Sew Saturday ~Tic Tac Toddler

I've been waiting all month to show you this post.  Yesterday I finished hand stitching the binding on my baby quilt for Hopeful Threads and took some pictures to share.

Hopeful Threads

Hopeful Threads was asking for baby blankets to send to a Children's Hospital in need.  This touched my heart and gave me the opportunity to give back and pay it forward.  Let me give you the backstory.  Our son Tyler was born pigeon toed with club feet.

Tyler and Daddy 1 day old

From the time he was a few days old he began being casted to correct his feet.  This is one of the only pictures I have of his feet.  I used to bring his baby shampoo and everything I needed to bathe him to the doctor's office so I could give him a bath once a week between having his casts removed and new ones put on.   This was in the days before digital cameras and cell phones that took pictures.  It never occurred to me to bring my camera with me.

When he was less than 2 months old we found at that our insurance was not going to cover his treatment.  They said it was a pre-existing condition.  WHAT?!  We were a young couple without a lot of money and our son needed the treatment to be able to walk and run and play like all the other kids.   Thankfully my grandpa told me about Shriner's hospital and wrote a letter to get Tyler in.

 

Shriner's hospital took amazing care of our son.  We had one of the top pediatric surgeons in the country perform surgery on his tendons when he was just 8 months old.  That was followed with more casting and eventually braces.  All of this without any cost to us.  Believe me, I was beyond blessed by the generosity of Shriner's hospital.  One day we were at Shriner's in their new facility in Sacramento, CA for a check up when some ladies came in with quilts their group had made for the children.  They gave us one, and I almost didn't take it because I felt like we had been given so much already.  They insisted and I'm so glad they did.  This quilt has always been a symbol of kindness, generosity and hope.  Every baby who has been in our home, including our puppies have been comforted, wrapped or played on this quilt.

Tic Tac Toddler

That is probably where the quilting bug first bit me.  Knowing that these ladies made quilts for the kids with disabilities, burns and birth defects warmed my heart.  They never got to see the kids faces as they snuggled up with their new loveys.  They didn't see how the quilts wrapped those babies in comfort as they sat on their mom's laps while the doctor manipulated their tender feet.  They didn't know how much it meant to the mommies and daddies that somebody cared for their little one.  Or perhaps, they did.

When Hopeful Threads put out the call I was so excited because I finally feel like my quilting is at a level that I can give it away to strangers.  I was thrilled that it would be going to a baby, toddler or preschooler that could use comfort while in the hospital.   I was happy that they might never know who sent it because they would get to experience the kindness of strangers.  Most of all I was humbled by the opportunity to have Tyler's quilt come full circle.

Tyler at 17

Since it was going to charity I decided to use the Riley Blake fabric that was given to us through the Modern Quilt Guild for the Riley Blake challenge.   Thank you Melissa and Kristy for this opportunity.  I'm working on finishing up another quilt for a little girl.

I'm linking up with ALYOF and #mqgrileyblakechallenge.



ALYOF November


Creative Blessings,
Heather North