Progress is progress

Life has brought me additional challenges but I am pushing through, helping others how and when and where I can but also remembering to take care of me too.   If I don't nourish and feed myself, my soul, my heart, my mind, I can not be of any service to others.

I haven't researched it... 
because I like it so don't want to know if its untrue.. 
With that caveat, I understand: 

 American Indian culture (may) believe that women gain their strength from the Mother, Earth.

A little unfinished business

I have been away far too long.   I am back... and it feels wonderful. 

Based on the way I process donations, I had Angel items from many different donated dresses in various stages of completion when my attention was called away.  I am working on the usable organization of the studio while I finish some of them up.

Small does not mean unimportant

It is our goal to help ensure that every AngelBaby is dressed for its journey through eternity. 

Some of our hospitals are in poor areas, rural areas, and even metro areas.   While some of our shipments are smaller than others, they are no less important.

Today's special shipment is headed to a small Arizona hospital. 

Every single item is filled with love and sent with our prayers for the AngelBabies and their families.

So much love

Advances in neo-natal medicine and the extreme generosity of you and others has developed into a very unexpected problem over the past year or two in the world of clothing for the Angel babies.

It appears that there are so many wonderful hearts and hands participating in creating these items for the precious Angels across the nation and around the world.   This means that more donated dresses are processed into Angel items than ever before.  That is good news!!  The family of every Angelbaby should have access to clothing for their precious bundle, which is exactly what we want.  Thank you to each and every one of the hands and hearts that help with this amazing mission.

Additional good news is that more at-risk babies are surviving to go home with their families!!!  That is exceptionally good news and what we pray for every day.

Adding those two things together, however, demands a change in our processing.  We also remain unable to accept any donations of wedding dresses. 

While there are no hard fast numbers, discussions among some of the Angel gown groups reveal that the supply well exceeds the need at this point. While we do NOT want the need for Angel gowns to increase, we have been forced to implement new processing to adapt to the supply and demand of Angel items.

Storing completed, prepared, and packaged Angel items requires more care and space to prevent excess wrinkling. Conversely, the dresses, which we deconstruct and sometimes pre-cut shortly after receipt, are stored with care, but with slightly less concern for wrinkling.   Each Angel item is neatly pressed it is sewn, completed, and packaged.

Thus, to allow efficient use of our storage space, we will now store a specific number of completed and packaged Angel items, maintaining a full complement of the assorted sizes and styles of our items.  Once the storage space for completed items is full, we discontinue processing our donated dresses. 

As we distribute our completed and packaged Angel items, we create more Angel items from the stored dresses, refilling our storage area to ensure we can fill any client needs as they occur.  However, this also means that we are not working through our backlog as fast as we once were.  

We regret this situation and thought it was perhaps a short term concern but the situation has continued so I felt it important to share this information with you.   Personally, I feel that what is important, and the bottom line, is that every Angel is clothed for its final journey.   

Please know that we will continue to process the gowns we have received and that they will be distributed as requested, needed, or as we find new clients. 

Blessings to you all!

The latest fruits of our labor

We have been busy filling the space opened up by several recent shipments to our clients.  Seeing the results of our labor is certainly the reward for all the hours we work!

As you may be aware, we process the transformation from donated dress to Angel item in a specific way:

A donated dress is deconstructed and cut into blanks (basic pattern pieces) and marked with the donator's name, if provided.  When possible, the placement of existing embellishments on the dress are considered when cutting the patterns.  The blanks are then packaged and stored until the sewing starts.

From dress donated by Leslie Eurton

When ready to sew, a few blanks are pulled from several different batches to be embellished and completed, still with the donator's names attached.  We are generally able to complete Angel items entirely from the same dress, as shown above, or from multiple dresses donated by the same person, and we identify them as such in our photos.

Lavender gown from dress donated by Sherri Theim

However, we sometimes receive dresses that are amazing in their simplicity but do not include embellishments sufficient for completion of the Angel items cut from the dress.  Our process allows each donated dress to be used to its best advantage as the blanks from one dress containing little or no embellishment can be combined with embellishments from a dress that had some to share or with trims that were purchased or donated as yardage.

from dress donated by Kathy Slorah

In this manner, we are able to maintain a variety of styles, embellishments, and colors to send to our clients in respectful anticipation of meeting the emotional needs of grieving parents.

We feel this process also allows us to do the very best for the Angels and for our seamstresses, allowing them to better incorporate a bit of their own creativity in their work.

Our decision to include color in our Angel items has been met with positive reactions and we will continue to incorporate pastels into some of our gowns and stronger colors for trim and vests on the boy gowns.

As a point of reference, we estimate that it took over 30 working hours to do just the seven outfits in the photo below.

I am thrilled to announce that a total of 35 sets were completed this month!!  

We are always in need of a person or group to sponsor the shipping costs as we get ready to mail the Angel items to our clients.

We also continue to look for additional clients (hospitals, birthing centers, and mortuaries) to supply with our Angel items.  Referrals are appreciated so if you know of a hospital or mortuary that could use our services, please let us know!

We are still unable open up to donations as our storage area is full and spilling over.  We continue to receive dresses from those who had previously recorded our shipping information so we have not been able to reduce our storage of dresses as quickly as we had anticipated.  We thank each and every one of you for your patience and for supporting us in our journey...  for the Angels.

April was a big shipment month!

So far this month, we were able to complete four shipments to new members of our team of hospitals and mortuaries: two shipments went out in the mail and two shipments were delivered in person.  I have two more shipments to mail and I am waiting to hear back from two more, all four new too!

I am thrilled about all of this for several reasons!!

The joy that presents as pain

An emergency trip to Denver after my brother suffered a fatal cardiac arrest forced me to add another brother's name to my list of Angel brothers on my Reason and Purpose page.  I was able to talk to him as we let him go and he crossed the bridge.  I urged him to seek out everyone he knew and to do a little riding, rocking, and fishing.   I tearfully and somewhat reluctantly rejoiced that he was free of pain and in the hands of God.

My brother, Jay, was 52 at the time of his passing and even though he was an adult, working on Angelgowns has been very difficult.  I cried the whole time I worked on these gowns, thinking of the time he would not get to spend with his four youngest children ranging from 5-15.  I cried because I am selfish and I want him here with me.   I cried for all the pre-term babies that passed before they were able to meet their parents, siblings, or grandparents.  

I cried because I miss my Angel brothers and I cried for all the Angelbabies.  But I still reluctantly rejoice that they are safe and warm and waiting for us.....  all the time, fiercely loved by those left here for a while longer.

I am a woman of action and I need to do something.   However, there is little I can do for my brother's children except to work to fund a memorial account for their post-secondary education. I plan to make and sell some quilts with all proceeds to the fund......   and I thank you for listening because writing does help, as does staying busy.

Back to my Angelbabies.....  These gowns, made from a dress donated by Nancy C along with bits from other prom type dresses for the vests, are finally finished.  Nancy's dress had waited a long time to be used.  Thank you Nancy for your patience.   They should be shipped off by the end of the month.

I just love the little boutonnieres!

To all the Angelbabies......   we miss you and love you and will hold you again soon.