I promised a fundraising project for Aura’s House soon, and it’s here!  I’ve started making coaster sets with the entire sale price going towards the Children International projects at Aura’s House (hence the title, Coasters for Children!) The first set is shown here, and is on sale now. These are JUMBO sized to accomodate large mugs and cups (about 5 1/2 inches across). The ENTIRE sale price will go to Aura’s House, so I’m footing the materials and time to maximize the contribution. Hopefully this is an easy way to make a BIG difference with a small price tag.

I’ll continue adding sets to the store as soon as they’re ready. Thanks again for your support of these wonderful projects!

…for all the donations to the Aura’s House projects so far! They’re making steady progress, and every bit helps.

I’ve been inspired by what some people close to me are doing to help raise money for the projects that Stephanie has going at Aura’s House. Even children have great ideas and can do amazing things to help.

(With some help of course….) I’ve come up with an idea to do a little fundraising of my own! All proceeds will go to the Aura’s House projects. Stay tuned for an announcement…

 As usual, I went AWOL on this blog, but now I’m back and have some upcoming projects that you’ll hear more about soon. Warning, after an overhaul of my flickr account, a lot of image links in old posts are broken. I’m too lazy and too busy to bother fixing them. Sorry.  I promise all the new photos will work properly.

I’ve signed up for a new photo-related project, but I’m not going to tell you quite yet what it is… As soon as I sort out a few details I’ll give you the full scoop.

In the meantime, Stephanie has a fantastic project going on that you should know about… she has gone above and beyond for 5 of our sponsored children. She’s coordinated with Aura’s House to raise funds for desperately needed “extras” for these kids, including a roof for one of the houses and capital to start their own income generating ventures to lessen the need for donations.

Aura’s House has a unique history of charitable fundraising that you can read on their website, and 100% of the funds go to support the projects. They have great visibility and a fantastic reputation, so this is a huge opportunity for some of our sponsored children to receive some much needed assistance, beyond what we could do ourselves. Additionally, Bank of America is even offering triple-matching funds on one of the projects.

Aura’s House is very selective about what projects they will take on, and they only support an extremely small number at one time. The five currently supported projects were all initiated by Stephanie, which is a clear demonstration of her hard work and dedication! (A husband could not be more proud than I am…) Stephanie has worked tirelessly to get the projects to this point, and now it’s up to the rest of us. I hope that you will choose to make a donation to one or all of these projects, however small. Everything counts! Please visit Aura’s House to make a contribution.

My wife and I have an upcoming class for a 9 patch quilt, based on Judy Sisneros’s design. It should be great! I picked some excellent asian prints to use, so expect to see some photos after the class. 

I’m still handstitching the binding on my nephew’s birthday quilt. I’ll share some photos after the party, so as not to spoil the surprise!  

For those who are not aware, but might be interested, my wife is unloading some yarn over at her blog. The proceeds go to a good cause, so have a look if you’re a knitter. 

Another thing you may not be aware of is that we sponsor a handful of children through the fantastic and unequaled Children International. In addition to the basic sponsorship, my wife has gone above and beyond with some other wonderful ways to help bring these hardworking families out of poverty. If you’ve not done so already, definitely have a look. She’s doing a fantastic job!  

And lastly, what good is a post without a photo? Here to save the day, is none other than our Libby, who today decided that a 10 lb bag of joint compound mix looked like a good thing to destroy. And while you’re destroying something, you have to eat some too, right? And of course when you eat joint compound mix, you’re gonna yack later on, right?  Props to the wife who spotted the oncoming vomit, even before the stomach convulsions started, and props to me for getting Libby to puke into the trash can.  That’s right, into the trash can.  Housetraining is one thing, but directing puke to the trash can is in a league of its own.