One down, three to go...

    I know it seems like it took forever (to me too) to get it finished but I FINALLY got my 'end of the month' birthday piece finished yesterday!!!  It took me a whole week to put in the last band but I was really excited to put in those last stitches. I can't show a picture of it yet but I will be happy to expound on its journey after my friend receives it.
   Now, its on to the charity stitching.  I have been stitching off and on for a number of years now with a group of  ladies on Yahoo.  The site can be found here: American Soldier Memorial project.  The goal is to stitch a memorial sampler for the families of every service member who gave their lives in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since those wars began. It is a daunting task since there have been so many and I sometimes find it overwhelming. But then my husband reminds me of what a noble cause he thinks it is and I buck up and get back to work. .
   There is no 'official' memorial sampler so we choose things we feel would be appropriate and try to turn them into something the families would feel honors their loved one. I have a couple I like to use. The first is this one:

The flag is from a Liz Navikas design and the verse is taken from a Glendon Place design that actually is a memorial sampler that I've stitched before. Below the verse, the info on the soldier is stitched.
    The other sampler I really like a lot is one by the Cricket Collection which is also a memorial sampler. It is called Red, White and Blue and I find the verse to be very appropriate.

I currently have 2 names and once I have the names I like to get them out a quickly as possible. Lucky for me I have 2 almost ready to go.  One is finished except for the personalization and the other needs just a little more work than that. I hope to have them framed and shipped to the families by the middle of next month.
  The other piece of charity stitching I need to get done is a Habitat for Humanity sampler.  Our EGA chapter stitches these for the group working here in Williamsburg.  Our Outreach chair was just informed that there will be a 'building blast' soon and they are aiming for 12 houses! That, of course, means that we need to have 12 samplers ready.  I am not a huge fan of the design and I resisted stitching one for a long time but since it is such a worthy cause, I do make one or two for them periodically.  We all need to do our part, right?
  Well, I'm off to work.  The sooner I get these finished, the sooner I can get back to my regular rotation.  Frances and Ann are feeling very neglected!!!