2011 June 09 — Patchwork Times by Judy Laquidara

June 9, 2011 · by JudyL

This afternoon I delivered the checks to the local Red Cross office. This is the huge stack of checks you all sent in!

The total amount received and delivered was $11,245. Any checks that come in now will be delivered to the local office as I get them. All the names were entered in a spreadsheet and for those who sent more than $25, your name was entered once for each $25 you sent. When the random number generator chose a number for someone’s name who had sent in more then $25, I deleted their name after that, deleted the numbers that corresponded to their name, reset the random number generator and chose the names that way. Tomorrow I will notify those who have won quilts to confirm your addresses and next week I will begin sending out ELEVEN quilts!

Thank you all so very, very much for your generosity. I’ve said it before — most of you have never met me; most of you have no connections to Joplin, MO; there are so very many disasters across our country and other countries where folks need help and I am truly touched that you chose to send money to this project. I also know that every dollar counts for most of us these days and I never ever dreamed that we would raise much more than $1,000 . . maybe $1,500 so when the checks just kept coming in and coming in, well . . it’s rare that I’m a loss for words. There are only so many ways I can say that you’ve amazed me and I think you’ve gotten that message. Likewise, there are only so many ways I can say “thank you” so I hope you all know how truly thankful I am for each one of you – those who sent checks, those who have prayed for the folks in Joplin, those who are sending quilts and those who read the blog daily.

Thank you so very, very much!

Knitting a Shawl

June 9, 2011 · by JudyL

After going through all the multi colored or striped patterns looking for a project for Camp Loopy, Sothia won out and that’s going to be my camp project. I kept thinking about the Striped Study Shawl, which I could make using yarn I have at home.

There’s plenty of yarn here! I always tell myself that I want to make something besides socks but the only time I really knit is in the evenings when sitting upstairs with Vince. I’m not a good enough knitter to follow a pattern, count my stitches and carry on a conversation too so that’s why socks are so easy for me — one yarn, no color changes, no counting — same pattern for the last six years!

But now I have no excuses! Vince is gone and my evenings are spent alone — no interruptions. So I dug through my yarn and came up with three colors of of Madelinetosh Pashmina. I’m so in love with Madelinetosh yarn. The colors I’m going to use are Cloak (almost black), Charcoal (gray) and Tart (a to die for red).