...girl, who does your hair!!

I opened up this box yesterday, and WOW!! I love the way Marian of Utah did these gals hair.

She varied the styles. Sometimes using chain stitch, straight stitch and stem stitch. What a wonderful way to add your own personal spin on these Comfort Dolls.
Thanks so much!!
Smiles to All,
Brenda

...a wonderful thank-you

Just wanted to share this wonderful letter with everyone.
CDP Ladies ROCK!!

 

Smiles to All,

Brenda

...look who went to the Ohio State Fair!

Look at this wonderful Project!

Dear Brenda, 

 Hi! My name is Hannah , and I thought your Comfort Dolls idea was great! I read the article in Sew News about it. I used this project as a citizenship activity, where I taught younger kids how to make them (we actually made about 30 dolls), and I made a display board showing the steps about how to make the dolls, titling it “Comfort Dolls”. I took this board as a 4-H project to the county fair, and it was selected to move on to the state fair. 

Hannah 
 
 Congratrulations to Hannah! I love the creative ways so many have found to support this project, truely inspiring!!

Good Luck Hannah on winning State!!
Smiles to All,
Brenda

...WE ARE OVER 100!...

...WE ARE OVER 100!... Look yous guys, we did it, we are over 100 strong, 102 to be exact! A giant thanks to everyone for your support and good wishes.

I am always in awe of not only the time that you put into making your dolls, but then taking the time to sit down and jot a little note. It is such an honor to be able to receive and read your wonderful stories. I just got a note from 2 sisters who get together on Tuesdays to sew. They have read sewnews for years and saw the project. How wonderful that they were able to have this to share with each other, and then to us.

Little Gals waiting to get a new home

Now, I'd like to take a moment and share with you what a discovered, well, to be honest, after the first few batches of dolls. This wonderful pattern is missing an important element. A mouth. These dolls are headed to people who have been abused for using their voice, or who have never been able to appreciate their own voice, and the dolls need to reflect the importance of being able to speak. So, my volunteers and I have been adding mouths to these beauties. (I know, why didn't I say anything earlier??? I too have my own "speaking" issues in play.)

  Before anyone has a chance to say, "..but I can't make a mouth", let me assure you that YES YOU CAN! This is all we do.

one dot left

   All we have done is made 3 red dots, two on the top, one centered underneath and then drawn with a micron pen (or any other non-bleeding marker) a line through the center and then outlined the upper two dots, and the lower dot....and viola! A mouth in which to speak, to laugh, to cry, to sing!!

now one dot right

now the 3rd dot under those

squiggle line between

outline top and bottom 

TADAA!

Please, do not let the mouth stop you from making these gals. If you just don't feel comfortable doing it, please send them without and I will continue giving them their voice.

Another GIANT thanks to all!!

Smiles to All,
Brenda

...never forget

You are worthy. You are not your family's drama. You are not limited by the borders of your hometown. You are not a story in history books. And you can be more that the sum total of your life's experiences. "You must be a lotus, unfolding its petals when the sun rises in the sky, unaffected by the slush where it is born or even the water which sustains it!" If we tell it like it TIZ, we remember the words of the late great Tupac, "It's like if you plant something in the concrete, you ain't gonna say "damn, look at all the scratches and marks on the rose.." you gonna be like "DAMN! a ROSE grew from the CONCRETE?" We've made it through some stuff ya'll. Today, it feels good to stop and say so. Now is our new beginning. Together, we grow vibrant, healthy, delicate and strong. [Lotus Quote: Sai Baba, Photo: Tina Turner]

...a new delivery...

Good morning to all!! I just opened up a new package that arrived on my doorstep yesterday from Karyn in Colorado, what wonderful little gals. I have been meaning to write about how much I appreciate that some of you have reduced the pattern size so that the dolls are smaller. A GIANT thank-you on that account.
It's funny, when Lucy contacted me over a year ago and asked if she could make a pattern that could then be published in sewnews, I just said, "sure, that'd be great". eh' and that was that...but then she ACTUALLY came back with a pattern, and it was fantastic. It met all the specs, cute as could be and user-friendly. Wonderful! Sure!
Now, I have to admit that behind the scenes, I'm encouraged, but, once again, eh' people have asked before, and I've gotten a couple of dolls...so, I naively thought, eh' It will be nice to have our project written up again and receive a few of these dolls....oooooohhhhhh, how naive I was!!!
Facts are, I have received HUNDREDS upon HUNDREDS of these wonderful dolls.

40 Comfort Dolls from Karyn of Firestone Colorado

That's is why the request for reducing the pattern size to 75% or smaller if you like. I'm able to combine the sizes in my packaging which keeps the weight of the package 13 0z or less, which greatly reduces the postage.

So, thank you, thank you all!!! for helping me remedy my postal conundrum!!
Smiles to All,
Brenda

...sharing their journey

This Sew News support has been truly amazing. The dolls just keep coming!! The outpouring of support is incredible. I'd like to share with you a letter which accompanied 60, yes 60 comfort dolls.
Dear Brenda:
I have been a subscriber to SEWNEWS for some time. Each issue brings new ideas and many useful projects. The Operation Comfort Doll project really caught my attention.
I showed this project to my good friend and we decided this would be our Lenten project this year. We worked on it from just before the beginning of Lent and finished on Holy Thursday.
Enclosed in this box, you will find sixty Comfort Dolls. Each is bagged ready to receive your tag and be delivered to someone in need of encouragement at an unsettling time in their lives.
When we stared this project, we were both recovering from foot/ankle injuries. Out of our pain, we gave "birth" to these sixty "girls".  We send our love and hope for a better life for those who receive our "girls"
Sincerely yours, Rebecca and Andrea


I can't tell you how much joy and hope it brings me hearing how these dolls have been created. I also received a donation from Tammy this week. It was only the second time she had used her sewing machine. She spent a week practicing and preparing her stitches and craftsmanship to transform her materials into 4 wonderful Comfort Dolls!!
Kudos to everyone for such wonderful inspiration and caring!
Smiles to All,
Brenda