D-Day (D for Deployment)
As many of you know, my husband is in the US Army and he is currently deployed in Afghanistan. Being a military family is not always easy. We are pulled in a million different directions and most of the time being pulled apart by outside forces. It is never an easy path to walk down and we try to do our best every day to make it work. One of the hardest things about deployment, aside from him missing every single day with our daughter…is being separated for all the special days. Birthdays, anniversaries, the first day of school (ok, we are not there yet, but I know this is hard from watching my other military friends), and the holidays. These days always feel like they are somehow lacking when half of you is missing.
Since the day he left I have been wracking my brain trying to figure out how to not only make the holiday season special for Anne and I but how to make it special for my husband and the men and women he serves with. I have teamed up with Kristy from Hopeful Threads for the September 2012 “Remember Service Men and Women” project. We wanted to not only send Holiday gifts to the soldiers, but something handmade and something useful. After much hemming and hawing we have come up with two different items that we think would be well used down range: Pillowcases and E-Reader Covers. Every soldier has a pillow and many have e-readers or something similar. There are lots of things I could talk about in this post, but today I wanted to talk as a military spouse, which I don’t often do…
It is easy to sometimes feel forgotten, especially at this stage in the “war”. Our family members leave and our whole world changes. It is easy to feel as though you have no community – it was how I felt before I joined this wonderful community online. The idea of being able to send the men and women in my husband’s battery a Handmade Holiday…well it just makes my heart sing. I know that they would feel loved and remembered and well taken care of. The taken care of part is, I think, what means the most. They are out there every day, laying it all on the line, taking care of us, and I can’t think of a better way to make them feel like someone else wants to take care of them too than taking the time to make a handmade gift.
For more details on the project please head over to Hopeful Threads. Kristy and I have a lot of fun planned for this month including tutorials from some pretty talented sewists and quilters, giveaways from some of your favorite shops and fabric designers, as well as a series of interviews with several army, air force and national guard spouses. These spouses will tell you first hand what your contribution means to them.
So grab a button and get ready to sew!
Honored to have the privilege to work with you on this project this month!
This is a great idea- I was just thinking about what we would do to make the holidays special with Mike away!
I have been wanting to do something with my sewing to honor and help soldiers. My husband and I donate some of his best chainsaw carvings to a local American Legions for them to raffle for various fund raisers they have. On September 8, they are have a Legacy Run and we gave them a chainsaw carved eagle with a six foot wing span for a fund raiser. I am so excited to be able to put my not so special skill to work to help.
Thank you so very much.
Wow, I still have the fabric that I won in your giveaway, hmmmmmmm!!!
Love it. Count me in.
Thank you for your sacrifice. Since “meeting” you online, every time I hear about things in Afghanistan on the news I think of you guys. Hope your hub comes home safely.
SO excited for this project! <3
I agree with Kristy, I feel honored to work on this project, to be included in it. I love the images and feel so fortunate that my personal life path has crossed with Melissa and Kristy. They are bother “giver’s. Thank you. Sondra
I forgot to add, my husband, Gregg and I always have you, Melissa, Little A and Aaron in our thoughts. Positive energy to all the soldiers and their families. We send our love and hope to you. XXX Sondra
((Hugs)) I’ll be following along
Not quilt or sewing related, but when my Lt. grandson was posted in Egypt I sent homemade soap to him and all the guys in his ‘group’ for Christmas. It was well received by his men and my grandson still asks for the same scent. If there’s a soap-maker in your crowd you might consider this.
great idea, I have wahm made soap samples I’d love to send along to Melissa with my gifts.
Hi! I found this via Pinterest, and as a Navy brat, I LOVE this idea! I’ll be joining in! 🙂 Thank you for sponsoring something so caring for our troops!
You know I am so IN girl! This is what Christmas is All about. Excited to get started :+)
You know I’ll be sending! I’ve asked hundreds of my closest friends to consider helping, too!
I don;t know how you do it – you are all amazing xxx
As a fellow Army spouse I would love to be part of this, if there is any room left. Even if there isn’t I plan on sharring about it as much as I can. 🙂
Thanks for doing this!
Woot! I’m on board, and I just posted about it, to see if we can get lots of gifties going over there! Hugs!
Sounds like a great plan for all concerned 🙂
count me in. I will try to put this info on m blog this week.
I’m digging in my stash right now. I’ll be posting soon and looking for an address to mail these off to! HOOAH!
Look what I just found, thought I’d share, free tuts and patterns
http://tipnut.com/ipad-kindle-covers/
also I wrote about this on my blog to share/sew along too
http://noguchidesigns.blogspot.com/2012/09/rememberseptembersew-alonggifting.html