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Previous Group Work

In February 2009, in an effort to get more people involved with Soldiers' Angels, I started a local group. Unfortunately, by October 2009, it was becoming clear that the effort was a lot of work by a few and it was becoming hard to keep the group going. So we disbanded as a group, but some of us continue with our own efforts on our soldiers' behalf. Below are photos from some of our gatherings.

I want to sincerely thank those who came to help! Your efforts are greatly appreciated and I do hope you, too, continue helping our soldiers.

August, 2009

These two blankets from our Aug gathering were finalized by Dian at home and sent off to Iraq. One to Spc John at Camp Liberty in Iraq and one to Capt Mike at I-Corps in Iraq.

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Photos and follow up from our Gathering held Sunday, Aug 2, 2009

LuAnne and Kathy enjoying a little beer and pizza during a lunch break in the sewing/crocheting action.

Naylene...the only person besides Dian who has been at every gathering...enjoying a little break, too.

Diana, owner of Di's Den Tavern...former home to our group...working away on an American Flag afghan.

LuAnne and Naylene pinning together another blanket that will be sent to our soldiers in warzones.

Kathy busy sewing away on another blanket...or rather removing a pin at the moment so she doesn't sew it into the blanket!

Naylene's good friend, Karen, stops by to watch. Dian showed Naylene how we can now use the machines to sew the stars on because Dian figured out how to use the invisible thread and not go crazy with it unwinding. Tip...get a cone thread holder to keep the thread upright! So we knocked down the feed dogs, put on the darning foot and Naylene was having a gas QUICKLY sewing on stars now using the machine versus all that hand sewing.

Soon Karen asks if she can try it cos' it looks fun!

Naylene shows her how to unpin a star, check the position, and then zip the stitches around the star to fasten it to the blue field of yarn.

Although we only managed to get one blanket finished this time, we did do a lot of additional work on lapghans. The one Naylene is holding isn't quite finished, so some of the stars may look misaligned or missing, but that's just because they haven't been finalized and sewn yet. But we're getting there! Lots of blankets in the works and near finished.

Charlotte wasn't able to make it this month because it was her grandchild's birthday...but she did stop by to drop off two more lapghans she finished over the month between meetings! THAT GIRL can crochet! She even does the stars herself. We just added the white ribbon and marked those finished! Great job, Charlotte!

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Photos and follow up from our Gathering held Sunday, July 5, 2009

Charlotte Caron is amazing! She showed up at this meeting with one American Flag lapghan finished and one nearly finished! Fantastic! Then she got busy sewing our next blanket that was ready for stitching.

Diana Jun, owner of Di's Den Tavern...our home base...was able to join us this session. She's working away on an American Flag lapghan. We're storing those and plan to soon hand deliver them to hospitalized Vets at Hines VA Hospital.

Next to Dian, Naylene is our most dedicated volunteer. Here she is back to working on sewing stars. This is one of Charlottes near finished lapghans. During this session, Naylene worked away to finish adding the remaining stars.

Some of the supplies we are able to purchase...thanks to those of you who make donations to our efforts.

Dian is a Microsoft MVP (Technical Consultant), so she's able to get some software from Microsoft to use as a raffle incentive to help boost donations. Eighteen people have donated funds during the month and are in the running to win this copy of Microsoft Office 2007 Home/Student Edition.

Diana's friend, Rosey, joins us to help work on blankets. But first she must enjoy some coffee and some of the very tasty Cherry coffee cake Diana donated to the group this gathering.

Rosey working away on an American Flag lapghan.

Diana, annoyed because she thinks she missed a stitch. Nope...she's doing great!

Time for our raffle drawing. Dian puts a card with each number in a bag and gives it a good shake.

We ask one of the bar patrons who are not part of the raffle to draw the winning number from the bag.

The lucky winner is...number 12...which belongs to Judith Gardner. She saw Dian's notice in one of Dian's technical groups (www.mousetrax.com/resources.html) and made a donation through the Internet. Dian will be mailing Judith her software prize. Congrats to Judith and thanks so much for all who donated!

We finish a blanket! The woman like the colorful blankets, but we've noticed the soldiers really like the camo fleece backed blankets. So it looks like we'll be purchasing more camouflage fleece for future blankets.

Charlotte, Dian, Naylene, Diana and Rosey.

And Naylene finished sewing the stars to Charlotte's lapghan. One more for the veterans in the hospital to keep them cozy when they have to be moved around in wheelchairs.

Thanks to everyone who showed up during this holiday weekend gathering. Hope to see you all, and many other volunteer, at our next gathering...Sunday, August 2, 2009!

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Photos and follow up from our Gathering held Sunday, June 7, 2009

A new member, Charlotte, joined us for our June meeting. Charlotte is very talented with sewing and crocheting, so it was GREAT to have someone who was able to take over much of the machine sewing of our blankets so Dian could help others!

Another new member, Kathy, is marking our lapghans so we will later be able to sew stars in place of each yarn marker.

Faithful member, Naylene, continues working on her lapghan...hoping to finalize the stars this session.

Naylene carefully replaces with yarn marker with a tiny, crocheted star.

Everyone working away...LuAnne is also sewing on stars, Kathy and Irene pin together a new blanket and Naylene in the background cranking away on her lapghan.

Irene learned how to assemble blankets last session from Stacy. Stacy couldn't make it this session, so now Irene is passing along her learned skills to show Kathy how to assemble a blanket. Here Irene is pinning the border.

FANTASTIC! With very little direction, Charlotte finishes sewing the main portion of this first blanket. Now she removed the pins and we prepare to cut the top/bottom so she can finish by sewing a smooth bottom and ribbon with lettering along the top.

So great to see everyone busy...working away to help make our soldiers and vet smile when they receive our lovely made blankets.

Naylene finished!

Yes! We finish a blanket! Camo fleece on the back, flag cool cotton on the front...a soft ribbon holds the seams and a white ribbon along the top holds the letter...Thank you..for your Courage! This blanket will soon be shipped to a deployed soldier in a war zone.

Yeah! Naylene finishes her lapghan. Dian crocheted the lapghan and stars, Naylene patiently sewed each star in place. This lapghan is flag-folded, wrapped with ribbon and will later be given to a veteran residing at Hines VA Hospital near Chicago.

We also want to thank Linda Moran...who stopped by and picked up yarn so she can work during the month making another lapghan at home.

Thanks to Charlottes speedy sewing skills, we finish this second blanket...which is the one Irene and Kathy were assembling earlier. GREAT! Another fleece/cotton Thank You "Hero" blanket will get shipped to a soldier in Iraq.

And thanks, too, to Charlotte Caron who not only sewed our blankets, but also took home yarn to start working on her yet another American Flag lapghan.

And making sure we're properly hydrated and filled with pizza...our bartender, Marty!

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Photos and follow-up from our Gathering held Sunday, May 3, 2009

Dian gathers everything to get ready to load the car.

LuAnne working on the latest lap blanket that'll go to wounded vets at Hines, VA Hospital. She's plotting pennies, replacing them with yarn knots, which will then be replaced with stars.

Stacy pinning together the next Hero blanket that will soon go off to soldiers deployed overseas.

Naylene sewing on stars to a lap blanket...and feeling she should redo one that looks more like a chicken than a star at this point!<lol>

LuAnne working away on a lap blanket.

Everyone working away.

Dian's neighbor, Irene, shows up to help. Stacy and Irene work to pin another blanket, this one with camo backing and star cotton front. That one will be finished next time.

We finish one blanket...with another soon to be finished today. Stacy, Dian (causing trouble...big surprise), LuAnne, Irene and Naylene.

Greg shows up to make sure all the sewing machines are working well this time. (Irene laughs cos' Greg's hiding a beer behind his back.)

Wrapping up for today, we managed to finish two blankets this time. Both to be sent off to Sgt Kelly so he can pass them out to the soldiers in his unit who are asking for them!

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Photos and follow-up from our Gathering held Sunday, April 5, 2009

Blankets #2 and #3...rolled and ready for shipping to soldiers in Iraq.

It was disappointing that 18 people signed up for our April gathering, but due to rain, sleet and snow that day, only Stacy and Naylene showed up! But we still managed to finish two blankets, and work a lot on two others.

Naylene working on a lap blanket that Dian crocheted. She places 50 pennies in the proper locations for the stars and adjusts them as needed to make sure they are evenly spaced.

She then replaces the pennies with more permanent yarn ties to hold the locations until stars can be sewn to replace the ties.

Naylene sewing stars onto a crochet lap blanket for wounded soldiers in wheelchairs, as Stacy works to pin ribbons to another fleece/cotton Hero blankets we make, which...when finished, will be sent to a deployed soldier.

Naylene replacing the positioned yarn ties with crocheted stars.

Stacy sewing ribbon onto another fleece/cotton Hero blanket.

Warm fleece on the back (camo fleece in this case) and cool cotton on the front (military pattern in this case)...Stacy sews a red ribbon along the seam to bind the blanket. She'll then run a few rows of stitching down the rest of the blanket to hold the two sides together.

Naylene making progress sewing stars to the lap blanket.

Devoted attendee, Naylene, scores a Soldiers' Angel shirt from local group founder, Dian Chapman. Soldiers' Angel's motto...May No Soldier Go Unloved!

Stacy had to leave right at the end of the gathering, but Dian and Naylene pose with the two blankets we managed to finished during our April gathering. These will soon be rolled, tied with ribbon, our card of appreciation to the soldier added...and they will be shipped to a currently deployed soldiers.

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Update!

Our First Blanket Arrives in Iraq!

We learned from Sgt Kelly that one of the guys in his unit, Specialist Kevin, didn't yet have an Angel. So we wanted to send our first blanket to him to make sure he knew we were here to help take care of him! During our first gathering, we managed to complete one blanket.

Dian took the blanket home, rolled it for shipping, added a ribbon and our signed card and shipped it off to Iraq.

Below you can see our first blanket...ready for shipping. The card says: This blanket was made for you, with love, honor and respect, by the Portage Park volunteers for the Soldiers' Angels sewing & crochet teams: http://www.mousetrax.com/PPSA and the card was signed by all those members who attended our first meeting and helped: Dian, Nicole, Naylene, Stacy, Donna, LuAnne, Susie.

And here's Specialist Kevin, who is currently serving with the Army in Iraq, holding his new blanket!

Kevin sends his thanks to our group...he will treasure it!

From our hands...to the hands of our brave men/woman serving our country!

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Photos and follow-up from our First Gathering held Sunday, February 22, 2009

Although we will be meeting on the first Sunday of each month going forward, due to first time scheduling, we had our first gathering of the Portage Park Soldiers' Angels craft group on Sunday, February 22, 2009 (which served as our March meeting). It was a great success and we thank Di, owner of Di's Den, for giving us a great space in which to meet!

Dian shows Naylene and Nicole how to get the ribbon started on our first blanket.

Naylene and Nicole pinning up blanket number two to get it ready for sewing.

Our tools table. Hey, guys aren't the only ones who can have cool tools!

Donna, Nicole's grandmother, helps her finish with the pinning as Naylene switches off to do some sewing.

Hard at work! Naylene works on one machine, sewing the ribbon to blanket # 2, as Stacy helps Nicole with sewing the quilting to blanket # 1, which keeps the blankets together. Nicole's mom, Susie, watches as her daughter, Nicole, takes to a sewing machine for the first time ever!

Naylene says she hasn't used a sewing machine in years, but she did a great job...right back in the saddle...as she sews ribbons to secure the blanket seams, using a blanket stitch.

Stacy, Dian's daughter, helps Nicole, Susie's daughter, get the feel of Stacy's sewing machine as Nicole starts learning how to use a sewing machine.

Sure, it takes a little practice to get the feel of it, but soon they get the right touch and they're on a roll.

Marty tends to the regular patrons on the tavern side of Di's Den.

But now and then, Marty slips over to the party room side to admire our progress. Here...Dian, Naylene and LuAnne align blanket # 1 to prepare it for the final top/bottom edging cut.

Using a (razor sharp) rotary cutter and quilting ruler, Dian slices off a smooth edge to both the top and bottom sides of blanket # 1 as we ready it for the final touches.

Blanket # 3 is now pinned and ready for us to start sewing. But we're running out of time, so it'll be one we start on when we gather again for our next meeting, Sunday, April 5th, 1pm...HOPE you'll join us!

Susie using her machine to quilt together the front/cotton side to the back/fleece side of blanket # 2.

Dian adds the bottom hem, as Naylene helps secure the overflow of the blanket...we race to get one blanket totally finished our first day!

The bottom is rolled over and secured with a blanket stitch.

Everyone in the group gathers to watch as Dian shows them how to add the lettering along the top of the blanket.

Using the lettering feature on Dian's sewing machine, we finalize our blankets by adding a custom Thank you to the recipient soldier...sewn along the top band of the blankets.

Once the excess threads are trimmed, this one will say: Thank You...For Your Courage!

Feb 22, 2009, Portage Park Soldiers' Angels

(r-l) Susie, Nicole, Donna, Dian, LuAnne, Stacy and Naylene

We did it! Our first meeting moved a bit slowly because we needed to teach those who showed up how to assemble the blankets, how to use the machines, and...of course...how to rip stitches when we need to correct little mistakes. HA...or as Naylene coined the phrase: Lumps of Love!

But we were soon on a roll. We managed to finish one blanket...which will be sent to Army Specialist "Kevin" who is currently serving at Base Balad in Iraq. Susie, Nicole and Donna hold blanket # 2, which is almost finished. We'll finalize that at our next gathering on April 5, along with several more blankets...I'm sure!

Here's the final blanket, rolled, with our signature card attached...ready to be shipped out. Dian will box it up and send it off to Sgt Kelly, who will pass it along to SPC Kevin and soon we'll have a photo of Specialist Kevin with his blanket...that we made for him.

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To Dian's main Angel site.

To Dian's main tech web site.