies.

And then, lo and behold, Carol's family function gets cancelled so she shows up with scads more stuff which, for some reason unbeknownst to me, I didn't get a picture of.  Carol, you are AMAZING!

An anonymous Angel (our pastor thinks she was from Edgebrook Lutheran) came bearing yarny goodness.  She dropped off these lovely spa cloths which will be greatly appreciated by the women who receive them.

 



My walking buddy and dear friend, Monica Toms, is a wonderful knitter and crocheter and donated the things below to our Crafty Angels ministry.  Thanks, Ms. Mo!  You're the best!  A senior at Friendly Towers will love the afghan, and the scarves will be given to Cornerstone Community Outreach.

 

We were happy to see Lynette Ackmann at our latest meeting.  Talk about someone who came bearing gifts!  Lynette is getting ready to move so came with LOTS of completed projects as well as basketsful of donated yarn.  Just look at all of the yarny goodness she brought...

We were so happy to see these afghans!  Not many like to take on these larger projects, so we are always grateful when Angels show up with them so we can keep the seniors at Friendly Towers warm during the cold Chicago winters.

We are constantly in awe of the beautiful stitching of Maureen Martin.  Everything she makes looks like it was done by a professional, but especially her baby sweaters!  Here is her latest installment of love gifts for those so desparately in need.  Her heart is just as lovely as her hand-knitted creations.

Peg Kingsley also joined us on September 21st and brought the yarny goodness shown below made by her good friend, Jo!  Thank you, Peg and Jo, for your faithful support of Crafty Angels and the people we all work together to serve.

Faithful Joyce Dattalo, who drives in from Oswego, came with spa cloths, afghans, and lots and lots of chemo caps.  We have a new contact at Swedish Covenant Hospital's cancer ward who will be responsible for receiving and distributing chemo caps to the patients there.  Joyce's love gifts will be greatly appreciated by these folks who are at a very difficult time in their lives.

Phyllis Snodgrass was also with us at our last meeting and was able to whip up some more of her signature scarves for the least of these at Cornerstone Community Outreach and North Park Friendship Center.  Phyllis is not the only crafter in her family.  Her daughter, Valerie Luberecki, is an amazing quilter.  You can see an assortment of her creations on her blog at http://betweenquilts.blogspot.com/.  I would encourage you to read her post from September 2, 2013 which talks about a quilt her group made for Valerie's friend, Claudia Landis, who lost her six year-old son, Michael, to neuroblastoma about a year ago.  Warning:  Have your tissue nearby.  Please keep the Landis family in your prayers as they struggle with the loss of Michael.  Here is Phyllis's latest contribution...

When we see Penny Sawczak coming in the door, we always know she's been a busy girl!  She wheels her things in on a cart which is always loaded with the yarny goodness she makes.  Penny has a special place in her heart for The Red Scarf Project and, you can see, she brought lots of red to be given to foster children through this wonderful program.  She also came with afghans to help replenish our supplies.  Thanks, Penny!

 

Dianne Overall and the rest of the ladies in the "Klickers" group from Loogootee, IN, have been wonderful supporters of Crafty Angels over the years.  Once again, we received three boxes of love gifts from these amazing ladies.  We love digging into the packages they send to see their latest creations.  Here's what was on display at our latest meeting.  Yep!  An entire tableful of goodness!  We were really oohing and aahing over those baby afghans.

Jeannine Patt, much like Maureen Martin, turns out absolutely stunning gifts of love.  She has also been taking on the full-size afghans to help replenish our bins - particularly for  use as comfort afghans for men in our church who are suffering loss or other hardship.  Look at this beautiful afghan and the gorgeous baby sweater and hat.

We will have no shortage of spa cloths this year thanks to Heather Groh.  She brought fifty with her to this meeting.  Wow!  Carol Flowers is another Angel who turns out unbelievable numbers of spa cloths.  Now, in addition to all of those spa cloths, Heather brought lots of other goodies, too!  Like me, Heather has been having fun making the Sashay yarn ruffle scarves.  But, she didn't stop there.  Someone's been VERY busy!  Check out that adorable hat with the flower top right in the photo.

We were absolutely blown away with what we opened up from Linda Faubel.  She sent three boxes jam-packed full of the love she works up with her crochet hook.  Her baby afghans are just amazing and will be greatly appreciated by some of the new moms and their babies at Swedish Covenant Hospital.  Check out the close-up of just one sample.  Isn't that duck made out of the popcorn stitches adorable?  Beautiful work...beautiful heart.  Thanks, Linda, for the many hours you put into caring for others through your stitching.

Our Forest Park, IL, Angel, Carol Stephan, worked up all of the goodies shown below.  Carol is another Angel who has been supporting our ministry for a long time and we are always in awe of her sweet baby sets.  We love looking at her latest creations.  In addition to some scarves and spa cloths, she also worked up some of the ear warmers for The Night Ministry.  You are a blessing to many, Carol.  Please forgive the oddly rotated picture here.  I don't understand it myself.  It doesn't look this way on my hard drive, but, when I uploaded it to the blog, it came out like this.  I have a hunch the remaining pictures from here down may have the same issue.  So if you see pictures that are sideways or upside-down, please just turn your head or stand on your head, whatever is required to properly view all of this goodness.  LOL!

 

I mentioned early on in this update that we had some new Angels join us this last time.  So let me introduce you to their work.  One of them I mentioned in my last post - Faith Yao from Evanston, IL.  She had donated lots of beautiful hand-knitted items that were on display back at our May meeting.  This time, she was able to join us so we could meet her face-to-face and brought more of her incredible creations.  Here's her latest contribution...

 

She brought two beautiful shawls, two gorgeous sweaters, a sweater vest, and a slip-over shrug.  Keeping in step with my stream of consciousness from above, notice this photo did not flip.  I'm so confused!!  One more to go.  We'll see what happens.

Last, but certainly not least, there was Cindy Weinzierl and her friend, Becky.  Cindy found out about Crafty Angels through a friend of our church, Sue Vander Voort.  She called me to get the details of our meeting location and time and to explain to me that she loves to knit and has been looking for a group to hook up with.  What makes Cindy so special is that she knits by touch because she is totally blind.  Do you find this as amazing as I do?  I have trouble crocheting with a single hook while I'm looking at what I do, so it's beyond me how someone can knit, which requires TWO needles, and does so strictly by feel.  Cindy, you're my hero!  Here is what she brought with her...

Which, of course, is flipped upside down so, "On your heads, ladies!"  Whew!  I'm so happy I have no more pictures to load!

Sandy and I want to express our heartfelt appreciation for all of your many contributions.  It was so much fun looking through all of your yarny goodness and we're looking forward to our November meeting when we look like Santa's elves getting ready for Christmas.  As you know, November is our big meeting!  All of these gifts of love that we've received throughout the course of the year will be packaged up to be distributed to all of the various charities supported by Crafty Angels.  The meeting is on November 16th at 10:30 a.m. in the chapel at Edgebrook Covenant Church (6355 N. Spokane Ave., Chicago).  It's a very busy, chaotic, and FUN gathering so we hope you'll be able to join us.  A luncheon will be served to thank you for your hard work and many contributions.  See you there!