The Internet Chapter of the American Needlepoint Guild

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Community Service Outreach

Another aspect of outreach is doing good works with our needlepoint talents and skills. One outreach project that CyberPointers will be helping with is the various literacy programs sponsored by libraries around the country. When members take part in these activities, please let them know where you heard of them. If you are not yet a member of CyberPointers, you are also welcome to join in these public outreach projects.

Another outreach project that CyberPointers will be helping with is the need for "kissing pillows" These are small cross-stitched pillows that say "I love you" and are given to deploying soldiers and their families. The soldier kisses the pillow and leaves it with his/her loved ones to keep. Many soldiers also take kissed pillows with them to Iraq. This design is copyrighted by Geraldine Trappey. In 2005, wanting to show appreciation for the sacrifices made by military personnel, Yellow Rose Chapter EGA members began hand-stitching small 4" X 4" patriotic pillows designed to be used as a keepsake for the children and loved ones left behind by the soldiers departing for service of the U.S. The lightly stuffed pillows have a heart outline, the words "I love you," and two red, white and blue stars within the heart, and are backed with washable fabrics in patriotic and camouflage designs. Each pillow is presented in a plastic bag with a note explaining the purpose of the tiny pillow and xpressing the stitcher's gratitude for their service. The soldier kisses the pillow and gives one to each of his/her loved ones to hold onto until he/she returns from war. When this project began, it was only about the children, but the wives and sweethearts requested them too, and then, the soldiers wanted one with everyone's kisses on it to take with him/her off to war. The project is now supported by chapters in both EGA and ANG so that we have needlework chapters stitching for military units across the United States.

Instructions for making them and charts for the design can be found in the Files section of the CyberPointers Yahoo group. Please note, these are PDF files. You must be a member of CyberPointers to gain access to these files.