Sunday, September 22, 2013

A New Design is coming to the AQP......

Hello everyone:

I have some great news for everyone involved with the AQP.

Earlier this past week I got an e-mail from someone wanting a Kitten Quilt for a child battling Cancer.  I had nothing on hand and didn't really know what to tell her, so I did some searching around my 'cluttered' (and that's a UNDERSTANDMENT!!!) and found some old charts that I'd printed out about 5 or 6 years ago.

The series is the Millennium Cats from Pam Kellogg.  I looked for her web-site and quickly realized it was no longer available!  OUCH!  I did find a way to contact her though through Etsy!  She's no long doing the cross stitch designs, instead concentrating on other sewing related items, but nonetheless I got in touch with her to seek permission to use her Cats on the quilt.

I got a quick resonse from her and she agreed to let us use the charts and so I'm currently working on them.  It's a series of 13 Cats, one for each month and one for a Birthday piece.  They're smallish in size, measuring perhaps 3" x 3" in stitched size.  I've finished the first 2 and am about half-way through the 3rd and they do work up fast.  I'll post pics of them once I get finished and before sending them to the finisher.

I got back in touch with Pam and asked her if she'd consider doing a piece for the AQP, even though she no longer does the cross stitch and she's agreed to!

Apparently it will be a cat and I probably won't get it until around Christmas of this year or perhaps the first of next year, but we will be getting a new AQP design to stitch!

Pam has also agreed to give the copyrights to the AQP as well!  That's more great news!

Anyway, I just wanted to share this with all of you.

Thank you all for what you do for the AQP and, once again, I can never thank you all enough!

James

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

It's been a while......

Hello there...............

I know.

It's been a while since I last posted but a lot has happened and it really upset me at that particular time.

Just as things were starting to get straightened out and the AQP was getting re-established once again on the WWW, a mini-crisis occured that I had to handle.  Not that I truly wanted to!

It got to the point where I was seriously contemplating closing down the whole AQP but thankfully saner heads 'arrived' and the closing was avoided.

I've never really wanted to close the AQP, becasue we do help a lot of families in difficult times and I'm extremely proud of what the whole project has done over the course of 14 years.  I truly believe that the AQP does make a difference in the lives of families with premature babies, as well as for children in Children's Cancer Clinics and Regional Burn Centers.

I enjoy taking the blankets to NICUs in Mississippi and seeing the faces of the families and the nursing staffs when the precious pieces are delivered and when a family gets one (or more, in the case of twins or triplets) and it brings joy to my heart and an occasional tear as well.

There have been changes though.

Kim is no longer heading the AQP, Canada Division.  It is once more under Lorrie Ramsay and her mother Dodie.  I wish nothing but the best for Kim and whatever she does from here, and the same go to Lorrie and Dodie.

The UK Division is going on and Sue and Caroline are doing a wonderful job there as well.

If anyone reading this would like to learn more on the AQP, please go to our web-site at www.aqphome.org to learn more and hopefully you'll want to help us as well. 

We are always looking for new stitchers and finishers to help us stitch the center-pieces, make the blankets, and distribute them as well.  If you would like to help us, please contact me at Eprise01@aol.com and I'll get with you as soon as I can.

James