Six Fat Men as of 16.10.11 - Part 1 Complete

I started another new project this week!!  It's the Six Fat Men Series from Lizzie Kate and I am stitching it on 14 count opalescent aida in Dragon's Evening Sky from Crafty Kitten Fabrics.  As soon as I got the fabric in the post I had to start stitching and here is the first Snowman complete.

I love the design and I love the way the colours pop out against the fabric.  I've got the second part of the series all ready and I hope to have the other four parts in the next few weeks and I will hopefully get the entire piece stitched before Christmas.

I also got a little under 700 stitches done on Train of Dreams and I was loving stitching it but just couldn't resist this new start.  Can't decide what to stitch on next so think I'll sleep on it and see how I feel tomorrow.

Just to update you on my previous posts about baby Isla, unfortunately she lost her battle and went to be an angel.  My thoughts and prayers are with her family.

Shy Baby as of 08.10.11

Since my last post I've been working on Shy Baby and also made quite a lot of progress on my Lizzie Kate Flip it With Charm.  So here's the pics.

I love that I can see her mouth now and the bottom of her nose.

I'm really enjoying the simplicity of this design and it has made me look at my stash in a different way and I can't wait to stitch more of the smaller designs I have which I know I will finish.

So strangely enough I have a strong desire to do some stitching on Train of Dreams which is odd as I've never enjoyed stitching it.  I saw a progress pic someone else posted recently and it really made me want to make some progress on mine.

On a non-stitching note with reference to my previous post I am asking for you to say a little prayer for Isla as she is in a very serious condition at the moment.

Can I Borrow Your Voice

This post has nothing to do with stitching but a story from another blog I read has really touched my heart and I wanted to share the families story with you all to see if anyone can help.

I am not as eloquent as other bloggers out there so I have copied this post from Motherhood Truth.

As a blogger I read MANY blogs. Some are funny off the wall stories and some are a look inside the blogger's life. People start blogs for many reasons but end up using them for something they never thought they would.

The Anderson's started a blog back in July to simply keep their friends and family up to date on their pregnancy. At 26 wks"peanut" arrived while they were on vacation, miles away from home. Not only did dad have a new baby that was 14 wks early but he had a wife that was on life support.

"Peanut" was then transferred to a hospital 2 hrs away, which meant dad would drive 4+ hrs a day to see his girls.

Mom was finally transferred closer to baby and woke up after about a month, but baby continues to stay critical and mom is still healing.

You can read their entire story HERE

As a mom that went through a hospital experience with a child (although very minor compared to this) I know one thing adds up. The bills. Not just the hospital bills but the everyday bills that continue to grow and don't stop just because this family's life has paused. The money needed to feed dad, and get him things to live on because he is so far from home. Finances then become another burden on top of the stress of a sick child, and in this case a sick mom.

While this family has a huge support system I cannot help but think I can and HAVE to do something. I am in the US and they live in the UK.  What could I do?

At one point I tried to ignore my need to help, but I just couldn't. I went to bed praying for this family. Praying I would get up and see their blog and everything would be better. I woke up with an urge to help. I decided I NEED to help them pay for things since I cannot be there to physically help them.

 I have emailed the family and they have only confirmed myNEED to help them, not because they asked for the help, but because they felt they couldn't accept but were so grateful. I didn't give them a choice, the hardest thing for parents in a situation like this is asking for help.

After another email I was told they would accept my help to raise money for them on a couple conditions. One of them brought me to tears.

* Depending on what they need they would donate half the money to BLISS, a charity that helps preemies (baby's born too soon, too small, too sick) and their parents across the UK. 

This family is going through something most cannot even imagine. A time when they have ALL RIGHT to be selfish and live for them, but they are looking to help others through our help!

THIS IS WHERE I NEED YOUR VOICE!!


I have had the family set up a Paypal account. I am asking people to donate what they can, IF they can. I am also asking fellow bloggers to donate ONE blog post to this family and/or a Tweet and/or Facebook Post. You are more than welcome to copy and paste this post, or just parts. Whatever is easiest for you!

If you do not want to post this story on your blog I understand but hope you will still send people here to help!

I have absolutely NO contact with any money sent. It all goesDIRECTLY to the family so that they can access it when they need it!

*Because I have NO contact with the money I will not know how well we are doing. If you make a donation I would love for you to shoot me an email or comment just saying you donated. I do not need to know how much, I just want to know if this story is actually getting out. Danielle@Motherhoodtruth.com

If you have ANY questions AT ALL please Email me. My goal is to help this family, I will sit here and answer 5 million questions if I have to in order to make sure they get the help they deserve!

Want to Donate Money?

No amount is too small! Every dollar will GREATLY be appreciated!

*Go to Paypal
*Click "Send Money"
*Enter the amount you wish to send and check "Friends and Family"
*Enter their email address mattaanderson {at} mail {dot} com
(Sorry I do not care if I get the spam, but I want to avoid the family from getting spam)
*Fill out the rest of the information asked of you

Please note that Paypal will do the currency exchange for you with the money being sent. It is a small fee in comparison to the other options of raising money. 


I am aiming high...I want to try to ease the financial burden from this family so they can just focus on getting better! I also know that at this point even if we mange to come together and get $100 it will help them!

Please help me help this family that deserves all the help they can get! We have voices! Let's use them for a good reason.

Thank you in advance to anyone and everyone that donates, whether it is money, a post, a tweet or a FB update!

**Update**

This comment was left by Matt (dad) and I just wanted to pull it up here so you guys can see how grateful they really truly are!

"Thank-you so much for this Danielle. You have written a lovely post dedicated to us and we can thank you enough. From the very bottom of our hearts we have been touched by your willingness to want to help and your selfless carign nature. 

Also big thank-you to anyone re-posting, tweeting, FB, G+ and specially those donating to us. We are eternally grateful. 

Matt, Lauren & Isla x"