A Promise to Myself

First of all, I'd like to beg your pardon for being AWOL for the last year and a half! I never expected that to happen, but sometimes life is like that.

I am not going to promise that I will keep blogging regularly, but I do hope that I will. I've missed it. I enjoy sharing my projects and thoughts with you, and I love getting your responses and reactions. So, here we are again.

Yesterday I had one of my brainstorms, an idea that I am very excited about. Over the years, as many of you know, I have created things and donated them to various community service organizations. I can't even remember every single one, but I know I've donated my handmade greeting cards to organizations like Keiki Cards in Hawaii, and more recently to Operation Write Home. I've made cross stitched squares that were sent to SOLAK (Stitches of Love and Kindness) to be made into quilts for chronically or terminally ill children and adults. I've knitted countless items for the Cheyenne River Youth Project and Pine Ridge Reservation, both in South Dakota. I've made scarves for my friend Shelly's organization, Scarves from the Heart. I sent a blanket to the SANDS organization in England last year. And so on. Yesterday, with two more packages nearly ready to be mailed, this time to Philly Care Caps in Pennsylvania and Hannah's Socks in Ohio, it hit me.

Over the years, I have sent things to many different places (we won't get into the many things I've made for the children at the community center near my house, or the hats for IDF soldiers). Wouldn't it be cool - really cool - to see if I could send handmade things to organizations in every state in the U.S.? I think so. I'm going to see if I can do it. I don't know how long it will take, and I have a feeling there are some places I will send things to more than once. But I'm very excited about this project, and hopefully it will keep me motivated to keep blogging, too! Tricky, aren't I?