With this project, hanging by a thread takes on a whole new meaning. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a world where everyone got along, people took care of each other, and everyone looked forward, into the future, together? It would be a wonderful and refreshing way to live. “The Thread Project: One World, One Cloth,” hopes the same thing and as an expression of that hope, is making a blanket for the entire world from all of our threads.

The world’s blanket is divided into seven sections:
• Purple symbolizing hope
• Red symbolizing harmony
• Indigo symbolizing the prayer of tolerance
• Green symbolizing reconciliation
• Orange symbolizing the dawn of change
• Yellow symbolizing lightYellow=Light
• Blue which is named Sophie’s Mantle

Woven material is composed of warp (the vertical threads) and wefts (the horizontal threads). A company has donated the warp threads to determine the dominant color but all of us out here in the real world are donating the weft threads.

They can be anything from a literal thread to strips of cloth torn from a shirt. Tying a variety of threads together end to end is a particularly good way to express the story of the “thread” and give character to the panel.

The fuzzy bits around knots add character and the variety of materials used, from shoelaces to fishing lines, yarns to strips of fabrics, reflects the variety of people and their stories worldwide.

Special threads
Any and all threads are welcome. However, instead of sending a generic thread, you may want to select a thread that carries special meaning. Ribbons from baby booties, wedding bibles, wedding pillows, stuffed animals, and christening gowns already have been tied on. You may wish to send a particular piece of lace or twine. Some have cut an inch-wide strip from a special article of cloth or clothing. Family, friends and couples have joined or braided threads together as one.
The Thread Project

You have until May of this year to send in your threads. Put your story, or the story of someone you love, in the world’s blanket. Become a part of something bigger than any of us individually.

Instructions on Sending a Thread

The Thread Project

Not everyone is an accomplished crafter. But there are many crafts that aren’t really all that crafty. And they are just as good for helping. “Hugs and Hopes for Sick Kids,” is a charity that needs the “less-crafty” among us to jump in and help out.

So what can you do to help sick children? Keep in mind these are children that are fighting for their lives. They have serious illnesses. They need a smile. A laugh. Something to entertain them and that will allow them to think about something else than the hospital or the illness itself. Cards are a great way to start - handmade cards can be made pretty fancy - there are lots of ways to decorate a card! Teddy bears, birthday boxes and many other ideas are needed by these kids.

If you would love to help, but the idea of sending something directly to a child makes you uncomfortable (some people have a big heart but can’t handle the issue of terminally ill children), parents need help too. You can be a listening ear and support to a parent who is trying to stay even during a horribly difficult time.

If you feel called to this way of reaching out, be certain to read their “Getting Started” page. It is important to understand the policies of this organization so that the appropriate steps are taken to help. It’s easy - just be on the same page as the organizers of this selfless work.

Hugs and Hope for Sick Children

Hugs and Hopes - Getting Started

There is a woman in Colorado who could best be described as a hero. Nan Sullivan’s heart is so big it overflowed from her own family, into all of the children in the world. Faced with her endless need to love and help children who have no families, she figured out a way to help them. Thus “Warm the World,” was born.

Warm the World is a 501(c)3 organization that is dedicated to giving a handmade blanket to every child who needs one. That, just in itself, is a wonderful, and I might add overwhelming goal. But Sullivan took it a step further. She also recognized some other needs such as the difficulty in paying for materials to donate a handmade blanket, delivery of the blanket to the appropriate location, and the inability of those who are elderly or housebound due to health problems, to participate.

Nan Sullivan solved all of the problems by bringing them together. That perhaps is the gift of true genius; using a series of problems, then bringing them together, to solve the largest problem. I was so impressed with her organization. It is a continually evolving work that she has dedicated herself to and brought others into as well.

Sullivan’s organization, Warm the World, supplies the materials for people wishing to participate. In exchange, they have to promise very little: They have to make the blanket, provide one good story, give a word of encouragement, and a blanket pattern the organization can pass on to other volunteers to use. Warm the World will also arrange to pick up the blanket and see it goes to the child needing it the most.

Warm the World has done all of the work. Now it is up to volunteers to do their part. I got a kick out of looking at the photographs of people participating, particularly the students at the Air Force Academy. That young man seems determined to get this knitting thing down!

Visit Nan at Warm the World and see if there is a fit for you. Without a doubt, there is something you can do - they need yarn, knitters, crocheters, and other volunteers. I’m sure they have a place for you.

Warm the World

Few things can be worse than going through a pregnancy, waiting for a new baby to enter into the family, and then leaving the hospital with empty hands. Women who deliver babies who are either stillborn or die shortly after birth, suffer in ways we can’t even imagine. The worst aspect of this loss is that quite often society, unintentionally, does not ever validate the life of that child and the parents are told, “You can always have another one.”

It doesn’t work that way. Each life is unique and precious and parents need to have others validate and affirm that life that was lost. This organization has taken on one of the toughest reaching-out projects that exists: Meeting the sorrow of those parents and creating something to validate the life of their child.

This is a perfect craft for people who paint (freehand painting or tole painting, as examples) and enjoy working with materials to create and design boxes. These are not ordinary boxes either - these are very special memory boxes.

The Memory Box Artist Program is a well put together charity. It is a 501(C)3 so if you can’t paint but would like to help, you can certainly donate to give them financial support, as they are entirely volunteer run. Their Web site provides everything you need - patterns, instructions, photographs of completed boxes… check in with this site and you will be good to go.

They need you and I hope you will consider this as your way of reaching out. More importantly, there are moms and dads who need you. And what could be more important than validating a precious baby’s life?

Memory Box Artist Program