Update on Project 3

At yesterday's sewing circle, we made winter and Christmas themed preemie baby blankets for March of Dimes. We had 10 sewing machines going full-blast and you guys made a LOT of blankets! My count as of this morning (which includes some that ladies gave me that they had made at home) is 81 baby blankets! Since our goal was 70, I'm very happy with that number!

I know a few of you are still planning on bringing me some blankets you've made at home. Please go ahead and bring those to me. I'm sure they will be able to use them, especially since many of them are not specifically Christmas themed.

Thank you again to everyone who has donated time, talent, and fabric to this ministry! We will not meet in December, but I plan on meeting in January. I will send an e-mail out after Christmas to make sure we have enough people who can come in January, since that is still a pretty busy time of year.

I have a few ideas for future projects, but if you have any ideas or know of ministries or charities that could use items, feel free to let me know.

Project 3: Preemie Christmas Blankets for March of Dimes

Our next sewing circle project will be for November only. I plan on taking December off, since that month tends to be so busy. For November, we will be making winter and Christmas themed blankets for March of Dimes.

The mission of the March of Dimes is "to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality. We carry out this mission through research, community services, education and advocacy to save babies' lives. March of Dimes researchers, volunteers, educators, outreach workers and advocates work together to give all babies a fighting chance against the threats to their health: prematurity, birth defects, low birthweight."

During the week of Christmas, the March of Dimes normally takes pictures of the babies and gives those as a gift to the parents. This year, they would like to have blankets to take pictures with and then they will give the blankets to the families.

They really do not want large blankets to wrap the baby in. They want more of a "tummy time" blanket (about 11x17, but no larger than 22x17), in fabrics that celebrate Christmas or the winter season (for those who don't celebrate Christmas). That may sound small, but remember that these are preemies.

They could have as many as 70 babies during the week of Christmas, so that is our goal!

THE DETAILS

Be on the lookout for Christmas or winter-themed flannel. These blankets are super simple to make. Here's a sample tutorial for the kind of blanket I'm thinking about. For the 11x17 size, you can get 6 or 7 panels out of 1 yard of fabric and it takes 2 panels to make one blanket. To keep costs down, I recommend getting a coordinating solid color flannel for the back side of the blankets.

TIP: Kay M. offered a great tip for buying inexpensive flannel: look for flannel sheets on sale! (Both JCPenney and Target have theirs on sale this week for around $16/set.)

Since we have a specific number that we're shooting for, please let me know if you're bringing fabric and how much fabric you have. It's an aggressive goal, but I know we can do it!