Sandy Christian-Mamie

As a nurse, I can't tell y'all how much we appreciate each and every person who donates! THANK YOU!!!

Thank you, Cristina!

We use those gowns all the time. The parents so appreciate them. It is difficult enough to have to go through that experience and loss and there are few things we can say or do to help support them, but this is one of them. I also use fabric ink and take the footprints and put them into an embroidered project that has their name, date of birth, time, length, weight, and if they were born alive, the date of death. There are times when it just isn't possible to get footprints, so I create something with a stamp of a footprint. One time, a family had 15 of their family members there to support the couple. I was unable to get footprints, so I did all their handprints and made a wall hanging with the family member's names' embroidered on the handprints and put the baby's info at the top after embroidering, "With these hands we will lift each other up while we mourn...and the baby's name." I always ask their nursery colors are or whether hearts or butterflies mean more to them, colors, Bible verses, etc. I try to design it with their input, so each one is different. I only had pix of two handy that I had covered up the names for their privacy to share. I learned PSP to create T-shirts and art for our biz. For those of you who use it for scrapbooking, doing layouts of their babies would be a huge gift. It is the only pix they will ever have of their child. Art is therapy - for those of us who do it and those who receive it.

Shirley, see https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=nicu+and+crochet+octopus&sei=k5G-Z5PLBY6p9u8P6tWwiQg. Michele, yes, those programs are fantastic. Many babies with birth defects are abandoned or those whose moms were addicted to cocaine are taken from the moms. While the NICU nurses love the babies as if they were their own, they don't have time to just hold and love on them - and the skin to skin program has been proven to help babies' respirations to be less labored, for their immune systems to thrive, etc. Most ended with Covid, but many are starting back up again.

Check out the highlights and patternshere - https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=nicu+and+crochet+octopus&sei=k5G-Z5PLBY6p9u8P6tWwiQg

It's been at least 15-20 years. We didn't have them when I worked LDR about 35 yrs ago.

As a labor and delivery nurse, I work closely with NICU. These octopi are a wonderful gift to babies and their parents.

I have a 21 year old Saturn with its second engine in it. It has over 260,000 miles. My hubby was so excited one Christmas morning to show me he got me new headlights (the plastic covering had become so yellowed, you could barely see), he didn't let me get dressed first. lol.

That is just gorgeous! I agree - you have been a lifesaver!

That looks great! I love the idea of the coffee too! I haven't had time to play with all that great designs they have to just play with!

That does sound like fun! I remember when we moved from one house to another house and during the move found a forgotten Easter egg - thank goodness it never rotted!

You mentioned that you don't necessarily think you can make quilts because not all your fabric is cotton. It doesn't have to be all cotton. There are crazy quilts I have made with velvets , lace, leather, and all sorts of fabrics, especially in crazy quilting. It just means you may have to launder them differently. For nursing homes, though, I do recommend using fabrics that are washable, but this can include poly blends.