News, News & More News!!!!

This Tuesday, February 5, 2008, Hugs & Stitches will celebrate 3 years of crocheting, knitting and friendship! It's hard to believe that 3 years has gone by already! We've had so much fun during our time together and it's even better knowing that while we are having such fun, we are also doing something good for our community! So - HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUGS & STITCHES!

While our 3rd birthday is certainly something to celebrate, we also have lots of other exciting news! Over the past 3 years, Hugs & Stitches has grown tremendously. We started out as a small group of 6 or 8 ladies and we have grown to a group of nearly 25! While that is wonderful news for the group and the work we are doing, it brings about a big change for us.

As you know, we've enjoyed meeting in the lovely Tea Room or on the huge front porch of Summerville Senior Living. We absolutely loved the place and would happily stay forever - but the number of ladies trying to squeeze into the tiny Tea Room has forced us to find a new home. So starting Tuesday, February 5th, we will begin a new year at the Carroll Nonprofit Center in Westminster.

This is the Carroll Nonprofit Center. The red ribbon was for the

ribbon cutting ceremony at our grand opening in May 2006.

The Carroll Nonprofit Center is a wonderful facility with a tremendous purpose serving nonprofit organizations in Carroll County, MD. I also have the great privilege of working there! It is a large facility that was donated to Carroll County for the sole purpose of housing nonprofit agencies and helping other agencies, not housed there, by providing conference room space.

This is me at the Dedication Ceremony for the building back in May of 2006.

For Hugs & Stitches, being able to meet in this facility will mean better parking, better lighting and much more room for all of us to continue to crochet and knit all of those items which we donate to many organizations in Westminster and Carroll County. While we will greatly miss the lovely Tea Room and the wonderful ladies who worked at Summerville, we feel that this move to the Carroll Nonprofit Center will be a good one for us!

This is a friend (Darlene) who asked her church to do a yarn drive for the group. Not only did they agree - they did TWO yarn drives! This is Darlene delivering the first large donation of yarn to us during one of our regular meetings in the Tea Room at Summerville.

I would like to take time now to thank all of those who have donated yarn to Hugs & Stitches in the past year. Their generosity is so appreciated by all of us! While some delivered the yarn to us during our meeting (as seen in the above photo), many others simply left bags of yarn with the front desk at Summerville. Some of those people left their name and address so we could send them a "thank you" letter, while others chose not to leave their information. I don't know if any of them would read this - but if they do - THANK YOU!! It means so much to us that others are willing to help us in our mission! I would also like to give a very special thanks to the staff at Summerville who made our time there so much more enjoyable. They were always so pleasant and friendly to us and made us feel right at home. We'll miss you all very much!

Just a sampling of some of the lovely hand made items that our ladies produce each and every week!

Another batch of scarves from the group, most likely going to the Shepherd's Staff "Call for Coats" project they have every October.

As most of you know - Shepherd's Staff is our biggest project every year. For 2007 we exceeded our previous years in the number of items we donated to their Call for Coats project! (You can read about 2007 and previous years efforts in the earlier BLOG entries) But our entire totals for 2007 just amaze me!! The ladies in this group are so dedicated and work so hard to keep these items rolling in week after week. So - here are the complete totals of our work for 2007. (These numbers include the Shepherd's Staff project)

SCARVES - 1,075 HATS - 375 MITTENS - 175 AFGHANS - 150 Can you believe those numbers??!! This group of ladies is just awesome!! Well - I guess that's all the news for now! Thanks for taking the time to read about our little group. I hope you have enjoyed the latest update of Hugs & Stitches. Check back any time to see what we've been working on - we'd love to have you!