June / July   2025                                                                                                                          Blankets Donated    32,625

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                                                                 Hugs & Snuggles Newsletter 

 

Please see our website to view all pictures.    

Project Linus Onondaga County NY

 

Blankets:     

In June  blanketeers donated  110   blankets and we distributed    36    “Hugs”  for children in need, by delivering blankets to    Hutchings Respite Program.

 

Meaning for the 2nd quarter of 2025 blanketeers donated 466 blankets and we delivered 463 to children in need. 

 

In July blanketeers donated  118  blankets and we distributed    252    “Hugs”  for children in need, by delivering blankets to    CIH, Hope for Bereaved, McMahon Ryan Child Advocacy Center, Nappi Wellness Center, Sleep In Heavenly Peace, Upstate Pediatric and Adolescent Center.

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Blanket sizes

Approximate Sizes

Baby / Toddler   36x36,   36x40

Grade School  40x45

Teen 45x50, 50x60  or bigger.  

 

WE NEED  :    We can use Baby, baby, baby

 

 Note from Karen      

Hi Everyone:     

I am happy to say the hubby is healing nicely from surgery.  The sewer line that broke a couple of days before surgery is repaired.  The furnace / central air conditioning that broke the day of surgery is replaced as of this week.  Thank Goodness.  I was melting in this heat.   The gas leak I smelled and took National Grid two trips to find has been repaired, and I still have my sanity.   Again, Thank Goodness.  I was glad to see the months of June and July exit.  I am hoping for a much quieter August and September to close out the summer.  

 

A couple of things to address. 

 

A blanketeer contacted me are we still concentrating on baby?  She explained she felt teens were the more neglected group. She is right. Teens are the neglected group and of that teens boys especially.  But, lets not go there.    I hated to say yes I am still concentrating on baby, because she makes awesome teen blankets.   Here’s the thing,  in summer we don’t have as much contact with older (Grade School / Teen) kids.   A lot of our contact with them is through school based programs.   Most youth camps I used to deal with in the summer, shut down after Covid.  But, with University Hospital always expanding, we go through at the minimum.. 70 baby blanket a month.  Minimum.   Every month.  

 

HOWEVER,  just because I say I need baby, doesn’t mean  you have to make baby.  If a teen is already stretched out on the long arm, please finish it.   If you already have 3 teens cut and ready sew, sew them.  For a long time in the early years we were over run with baby.  I couldn’t get rid of them fast enough.   Before all of University’s new building, I had Galisano and 2 baby units.  Now I have those original 3, plus 3 more in the Nappi Building, occasionally  Community Hospital, and occasionally the Joslyn Diabetes Center.  That’s a lot of baby.  So I am just letting you know, for those who love to make baby, go ahead and make them.  If you are more comfortable with teen go ahead and please make teen.  School is a month away.

 

For those who don’t know Michael’s is carrying yarn and material lines that Joann used to carry.  I caution on the yarn, I hear that it is sometimes thinner than Joann’s actual yarn.   As for the material, I went in during early July and wasn’t impressed with the one row I found at Michael’s, although I hear more should be coming.   Prices were good for what they had, but again have been hearing it’s not the same weight or thickness.  Here comes the fun part, putting together kits for Manlius sewing day I ran low on solids.  I am always low on solids.  All donations we get are prints and then I have to buy solids to match.  So I talked with blanketeers who had bought from Michael’s online about the weight issue.  I ordered a batch from Michaels and a batch of Waverly from Walmart.  I have used the Waverly before it works up well.   Problem?   I HAVE NEVER MISSED JOANN’S SO MUCH AS THIS FIRST REALLY BIG SHOPPING ORDER.   The problem was color.  Not being able to see it in person, I have no idea if I am getting pink or peach.  It was called pink, it looked peach on the screen.  They could have been more descriptive (Cotton Candy pink, bunny ears pink, something).  I was ordering for pixel quilts.  Quilts made out of multiple squares of color that create an object.   So my cupcake might have peach frosting instead of pink.   If I had not needed so much  ( I was buying in 2 yard cuts) I would have visited one of our local shops.   But I really needed a lot.   I urge all of you to visit if you can the local shops for yarn and material..   Get to know what they have in stock, get to know your pricing.  A lot of us got used to Joann’s coupons.   We can still be creative we are just going to have to shop smarter.   There are deals to be had on the internet, but you can’t feel it, see it’s actual color.  Occasionally, I think we might all be disappointed with our internet purchase.  I will let you know how this first really big one turned out for me.  Did I get pink, or peach?

 

***Follow up to the Michael’s big order.  I ended up going with the Norcott line of solid at $3.99 a yard.  I am pleasantly impressed with it.  It’s a nice soft cotton and it should work up nicely in blankets.  Also,  my pink was a beautiful soft pink.   Yay*******

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State Fair:  As stated in a previous note we are not at the State Fair this year.  But I will still spend at least one day there getting my fix of Fair Food. 

 

Annual Fund Raiser – Basket Raffles :   We made over $400 in our fund raiser.  Thank you to all who bought tickets.  Our winners were:

DD QUEEN   

Michele D  6941392

DD KING

Dan L  6941004

MOVIE BASKET

Helen V  6941473

 

Congratulations to our winners.  Next year I hope to have Quilts done, along with our Dunkin Donuts baskets.

 

 

Events: 

Manlius Library – blanket top day

 

Our Manlius Library sewing day on Saturday  August 2nd was a huge success.  Some of the ladies tried our pixel quilts.  They came out wonderfully and other ladies worked with our blocks and made baby blankets. I had attempted a parrot earlier in the week and showed the ladies how horribly wrong a pattern go. We decided it resembled a lego dinosaur.  So in the background of the blanket top I  am going to embroider dinosaurs.  That should save the blanket.  I have another blanketeer working on another parrot kit in hopes it comes out correctly.   I think I changed too many colors in  the one I did as I was running out of solids.  The teddybears, princesses and cupcakes all came  out  cute.  See our event page on the website to see pictures.  

 

Our next Manlius sewing day is Saturday September 6th from 1-4pm.  That’s right we are doing back to back sewing days.  We are attempting to get on schedule where we will do them every other month.  Think about bringing your machine and joining us.   

 

Blanket Pick Ups:    I should be driving the Silver Ford Escape.  But just incase the other vehicle is a gold Chevy Equinox.

 

If you know you cannot be there close to the hour and will be closer to the half hour or 45 minutes – please let me know.   If you are at an appointment I will gladly wait.  But if I sit there for a half hour and no one shows,  I will be leaving.

 

August Pick-ups:

Fayetteville Joann’s Parking lot -  Monday August 18th,  – 11am

Clay Joann’s Parking lot – Friday -August 22nd   – 11am

Baldwinsville Library – Monday August 25th   – 11am

Preble (the new Cortland)  Kaleidoscope Quilts – 6271 Little York Lake Rd  – Friday August 29th -11am

 

September  Pick-Ups

Preble Kaleidoscope Quilts – 6271 Little York Lake Rd – Friday September 19th – 11am

Fayetteville – Joanns Parking lot – Monday September 22nd – 11am

Clay Joann’s Parking lot – Friday September 26th – 11am

Baldwinsville Library – Monday September 29th 11am

 

BOM – Blanket of the Month -  please see our website for pictures under Blanket of the Month page, under the Newsletter tab

 

Elizabeth Neuyen – Cats

Anon – Hobby Horse

Karen S – Grown Up Granny

Ruth Norton – Psycho Bugs

Karen Eggleston – Dominoes

Debbie Waite – Horizon

Gail Keller – Cupcake

June Klucsik – Liftoff

Cindy Crandall – Pandas and Bamboo

Gail Renninger – At the Lodge

Wendy Masters – ABC’s

Merinda Brown – Hearts of Camo

 

Blanketeers for this month.  Thank you to the following Blanketeers for donating blankets .

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 Anon                                       Sara Ames                   Merinda Brown

Busy Hands (Onondaga Senior Center)                                                                      Pat Campbell

Candlelight Quilt Guild                                              Virginia Collinson                   Cindy Crandall

Mary Duffy                             Karen Eggleston          Denise Gillies             Cheryl Grom

Susan Holloway                      Margaret Hurley          Rebecca Jeffery                       Gail Keller

June Klucsik                            Wendy Masters            Elizabeth Neuyen                    Peg Nodell

Ruth Norton                            Miriam Palmer            Gail Renninger                        Karen S

Dana Schwartz                        Linda Smallwood        Faith Stopyro                          Nikhil Suryadevara

Kimberly Sweetser                  Julie Taber                   Trinity Episcopal Church Respite Haven

Karen Waelder            Debbie Waite              

                                                           

Quilt tops, Fleece, Material, Hats, Mittens, Scarf …etc   

Karen S,                      Wendy Masters,                      Carol Ann Kozlowski

Susan

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Our drop off sites:   Please check with our drop off sites for current hours of operation.   All of our sites are wonderfully supportive of us and we thank them for their support. 

When dropping off blankets please put them in a plastic bag with Project Linus on the outside and a note inside with your name. 

Baldwinsville Library – 33 E Genesee St, Baldwinsville

Manlius Library – 1 Arkie Albanese Ave , Manlius

Calico Gals – 3906 New Court Ave – Syracuse

Finger Lakes Fabrics 1400 Genesee St Skaneateles

Oliver's Originals – 8188 Cazenovia Rd Manlius

Kaleidoscope of Quilts – 6271 Little York Lake Rd – Little York(Cortland County)

The Quilt Shop – 1625 State St Watertown,

Karen Lathrop – 245 Martin St – Syracuse NY

 

Sponsors:

I want to thank our great sponsors whose dollars help me to buy fabric, muslin, markers and yarn.

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Stewarts Dairies

Luv Handlz Frozen Yogurt – James St