Wednesday, March 24, 2010

A Change of Pace

Something a little different today. My EGA chapter (Manhattan) is taking part in two Outreach Programs - ways in which we, as stitchers, give back to our communities. The two items pictured are my contributions this month.
The bookmark is part of the new National Outreach Project, Needle and ThREAD, Stitching for Literacy. The bookmarks are donated to area libraries which then distribute them to readers as a way of increasing interest in books. "Books are Treasures. Reading is the Key."

The small pillow (4" square) is called a "Soldier's Kiss Pillow". The pillows are distributed to service personnel who are about to be deployed. They are either kissed by the soldier and left with his/her family, or kissed by family members and taken by the soldier on his/her deployment. The pillow top was designed by a chapter in Texas, and the pillows have been stitched in the thousands by EGA and ANG members; the design has been modified and stitched by Canadian members of EAC as well.
The second photo shows the back of the Kissing Pillow - a patriotic pattern, in this case the Statue of Liberty, in red.
The Bookmark took a bit more than an hour to complete. The embroidery on the pillow took about 2 1/2 hours and completing the piece took another hour or so. Not much when you consider how appreciated these little gifts are.
Grandma

4 comments:

Gillie said...

Hi Edy, our chapter (Kalamazoo) is doing the kissing pillows too. Quite a change working on Aida and with three strands of thread!

Edy said...

No looping on these!

Anne Stradal said...

Lovely work, and kudos to you for giving back to the community!

Sharon said...

What lovely projects! I'd never heard of the kissing pillow - what a sweet thing for a family to have. Thanks for representing the stitching community so well by sharing your talents! :)