Well, last fall Michael was on the mainland for two months and I caught wind that the local military hospital here was in need of quilts for all the babies in the NICU. I thought this would be a great way to use my love of sewing and also give back to my community. So, I turned so my ever loyal facebook page and informed my few Hawaii friends at the time that I would be sewing and if anyone wanted to come join, they could. Our first sewing day had four of my closest friends here, two of which had never sewn. We raided my tubs of fabric scraps and made some beautiful scrappy quilts until two in the morning. Two weeks later we had a second sewing party at my house and 14 people came! Even though we were cramped in my little home we were able to make eight adorable baby quilts and made our first delivery to the NICU. And this is how Patchwork for Preemies was formed!
Sitting here just over a year later I am amazed at how much the group has grown. We now have over 100 members some which have never touched a sewing machine and others with years of experience. We have to book the local community center on sewing days and generally sew for about 12 hours straight. We try to make monthly quilt donations ranging for 8-12 quilts and have had the joy of seeing our tokens of love gifted to families within our local community. It has been amazing receiving the support from the rest of the community and now we run completely off of donations and are in the process of making the group official through ACS.
I have met some amazing women through this group including Nikki at Lacey. To those new to the military life or struggling at a new duty station, I would encourage you to find a group to get plugged in with, a way to get involved. That is how you will meet those people who will be there for you where ever life takes you.
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