The Common Thread Circle

Read the full story here. Thanks, Fox News!

If you missed the Fox news program, go to our nifty report on it.

We continue to meet every Monday at Starbucks Town and Country from 2-4 p.m. Join us when you are free. We always welcome your help.

June 10 1:30 p.m. at Rima’s home: Calling all knitters and crocheters! Bring your needles and yarn and learn to knit quick and lovely baby blankets, lap throws and scarves for cancer patients. Come see the 95 beautifully stitched hats of all sizes created by patrons of Twisted Yarns, my favorite knitting shop. Mance will be here to share her patterns and inspire you to enjoy your knitting/crocheting. RSVP by email or phone.

June 16 9:30 a.m. in Room D220 at Memorial Drive United Methodist Church: Join this meeting to learn about our latest projects and to stuff pillows.

June 18 from 5-8:30 p.m.: Charity Knitting Night at Twisted Yarns in Old Town Spring. Encore yarn from Plymouth Yarn Company has donated Encore yarn for bears, and Cascade has donated Cascade 220 for hats, available to all the participants.

And last but not least, our donations this week went to Triumph Hospital at Town and Country, and Ben Taub and Memorial Hermann Hospitals.

Dr. Charles Simmons, the senior minister at Memorial Drive United Methodist Church, wrote in to encourage us in our efforts:

Rima, love these updates. I got a lovely letter from Methodist about your ministry, and how much it means to the recipients of your work. Pass it on to the others how proud we are of all of you! And thankful!
Chuck

Dr. Charles B. Simmons, Senior Minister
Memorial Drive United Methodist Church
12955 Memorial Drive
Houston, Texas 77079
713-468-8356, ext. 128

We’re thankful that others notice our work and are willing to help out. That helps “our” patients.

There’s another way you can help us out — you can make our handcrafted items at home, bring them to us, and we’ll get them to patients. Here are patterns you can use to make handcrafts for patients.

• Blanket pattern (PDF, 1.4mb)
• Crib catch-all pattern (PDF, 1.5mb)
• Isolette cover (PDF, 1.5mb)
• Laundry Bag (PDF, 1.5mb)

Fox News Anchor Pattie Shieh and a camera crew visited the Common Thread Circle on May 19,2009 for a story on donations to Harris County Hospitals.

Jennifer Barnes, Director of Volunteer and Guest Services for the Harris County Hospital District, was featured discussing the work of The Common Thread Circle, as was Liz Tice, from Ben Taub’s volunteer services department.

In addition to twenty-five members who cheerfully stuffed pillows and stitched in the background, our faculty advisor at Memorial Driver United Methodist Church, the Reverend Suzanne Cox Reedstrom, attended.

During and after the Fox interviews, over 200 soft heart-shaped pillows were completed. These will be used for post-operative patients at Harris County area hospitals, explained Susan Dunten, a volunteer with the group.

The meeting also commemorated The Common Thread Circle donating over 5300 handcrafted fabric works donated to Houston Area hospitals during the last fiscal year. In fact, according to volunteer Christel Dekker, every two hours an item is donated.

Barnes and volunteer Rima Blanc were interviewed, and the camera crew also got to see pink scarves and pillows donated to breast cancer patients, as well as matching catch-alls and laundry bags donated to neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) at Harris County Hospitals.

According to Fox, the segment is to be aired around June 4 on Houston area channels.

Christel has added to the website patterns for blankets, crib catch-alls, isolette covers and laundry bags. We will eventually expand this section to include knitting and crochet patterns. What a great idea thanks to Christel and our two hard-working webmasters, Michele and Chris!

What a first week in the new year! Two meetings with great attendance. One party. One news crew with Pattie Shieh taping us for a Fox 26 feature of our group looking wonderful and having a fun time stuffing pillows. This piece will air in about two weeks, and I will email you as soon as we know the day.

Due to your incredible efforts, we donated handcrafted items to: Harris County Hospital System, Memorial Hermann, Children’s Memorial Hermann, M.D. Anderson, Methodist, St. Luke’s Hospital, Memorial Drive United Methodist Church and the Concierge Nursing Home. Our total was 337. A great start to the new year thanks to each and every one of you!

Welcome to a new year at Common Thread Circle. Together we will reach out to patients in Houston area hospitals, give them handmade fabric works they can use and send a message that we care.

REMEMBER

Come to Starbucks Town and Country May 18 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Come to Memorial Drive United Methodist Church May 19 AT 9:30 a.m. PLEASE NOTE THE TIME CHANGE. We are welcoming the new year with a Party. Come ready to stuff and sew and have a great time.

In the past two weeks, we have donated to Children’s Memorial Hermann, Shriners Orthopedic and Burn Hospital, M.D.Anderson and Memorial Hermann Hospitals.

We are doing great work.

Exciting news! Harris County Hospital District, which oversees Ben Taub Hospital, arranged for a TV Channel News team to videotape our group for their evening newscast! Please come to Starbucks as usual on Monday and for the next few Mondays to show off our stuff! Evening gowns are unnecessary, but come as you want your adoring public to see you. This is a chance for our whole team to demonstrate what we do for Houston’s leading hospitals.

My very favorite yarn shop is going to help us knit bears for our hospitals. What fine support they are giving us, and how very wonderful of Plymouth Yarn Company to donate wool for the event. I will be going and would love company. Check out Twisted Yarns at www.twistedyarnstexas.com.

And here is an excerpt from the Twisted Yarns newsletter:

Special Events: We are excited to announce that Thursday, June 18, we will have a sit-n-knit with the special theme of charity knitting. We’ll be knitting/crocheting bears for kids, and stocking caps for the troops. The finished bears will go to children in local hospitals ~ Memorial Hermann, Children’s Memorial Hermann, Ben Taub, MD Anderson and Texas Children’s. If you would like to participate, you may use some Encore which has been generously donated by Plymouth Yarn Company for the bears, or Cascade 220 Superwash for the stocking caps, also generously given by Cascade. You may use your own yarn as long as it is washable. There is more information about these projects on our blog. We will also have Warren Hanson, author of Kiki’s Hats, here to read from the book, and discuss the inspiration for his book. He’ll also be happy to sign books for you! Join us on Thursday, June 18th from 5 to 8:30. We’ll have refreshments and door prizes of course! See you then!

This an exciting time for Common Thread Circle. I am glad all of you are a part of it.