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Late Night Thoughts and Inspiration

8/2/2015

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The last few weeks I have been awake and taking care of essentially everything 15-20 hours out of each day. This is not a complaint, to be honest, I've been amazed that I can function like this given everything behind the scenes, however, it is in these late hours that I do start to feel stress in relation to getting the important aspects of Gracie's Gowns taken care of.

This is my job, this is my dream, this is the legacy that I will leave behind when my time is over on this earth, and I will continue to put forth every ounce of energy to make the bigger plans I have in store for Gracie's Gowns come true. However, despite all my valiant efforts to save the world one stitch at a time, it can be and sometimes is exhausting, overwhelming, and even in some aspects it can be frightening.

Those are the moments I look for inspiration to just keep swimming and to bring myself back to where it all began. Sounds simple, but even that can prove challenging. That being said, over the last month or so I have a constant reminder that has helped me to remember just how amazing this organization is and will continue to be, my roots in creating it, the reasons behind every stitch, and how far the organization has come since conception a little over three years ago.

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A little over a year ago I had a box of 4" x 4" fabric squares that had been cut from remnant pieces of gowns and from what I can remember now some of my personal projects as well, just taking up space, so to speak. It was always my intention to make them into scrap quilts and raffle or auction them off in order to help raise shipping funds and such.

I had posted to Facebook about this box of scrap pieces and Rosie was so excited to take them off my hands and make them into "something special." Little did I know that this something special would end up being for me. 

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When she first brought this scrap quilt over and I opened it up, I couldn't help but start crying. It is sentimental on so many levels. There are pieces from gowns from day one of me sewing them, gowns of children that have passed away, and so many pieces of gowns that I can pick out the name of who it was for, because I am just that kind of person that every child deserves a gown just as unique as they are. 

And then there are the random, I just thought they were pretty fabrics that I used to make items to sell at Graves Mountain over the last three years to raise money for Gracie's Gowns (like the macaroons one above). I originally had posted to our page that the quilt was going to be for raffle or auction, but the more I looked at it, the more I thought about it, the more I held it...I just couldn't let it go and in that moment, Rosie messaged me saying that the quilt was for me/Gracie's Gowns to keep as a reminder and keepsake of these children we make gowns for.

It is in my plans to have an office in the near-ish future, while I always say the sooner the better, we have some decisions to make and the office may have to be postponed just a wee bit, but I do know that when I have an office, there will be a reading corner for families and children to use while they are there. This will be going in that reading corner, so anyone who needs a hug, can snuggle up with it and feel connected and hugged by all the children who have gowns represented by this quilt. Right now, it sits on the back of my sewing chair...the best place for it to be, to continuously remind and inspire every stitch...and to keep me warm when this bedroom becomes way too cold. 

Thank you Rosie for blessing me with such a sweet keepsake...and thank you to all our families for blessing me with being a part of your child's medical journey, to inspire me to be a better person and to fight for not only what matters most, but what I believe in as well. 

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Week Three of Winners Spring Raffle

4/22/2014

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We are entering the last week and some of our spring raffle now!
It has been so much fun drawing winners for the prizes given in this raffle and I hope everyone is loving their new goodies. Here are the winners from last year.
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Our eighteen winner was Vicki Quick - her items were from Scentsy!

The items for this day in the raffle were sponsored by Karen Day Hill!

Karen's business website is:
http://karendayhill.scentsy.us

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Our nineteenth winner was Susan Casey-Ellis - her items were from The Pampered Chef!

The items for this day in the raffle were donated by Audra Smith - a Pampered Chef consultant that is close friends with a gown recipient's family.

Audra's business website is:
www.pamperedchef.biz/audra

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Our twenty-first winner was Irene Luck - her items were from The Pampered Chef!

The items for this day in the raffle were sponsored by Marie Snyder - a local Pampered Chef consultant to Gracie's Gowns.

You can find Marie's business page on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/PampChefLady

And her business website is:
www.pamperedchef.biz/foodisfun



CONGRATULATIONS to EVERYONE!!!
And thank you to everyone who has helped with this raffle by purchasing a ticket, donating items, sharing our event and inviting your friends as well!
We still have some tickets for purchase for the last of our amazing raffle items! There's a deep covered baker from Pampered Chef, Scentsy bundles and more still to be given away!
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Precious Angel Bears - Eddie and Sofia

4/18/2014

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Remember back to last month when we made Lucy's bunny?

We decided this was a great idea and that we would continue to do such gowns for the children that gowns were requested for, but unfortunately passed away before their gown was able to be made and sent to them.

The first of the three I have been working on is going to the Livingston Family in memory and honor of their son Eddie who passed away from Neuroblastoma in 2013. 


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His nickname was "Superman" and his gown was actually requested by a mutual friend of the family and myself. Isn't he such a handsome little man? I bet he is an even more precious angel - flying around with his cape and all...having all kinds of fun like little boys should!

We purchased the superman fabric, but two days after having his fabric Eddie passed away, so the special bear below will be headed to his family in Florida.

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The second of the three is going to the Scott family in honor and memory of precious Sofia who passed away in March (on my little man's birthday actually) from complications with Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type I. 

Her gown was requested by a friend of the family, who also asked that we still send her gown to them as a keepsake. Once again, we decided to make an angel gown with a bear to be sent to them.

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And here is the beautiful princess Sofia.

Her angel bear and gown will be making it's way home this weekend as well. Her gown was completed (in her size), but wasn't able to be sent before we learned she had passed away.

So, we sized it down to fit the teddy bear, below is her angel bear. It didn't quite want to sit up on it's own - hence the kinda of squished look in the photo.

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Will be working on getting the third one done and posted - it is such an honor to make this tributes to the families we've received requests for and while we weren't able to provide their child with a gown to wear throughout their journey, at least we now have a way to honor their fight.

To the Livingston and Scott families - we are still praying for each of your every day...and while the loss of a child is beyond all words and the hurt will always still be there in many ways, we pray each day you find a little more peace, a little more comfort and a little more love from those surrounding you in prayer.

Much love and many blessings,
Gracie's Gowns
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A Little Break in Routine

4/15/2014

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Okay - so old picture, but had to use something with the sewing machine. I love sewing these hospital gowns, I love sewing them for your little ones and seeing their smiling faces and knowing how it can literally change a hospital experience from bad to at least tolerable. 

Sometimes though, I have to break the routine of making gowns and work on other projects, just to keep from crying over how many precious little ones are in need of such an item. It breaks my heart in so many pieces at times, that I have to sit back and remember how much of a blessing each child is, how they have changed the lives of those around them...how they fight, just to make it through another day and while yes, the odds are usually stacked against them, they inspire others to do such amazing things - like Gracie's Gowns and so many other organizations!

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One of the items that have been done and still being worked on were these squishy little monsters! We sold them over the course of a couple days in order to raise shipping funds for gowns.

I am happy to say they are almost all done and out in the mail (still have maybe 7 more in total to make I believe). Here is some of the ones that went out last week, as I didn't get pictures of the previous ones made to post. My apologies on that...they are too cute not to picture and post.

These guys come from leftover minky fabric that I have from making millions of blankets over the last few years I have been making for friends and family.

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One of the other items that get worked on in those little breaks are some bags for Beads of Courage - I love making these little bags from leftover pieces from gowns!

They are easy enough to make and still give that feeling of inspiration and fulfillment I suppose in knowing the fabric we use won't go to waste and can brighten the days of so many other children too.

This year we have 17 bags made so far to donate to Beads of Courage and will probably have close to 50 by the time the donation is ready to be made. We are hoping to be able to donate them to our local hospital with a Beads of Courage program. 

Lastly, whenever I really want to venture out into my sewing fun - I go back to making little items from leftover pieces of fabric and working through my own personal fabric stash and creating other items that we will be taking with us for our craft show in October - last year we raised $900 for Gracie's Gowns with items made from leftover pieces and whatever fabric I had on hand - this year we're hoping to meet and exceed that amount...especially with the Christmas Box Program coming up at that time of the year as well. Right now we've loaded the items into an etsy store (which will be put in vacation the Thursday before the show) to try and sell some of the items throughout the year with all the money being put into our shipping expenses. So here is the etsy mini with links in case you want to browse it!
With all that fun being said and shown - no worries, gowns are still being made, still being sent out and Gracie's Gowns is rolling right along like we always do. Sometimes just a little slower than normal, because we are in the process of moving and my health has gotten a little "interesting" for lack of a better word, but we are still upholding and maintaining our mission to provide every child we can a special hospital gown of their own to wear while in treatments, surgeries and hospital stays!

Much Love and Many Blessings,
Jessica
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Half-Way Through Spring Raffle

4/15/2014

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We're at the half-way point now!!
Fifteen days of winners and fifteen more days to go - we still have 78 tickets that we'd love to sell before the end of the raffle to meet our goal for sales. The proceeds from the ticket sales cover the cost of the items Gracie's Gowns had to purchase for the raffle, shipping costs of the items to winners, but also benefit our Christmas Box Program that we've been accepting items for and will continue through early December. The majority of the funds raised from the tickets sales will be put towards shipping of those Christmas boxes in mid December to our families that sign up for the program in late October.

So without further delay - here are some more of our winners in case you missed it on Facebook!
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Our ninth winner was Charlene - her items were from The Pampered Chef!

The items for this day in the raffle were sponsored by Marie Snyder - a local Pampered Chef consultant to Gracie's Gowns.

You can find Marie's business page on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/PampChefLady

And her business website is:
www.pamperedchef.biz/foodisfun

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Our thirteenth winner was Marla - her items were from The Pampered Chef!

The items for this day in the raffle were sponsored by Marie Snyder - a local Pampered Chef consultant to Gracie's Gowns.

You can find Marie's business page on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/PampChefLady

And her business website is:
www.pamperedchef.biz/foodisfun

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Our fifteenth winner was Kim - her items were from The Pampered Chef!

The items for this day in the raffle were sponsored by Dawn Truex - a friend and Pampered Chef consultant to one of the families we have made a gown for.

And her business website is:
www.pamperedchef.biz/mychefdawn



And that wraps up the second week of our winners and brings us half-way through the raffle as well!

Congratulations to everyone who has won and item so far and please don't forget to share, invite, and purchase a ticket for yourself!! We'd love to reach our overall goal for ticket sales, but even more so make sure we have funds available for shipping out our Christmas boxes!

To purchase a ticket please visit our events page at:
www.graciesgowns.org/events.html
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Tickets on Sale - Spring Raffle - Just for Mom

3/19/2014

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Gracie's Gowns is hosting a combined Pampered Chef and Scentsy raffle fundraiser just in time for Mother's Day!

We started selling tickets in February and will continue to have them on sale through April 30th, 2014. Tickets are $5.00/each.

Payments can be made by cash, check or PayPal - we will also have an "Add to Cart" button on our events page.



You can mail payments to the address below - please make any checks out to Gracie's Gowns, Inc :
Gracie's Gowns 
c/o: Jessica Kidd 
159 Ordinary Road
Mineral, VA 23117

They are two part raffle tickets, we will be keeping the part that has your name, address and phone number in order to contact you should your name be drawn as a winner during the raffle that will start on April 1st. The second section also has the same ticket number and that will be mailed to you once your payment has been received. 

Each day in April, we will be drawing a winner for one of our Pampered Chef or Scentsy prizes. They will alternate each day between the two companies. All prizes will be valued at $30.00 or more!! We will post the winners each day to Facebook and to our blog with a picture of the item won and the number drawn. Numbers will be drawn using random.org starting with the number 1 and ending with the total amount of tickets sold.

Your ticket can win more than once, but to have the best shot at winning an item, multiple tickets are encouraged.

Prizes will be mailed out weekly on Mondays - tracking numbers will be available as well once they are mailed. 

So make sure to share with your friends, family and everyone you know who loves Pampered Chef and Scentsy to help support Gracie's Gowns - all funds raised (after the purchase of the raffle items and shipping costs) will be put specifically towards our Christmas Box Program for this year


Here are some of the items we currently have in our raffle prizes!

We still have a few days left for any Scentsy Independent Consultant that would like to contribute towards our raffle prizes! All of our Pampered Chef days have been covered, but we have six Scentsy days that we need covered with item(s) valued at $30.00 or more. They can be bundled together to create the $30.00 value and we will be advertising your Facebook page and/or website each day that the item(s) you donate are given away.

Our Facebook event for the raffle is here - we will be posting winners every day to the event, as well as, our Facebook page itself:
https://www.facebook.com/events/631836276853318/


We have 60 tickets sold so far, we'd love to sell many more, so please share this with your family and friends so we can make this fundraiser really successful! Our biggest expense for the Christmas Box Project is going to be shipping, so the better start we can get on collecting the funds we will need helps us greatly!
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Fabric with Lots of Love - Lilahroo's

3/12/2014

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I have the wonderful opportunity to help out another great organization with some fabric to continue their mission. This time it is for Lilahroo's! Monica makes these precious, cozy, comfy and just wonderful blankets for children fighting medical challenges.

Do we have one? No - but my, oh my, you can just see from her photos and stories of children that have received one just how comfy they are! As someone who has made blankets for years, these are great quality, with wonderful fabrics. Cozy flannel on top and super soft minky on the back...perfect blanket ingredients!

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Here is Autumn with her gown and Lilahroo while at her clinic appointment! Doesn't she look super cozy there?!

There website to learn more about what they do, who they are, how to support and even all the stories from families that have received a blanket from Lilahroo's is:

http://www.lilahroos.com/


They are also on Facebook at:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lilahroos/621064347914209

So since the kiddos and I are getting a lot closer to moving time and we've been holding onto some of these fabrics for a while now, without any requests to use them for, here are the cozy flannels we had to send Monica's way and even a minky fabric too:
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They will be on their way shortly - as in probably tomorrow's mail!!
Can't wait to see what little ones get wrapped up in a cozy blankie made from these fabrics.
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Sharing with Angel Love Boxes

1/13/2014

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This past summer these little ones of mine got a really awesome surprise in the mail - it was this big box filled with goodies for each of them and something a little extra special, for our special little man.

The organization is called Angel Love Boxes - they provide care packages to children with special needs and their siblings! Each month they have a certain amount of little ones they put boxes together for and they also help with certain medical equipment/items/devices that may be beneficial to them as well.

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Here is some of the goodies that were sent in our box. The items they have each month vary based on donations of items themselves, sponsor donated items and the specific needs of the child, but also they are based with the interest of each child the box is for (and their siblings too).


My little red head was upset I wouldn't let her play with her items until I got a picture of everything...mean mommy I suppose. But I knew one day I would want pictures to share and promote Angel Love Boxes through Gracie's Gowns as well.

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So here is where we are sharing with Angel Love Boxes - and giving back to the organization that gave my little guys such a wonderful summer surprise!

This Thomas the Train item is a weighted blanket. For those that don't know or haven't read back through, he was diagnosed on the Autism Spectrum and also has several sensory related issues and it was recommended to us that a weighted blanket might be beneficial to him. He loves his blanket (and so does mommy at times even) and it has helped with some of the sensory issues he has at night. If it wasn't for his occupational therapist suggesting it, I would never have thought about it. We received our blanket when Angel Love Boxes first started making them - and the quality is amazing. It washed great as well!

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You can see the detail here in the stitching where each section is sewn and filled evenly to divide the weight evenly throughout the whole blanket. 

I had tried making one several months prior to even hearing about Angel Love boxes and it was an epic fail...which remind me I need to take it apart and either fix it or just make it into a regular blanket...add that to the to-do list for when there is extra hours in a day.

So for Angel Love Boxes we have several pieces of fabric measuring around a yard and more to send as our family's way to say thank you for our box, but also as Gracie's Gowns and saying thank you for your love and support of us throughout the past year! This box is fairly heavy and packed to the gills with fabric, so once we have some extra shipping money we will be sending it out. Here are some of the fabrics that will be making their way south to Alabama!
Have a wonderful everyone!

Jessica
Gracie's Gowns
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Selvage, Hope and Glee

8/1/2013

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I am usually not one to look at the selvages on fabrics, especially when cutting gowns.

But this fabric in particular caught my eye because it was different, I wasn't sure really what it was suppose to be, so I looked at the selvage and first saw the "Quilt of Dreams" and thought that was unique in itself, read a little farther down the selvage and saw that the fabric was made for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

That was pretty amazing - how neat is it to make a gown for a child battling illness and fighting for their life with fabric that a portion of the sales were given to one of the most spectacular children's hospitals in the United States and the world?!



I have seen fabric before that benefits ConKerr Cancer, Autism Speaks and a couple other big organizations I can't think of the names right now, but it is always so exciting to pick up fabrics to use for special projects, such as our hospital gowns, and know that another group is benefiting from the proceeds to help THOUSANDS of children.

Well from the seamstress side of it - especially making these hospital gowns for each child, it was humbling...it was rewarding in some ways, but even more so it made this particular gown so much more meaningful and special.

The fabric itself is film strips, I wasn't sure that this fabric would ever work for a hospital gown, but then I received a gown requests for a teen girl who loves the T.V. Show "Glee." There was now potential for this fabric to be used for a gown.

When I read more into the gown request, it was like all the pieces of a puzzle were being put together - this fabric was meant for this request...it was meant for Hope

Hope is 16 years old and has been diagnosed with Severe Aplastic Anemia and also had a bone marrow transplant in 2012. She was born with Spina Bifida and hydrocephalus. She has inspired hope in her family and those that know her. 

Now it was time to Gleek up the gown for Hope - and this is what we did to create Hope a gown that is just as special as she is.

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