Bella's Blankets

In the last 4 months our lives have just been crazy with all of Isabelle's health problems, and Isaac losing his job. However, despite everything we've felt very blessed with how many people have helped us, emailed us, and remembered our family in their prayers. We've beenparticularly blessed with an amazing ward here in Arizona. The members of our church have gone out of their way to help us, bring meals, watch Eli, pass Isaac's resume around, etc. Anything you can think of, they've done. Last week Isabelle's Developmental Therapist requested that I make a quilt for Isabelle with different textured squares on it, hoping that the more time she spent on it, the more she would be interested in the different textures and start opening her hand to feel, touch and grab the different fabrics. I went through the kids old clothes, trying to find things I could cut up and that had unique feels to the fabric. My major problem was that I don't sew. So I emailed our Relief Society President, asking if anyone in the ward sewed and would be willing to sew these patches together for me. I specified that it didn't need to be fancy, or a time consuming project, it just needed to be functional for Bella. The email was sent out to all the ladies in our ward and I was blown away by the response. Within 5 minutes of the email going out (literally), I had people calling. We had 23 people call or email me, asking to make this for Isabelle, plus more people who called our Relief Society Pres. and asked her, but she told them it was taken care of.

We ended up with 2 people who made the blankets for Isabelle, so that she would have 2 blankets for when 1 got dirty. The blankets turned out so pretty and cute, I was amazed. One of the woman who sewed one has been dealing with cancer since about the same time Isabelle was born. She was so excited for something she could do to help Isabelle, since she can't leave her home much right now.

I was so amazed by these woman and how quickly and willingly they were ready to serve and help and how much time and effort they put into these blankets. Some wards I've been in, I've learned so much from Sunday School teachers, great talks given in church. While this ward also has great teachers, I know years from now, the lessons I've learned and things I remember from this ward will be from the example of so many of these people and their willingness to help and serve those around them.

One of Isabelle's cute blankets - all sorts of different feeling fabrics from old clothes of hers and Eli's.
The second quilt - she planned out each square for different purposes. This one was old overalls. She didn't sew down the straps so that Isabelle could play with them and pull on them.
Funky, fuzzy fabric and a butterfly she sewed with lace wings that are unattached, so she could feel them.
A patch from Isabelle's old jammies that she wore in the NICU. She added ribbon that she could grab.
The underside of the quilt.
The whole quilt.
Both of them turned out so cute!