April 1st through May 31st
That’s right! We’re doing it again! This one has some differences from our previous Event. One BIG change is that we are including quilting.
Beginning on April 1st, and going through May 31st, our yarn crafters will be making knitted or crocheted blocks, 10 by 10 inches square, to be joined into twin, full, queen and king-sized blankets, by our Mattresses In Reach Team. Our Quilters will be making 34 by 34 inch crib blankets.
These blankets will be going, with mattresses, to our clients. Each crafter will also reach out to anyone they know who might want to sponsor them, and the donations from those sponsors will go to funding Mattresses In Reach.
An example of how that works: “Hey Joe! I’m making blanket squares/crib blankets for donation. Would you like to pledge a few dollars per square/crib blanket? Your donation would go to Mattresses In Reach, getting mattresses to people who cannot get them on their own.” (You may share with them this link: https://mattressesinreach.com/ )
Your sponsors have choices as to how they pledge. Some examples of ways to pledge are
– $ amount per item.
– flat donation regardless of number of items completed.
– $ amount per time unit that you spend stitching (ex. $1 per hour spent stitching)
– other (can be specified in the “notes” box of the stitcher’s Pledge Log)
Monetary donations to Mattresses In Reach will be collected at the end of the event. Stitchers should remind their sponsors, who will then be able to go to the “donate to Mattresses In Reach” button near the bottom of the event page and make their contribution.
Your sponsors have choices in how they will be recognized. They can be anonymous or named. (Only those for whom you have checked the “named” box on your pledge log can be listed in Mattresses In Reach posts. Those for whom you do not check “named” will be counted and added to the “Anonymous contributor” category) If they choose to be named, they still get to choose whether or not their contribution amount is publicly shared (same process, no check of box equals no amount posted).
Stitchers also get to choose whether to be named or anonymous, and whether to have their total item count, and/or $ amount collected publicly shared. (This choice will be indicated by the stitcher on their pledge log when it is turned in. Up until the final results are posted, all participants will be counted as one lump sum and all will be anonymous.)
Click below to sign up and gain access to your downloadable/printable Pledge Log (signing up only requires name and email. No long questionnaire)
Yarn Crafters, please use acrylic yarn. Very few people are allergic to acrylic yarn, whereas all natural yarns will be great for some people and very bad for others. We don’t know which individuals will end up with which pieces, so acrylic only please.
(The crocheted and knitted squares will be stitched together as follows:
- 10 squares by 6 squares for a twin blanket ((fits twin XL))
- 10 squares by 8 squarres for a full/queen blanket.
- 10 squarers by 10 squares for a king blanket.
So if you are wanting to do enough squares of a certain theme to make a complete blanket, make sets of 60,80, or 100 squares. This is not AT ALL required. . . just if it would make you happy.)
For those of us who like to have company while we stitch, there will be “Stitch Together” sessions. We will meet in person on Saturdays at the Hillsboro Library on Brookwood, if you are local. If you are farther away, or if you just want to have even more “together” time, we will do video chat sessions on Tuesday evenings. Depending on interest levels, we may have more sessions on additional days. Attendance for Stitch Together sessions is NEVER mandatory. It’s just for fun.
As we near the start date, I will add links to download pledge logs and such. If you want a clear idea of what they will look like, you may go to the page for our previous Stitch-a thon and check out the old ones. The pledge logs are not a REQUIREMENT. If you have your own way of tracking that you prefer, that is just fine as long as you can communicate it with us at the end of the event.
Mattresses In Reach 