Can it be mid-summer already???

Yes, the calendar is saying it is mid-summer... ads are pushing things for fall... and I've even seen some 'Back-to-School' info! It seems like summer just started!!! Regardless, summer is half over and we are half way to our next blanket days (and the crowd goes wild!!!) And since we haven't had a chance to chat for a bit, let's catch up.

Library Display

For anyone in or visiting Great Falls, be sure to take a few minutes to stop by the Great Falls Public Library. Their June-July display is Project Linus Blankets, and it stretches from the room off to the left of the entry, to the foyer, to the kids room to the right of the entry. The 2018 Fabric Challenge (that stretched into 2019) quilts are in the foyer so be sure to stop by and vote for your favorite! The blankets will be up only for another week or two so hurry in to see them!

Pet Hair
I know I sound like a broken record but we have to be better about checking blankets for pet hair. It is especially bad with fleece blankets because of their static electricity. If you are one who likes to crochet around the edge while watching a bit of television, maybe put the fleece in a large plastic bag while you work on it. I spent a lot(!) of time getting this last delivery ready because so many of the blankets had pet hair on them. I washed, I dried, I tried everything I could. Most were finally to the point I could give them away, but it took a lot of hours(!) on my part to get there... not exactly how I want to spend my time. There are a couple where the hair is so snugged into the fibers, I don't think I'll ever get it all off... and they may become shelter beds. Considering we buy a lot of this fleece, and you spend the time to turn it into a sweet blanket, it breaks my heart when it can't be used. Please, please, please do what you can to keep the pet hair off the blankets.

I did find one straight pin, and one piece of metal that looks like it might be the head of a needle that punches the batting fiber into the scrim. It was no more than half an inch long, and while the metal detector was pointing it out, it still took me 10 minutes to find it. But it was sharp(!), and eventually would have been found the hard way. This is exactly why I do the metal detector on every blanket.

Blanket Tags

I recently had a conversation with Cindy, Becky, and Marsha (yes, she's still part of the team!!!) about the tags we attach to blankets. I'm not talking about the satin labels - those are mandatory. I'm talking about the paper tag and business card we attach with a ribbon. PL National changed printers recently and while the new business cards are nicer, they are also more expensive. For the number of blankets we're delivering in a year, it would come to about $300. So we tossed around what we've been doing with the business card and poem/name tag on the blanket and the necessity of these. In the end, we all agreed the business card wasn't necessary but we all thought the poem/name tag was a nice touch. So that's what we'll do now... just that tag, which also has my contact info on it.

Financial Donations Down
This year has been a bit skinny for financial donations so far. We've had some, and are still blessed with a monthly contributor. But some of the businesses we've been supported by - well, I still have hopes, but haven't heard much. What this means? Fleece. Right now I don't have enough to go on a fleece spree. We have batting, and quilting cotton - and more of this has been donated over the summer, but our fleece supply is down. We've had some donated, but not a lot. What I'm saying is be prepared to not have a lot to use as we start up the blanket days again. Tides may turn, but I can't guarantee that.

Mystery Quilt
One of the ways our chapter does raise funds is through the Project Linus Mystery Quilt, and Mary, our PL VP has been busy with the ideas! This year's mystery is named after Logan - twin brother to Luke who was the honoree of the original Project Linus Mystery Quilt - Lukey the Lucky Penguin. All we've seen so far is the informational flyer....but it looks like it will be a fun one! Registration opens Monday, August 19, and I believe the first clue will be released on our first Great Falls Blanket Day. It is the same great deal as before... a $15 donation to Project Linus gets you access to all the clues - and these are both written and in video format. PLEASE BE SURE TO INDICATE THE GREAT FALLS and HELENA, MT CHAPTER AS THE RECIPIENT OF THE DONATION. Otherwise, the money goes to national headquarters. Your finished quilt is yours to do with as you please...it does not have to be donated to Project Linus. More information will be shared as it comes available.


Patterns

Speaking of quilts and patterns... yes, there has been discussion about the patterns we will demo the coming year. Is there a theme, you ask? Of course there is a theme! This year's theme is (drumroll, please....) Slice It, Splice It! So we will be building block/shapes, slicing them up, then splicing them back together in a different shape. FUN! I'm working on writing up the patterns now, and will get another post out soon with supplies info.

Helena Blanket Days
For those who have not yet heard, our Helena Blanket Days have a new home! Donna and Julie of Montana Longarm Quilting offered a room of their shop for this. It is smaller than the room at the Helena Moose, but the lighting is better - it's nice and bright! I really think we can make it work. The shop is at 3310 McHugh Ln, (west side of road), about 1/3 to 1/2 mile north of Custer Ave, in Cottonwood Center (I think that's what it's called). There are no steps. Dates will still be the second Saturday, 10:30 - 2:30. And looking for inspiration? They always have some great quilts on their machines... and they offer classes on using their machines so you can quilt your own!

I think that's it for now. My yard work is calling! For those who have been working on blankets and dropping them off... THANK YOU! I delivered 170 blankets last week, and every donation helps. Make sure you enjoy our always too short Montana summer a bit, too! I want you relaxed and refreshed for when we dig in come September!!!

Blessings to you all!
gina

Mid-winter ponderings.....

Wow. What a crazy few weeks it's been! I went to the Great Falls blanket day with so many things to share, I actually made a list. And, of course, everyone wasn't there, so it must be time for a blog post! Since the last one was in August, it's probably time anyway. 😲

Project Linus Shirts

PL Headquarters is trying a new way of doing T-shirts. They found a company that will make T-shirts - short sleeved, baseball shirts, and sweatshirts for a very reasonable price. Anyone can go in and place an order, and the item(s) will be shipped directly to you from them. There is a bit of a catch though... the window to order is only open for 2 weeks 4 times a year. The first window is open now through February 4, 2019. If you would like a PL shirt for yourself, please go to the Western Associates PL site at plstore.mybrightsites.com/  Website models are men, but the sizes are unisex... as most T-shirts are.

Project Linus Mystery Quilt Contest

The 2019 Project Linus Mystery Quilt Contest registration is officially open. There's no race to register your quilt - you have until 5pm CT February 2nd to finish your quilt, take a picture of it and submit your registration form with photo. Please read over the contest rules before your submit your registration just to make sure you have all your ducks (confectioneries) in a row! Even if you've already given your quilt away, if you have a good quality photo and your quilt meets all of the contest requirements - you can still enter. Here's the link: www.projectlinus.org/contest/entry/  I know we had some adorable ones made from our area volunteers!!!

PL Great Falls and Helena Chapter Fabric Challenge

We again did a chapter fabric challenge, and if you haven't gotten your fabric and turned in a quilt, there is still time! There was a changing of the guard of some sort at the library, and some things got missed in the shuffle, so instead of being on display in January or February, we won't be displaying the challenge quilts until June... much better for me considering the weather differences! If you haven't gotten your challenge fabric, we still have some available! One yard cuts are a $15 donation to the chapter, 1/2 yard cuts are $10. If you are interested, please let me know, and I will get a Challenge Packet to you. And please remember, this is a fund-raiser for our chapter. And! There will be prizes!!!

Closer Ties with Joann Fabric and Crafts

JoAnn Fabrics will be doing a PL partnership roll out on January 31. Additionally, they are planning to do an event on February 16 - PL National Make A Blanket Day, for 4 hours, in each store. As I understand, during the event each store will have one employee dedicated to showing people 4 different techniques for making fleece blankets (I do hope they include cutting off the selvedges!) We are not required to be there, but if you are out and about, think about stopping in a local store. That is the day of our Great Falls Blanket Bee, so chances are I will miss it.

This partnership building began some months ago, and we do now have drop-off totes in both the Great Falls and Helena stores.

Numbers!

PROJECT LINUS 2019 'DID YOU KNOW?'
Here are some interesting facts and figures about Project Linus as of January 1, 2019...

• Karen Loucks started Project Linus on December 24, 1995. 
• Project Linus National has had nonprofit status since May 12, 1997.
• Project Linus nationally has officially collected over 7,302,762 blankets as of January 1, 2019. If 70% of them are fabric (30% fleece), assuming each one is 3 yards, that translates into over 15,335,799 yards of fabric. If 30% are afghans, based on 6 skeins per blanket, that is over 13,144,968 skeins of yarn.
• If each blanket is an average of 60" long, and we laid them end to end, they would stretch 36,513,810 feet or 6,915 miles. That is as tall as 1,258 Mt. Everest, or 20,560 One World Trade Centers or 29,211 Empire State Buildings or as long as 92,680 football fields!
• As of January 1, 2019, Project Linus has about 294 chapters in the United States. We have 299 wonderful, compassionate coordinators.

For our chapter, we delivered 1964 blankets in 2019, and have delivered a total of 13,297 blankets since our chapter opened in March 2006.

Patterns

We have three patterns left in our 2018-2019 series 'Simply Sweet!' These three are... Night Sky, Cupcake Frosting, and one I haven't named yet. I have been loving seeing all the different interpretations of the patterns this year... you guys are so creative! I know these upcoming ones will spark even more imaginative designs! I'll leave the details of these next three for another post.

NICU Blankets

It was mentioned at one of our recent blanket days that NICUs are now favoring fleece over natural fiber blankets. I hadn't heard that, so when I made my most recent delivery to the Benefis NICU, I asked. There were three nurses (or other medical professional) on duty at the time, all joined in the brief discussion, and none had heard this. One stated she felt the fleece ones are more linty. So, for now, for us, nothing has changed.

Blanket Quality

I want to thank everyone for their diligence in keeping the quality of the blankets they donate high. I'm finding fewer pins... but still some, less pet hair... but still some, and a lower number of blankets that need some repair... but still some. This is saving me a great deal of time, and allowing for a faster blanket in/ blanket out turn around. It is obvious many are using the Guidelines handout...Thank You for that!!! If you still need a Blanket Guidelines handout, please let me know.

Labels

I also appreciate those of you who are sewing the labels on your blankets... this, too, is saving me a great deal of time. There are still some that are being put in the wrong corner, or on the back. It happens... I've done it myself. You just have to really look at the blanket and fabrics, front and back, to see what is the top. A few of you are using very fancy stitching to sew on the label. For this, simpler is better. There are times when I feel the label really needs to be moved, and the complex stitching is a bear to remove. A straight stitch, small zigzag, or blanket stitch (with the straight part of the stitch going along just outside the label and the teeth or bars pointing in toward the label) are all that is necessary.

Let's Wrap This Up!

Okay... that's a fair bit. I still have more on the upcoming patterns to share, and some Thank You notes to share... more to come on those topics soon.

Meanwhile, it is really snowing out... I'm skipping my class in town... so I am going to go work on getting some blankets ready to deliver instead.

Stay warm... stay safe! and Blessings to you and yours
gina