SQUARE HEART AWARD - MARCH 2015 - Forum

SQUARE HEART OF THE MONTH AWARD

THE SQUARE HEART AWARD FOR MARCH IS FOR

THE SPECIAL MOTHER & DAUGHTER TEAM OF

WENDY LEWIS & MADELINE MURRAY et al.

Uxbridge, ON, Canada

This Mother and Daughter team posted the first photos of their work in May of 2012. What better way to spend time with your family than sharing your passion for helping others.

These ladies have pooled their talents to create some incredibly beautiful squares to provide warmth and a bit of fun for the children of South Africa.

Whether whimsical ...

... educational ...

... or just downright beautiful ...

... a desire to envelop the children in warmth, color, beauty, and love is evident in their fascinating squares, designed to stir the imagination of a child.

THANK YOU Wendy and Maddie, for your positive and encouraging presence on the Forum. Your squares, intended to delight a child, also supply a source of enjoyment and inspiration for others.

And we must not forget Amelia, another daughter and member of this terrific two/threesome !! Amelia has given KAS the benefit of her artistic abilities by designing and creating our very own KAS Shop logo! THANK YOU Amelia!

***********

These three squares have a special significance.

They also appeared in May of 2012, accompanied by this comment:

"Three Flower Celebration - because today

my daughter Wendy Lewis

and my granddaughter Maddie Murray

have joined us on the forum - three generations - three flowers ...

Welcome aboard girls!!!"

THANK YOU, Anne Powell, for setting such a loving example for your family to follow.

***********

And a sincere

THANK YOU

to every one of this incredible two/three/foursome

for your invaluable contributions to KAS.

Remember I told you that Wendy and Maddie do beautiful work?

Well ... please don't just take my word for it! See for yourself! Here are the links to photos of the delightful squares this Mother and Daughter team have created.

Wendy's Photos

http://forum.knit-a-square.com/photo/photo/listForContributor?screenName=30g5sy0h37pjf

Maddie's Photos

http://forum.knit-a-square.com/photo/photo/listForContributor?scree...

OH MY GOODNESS, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!! Thank you KASers for the honour of this award, thank you for your kind words, and thank you for continuing to inspire me with your creativity, compassion and commitment to this wonderful charity. I feel sheepish with my "mug" on display when there are so many people who do so much for Knit-a-Square and the children in Africa. I wish I could knit faster, and better, but I'm glad if my squares, and Maddie's squares, and the squares Amelia has embellished, have helped warm some children and given them some woolly pictures to enjoy!

Mom (Anne P.) was right to hint in her comment that she tried to teach me to crochet and I'm quite hopeless at it. The first attempt turned out to look something like knitting; I had all the stitches lined up somehow ON the hook. She fell off the couch laughing. Eventually Maddie taught me to make a chain stitch square, and a few wobbly versions have made their way to Africa, but I'm so slow and awkward that I went back to knitting.

Mom mentioned my call to her in January 2009 about Knit-a-Square. I don't remember that very well; I was drowning in the brain fog of MS. I'd been diagnosed the previous year and was not doing well. We went to a cottage with friends (the same friends who went to Lismore Sheep Farm near River John, Nova Scotia, Gloria!) My friend, Elaine, was knitting a sweater and I thought I'd pick up the needles again after a long spell of not knitting. I bought some wool and a pattern for scarf that I once would have been able to whip up without trouble. Muddled as I was in my brain fog, however, it was impossible. Even Elaine couldn't figure out what I'd done to it. We called it The Boot because that's what it looked like, and then I gave it the boot!

It wasn't until I happened upon the new Knit-a-Square website later that fall, that I picked up the needles again. An eight-inch square, knit in garter stitch. I could do that. Sometimes I only had the energy to knit a row or two. But with each stitch I felt a tiny sense of accomplishment, and I'm sure it helped me get better. In 2009, I joined a clinical trial for an MS drug and Mom often accompanied me to Toronto, our knitting bags in tow. Anyone who asked what we were making got the "KAS chat". I started carrying KAS brochures with me that Mom had printed off, and handed them out.

That summer, we went back to the same cottage in Muskoka with Elaine and her family. I took three big balls of wool -- variegated blues to match the sky, variegated green to match the trees and moss, and variegated grey and brown to match the rocks. Maddie and I, and Elaine and her daughter, Emily, sat on the dock knitting what we called "Muskoka squares" for the KAS children.

Fast forward several years, and many squares later. Mom has recruited several knitters and crocheters, and headed up a mission at her church that has sent more than 15,000 squares to South Africa! I'm so proud of Mom and the hard work she does for KAS. Maddie and Amelia have grown and blossomed into creative, caring young women and I'm so proud of them too. And I'm still plugging away, stitch by stitch, doing my tiny part in this KAS community that has done so much for me and my family. THANK YOU!!!!!!

Replies

Anneke March 30, 2015 at 4:31am

Many congratualtions for you both. A well-deserved award. A wonderful team. Your creativity and the team work is stunning. I love the squares you both make. What a talented family. Beside this, you as a team, together with Anne, reminds me of the time that I was crafting together with my Mam and sister, these moments belong to the most wonderful memories of my younger years :) xoxo
Chris Chiplen March 22, 2015 at 9:43am

Wendy and Maddie, I am so sorry not to have commented before, I thought I had! I think you both are very worthy recipients, producing beautiful, creative squares! (Thanks also to Amelia for her embellishments)! Creativity must be in the blood, three generations of caring crafters, using their talents to help keep the the children in SA warm.
Maureen (Maudie) Anne Bryan March 13, 2015 at 12:07pm

Congratulations and what fabulous design work you do. They are beautiful and stunning and colourful ways to wrap a child in warmth. Thank you. :)
Pam Antink March 10, 2015 at 5:37am

Thanks Ladies, for your continued valuable input into the KAS Forum and all your creative contributions - always so imaginative!
Gloria Grandy March 8, 2015 at 4:37am

A lovely note from Ronda ...

Well done Wendy and Madeline !!!

I am gradually catching up with all the database work and square tallies - you are probably amongst the MANY who are waiting for acknowledgement and thanks, for which I apologise ...

Love to you ALL, from Ronda and every one of the volunteers here in SA.
Heather Mensah March 4, 2015 at 3:58am

Huge congratulations to you both (all)! Your work is so beautiful and it inspires us all. Best of all, it delights and warms many children across in South Africa.

Wendy, it was wonderful to meet you and your Mum last year when I visited Toronto, and I hope that I'll see you again the next time I visit.

Maddie - it's so refreshing to see the younger generation taking up this work - I hope that you'll inspire others of your age to take up a creative hobby.
Valerie Zalewski March 3, 2015 at 9:25pm

Thank you, Wendy and Madeleine for sharing this part of your life with us. It's such a warm feeling to be able to know our KAS family members a little better. I think that KAS doesn't only help the children in S.A., but it also helps a lot of us.
Madeline Murray March 3, 2015 at 2:56pm

WOW. Thank you so much, everyone!! This truly is an honour.

KAS means so much to me, I still remember doing my first squares back when I was 11 years old, and 6 years later here I am, still knitting away! I would knit 4x4 inch squares, because I found that 8x8 squares took a long time to finish, and then get my grandma to crochet around them. It was really in 2012 though when I started knitting a lot, after starting homeschooling, I found myself having a lot more free time. It got me through the sleepless nights with new foster cats and kittens , and those rough patches in life.

I love the positive vibes here on the forum and everyone does such a wonderful job at keeping it fun and lively :)

I try to ‘think like a kid’ when doing squares; I love picking out the colours and thinking about what a little kid might like. Stripes are probably my favourite, by you can never go wrong with a Plain Jane! In the end, it’s all about the kids, and seeing one of my squares in a blanket around a child is the best feeling in the world.

It’s one of my life goals to take a trip down to South Africa and volunteer with the kids, and do some photography of that journey while I'm there. Makes me smile just thinking about it!

Thank you so much KAsers for this huge honour, I’m tearing up reading all of your comments! Thank you!
- Heather Mensah > Madeline Murray March 4, 2015 at 3:59am
  
  Maddie - that's one of my goals too! I'm saving for the air fare!
Wendy Lewis March 3, 2015 at 10:39am

OH MY GOODNESS, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!! Thank you KASers for the honour of this award, thank you for your kind words, and thank you for continuing to inspire me with your creativity, compassion and commitment to this wonderful charity. I feel sheepish with my "mug" on display when there are so many people who do so much for Knit-a-Square and the children in Africa. I wish I could knit faster, and better, but I'm glad if my squares, and Maddie's squares, and the squares Amelia has embellished, have helped warm some children and given them some woolly pictures to enjoy!

Mom (Anne P.) was right to hint in her comment that she tried to teach me to crochet and I'm quite hopeless at it. The first attempt turned out to look something like knitting; I had all the stitches lined up somehow ON the hook. She fell off the couch laughing. Eventually Maddie taught me to make a chain stitch square, and a few wobbly versions have made their way to Africa, but I'm so slow and awkward that I went back to knitting.

Mom mentioned my call to her in January 2009 about Knit-a-Square. I don't remember that very well; I was drowning in the brain fog of MS. I'd been diagnosed the previous year and was not doing well. We went to a cottage with friends (the same friends who went to Lismore Sheep Farm near River John, Nova Scotia, Gloria!) My friend, Elaine, was knitting a sweater and I thought I'd pick up the needles again after a long spell of not knitting. I bought some wool and a pattern for scarf that I once would have been able to whip up without trouble. Muddled as I was in my brain fog, however, it was impossible. Even Elaine couldn't figure out what I'd done to it. We called it The Boot because that's what it looked like, and then I gave it the boot!

It wasn't until I happened upon the new Knit-a-Square website later that fall, that I picked up the needles again. An eight-inch square, knit in garter stitch. I could do that. Sometimes I only had the energy to knit a row or two. But with each stitch I felt a tiny sense of accomplishment, and I'm sure it helped me get better. In 2009, I joined a clinical trial for an MS drug and Mom often accompanied me to Toronto, our knitting bags in tow. Anyone who asked what we were making got the "KAS chat". I started carrying KAS brochures with me that Mom had printed off, and handed them out.

That summer, we went back to the same cottage in Muskoka with Elaine and her family. I took three big balls of wool -- variegated blues to match the sky, variegated green to match the trees and moss, and variegated grey and brown to match the rocks. Maddie and I, and Elaine and her daughter, Emily, sat on the dock knitting what we called "Muskoka squares" for the KAS children.

Fast forward several years, and many squares later. Mom has recruited several knitters and crocheters, and headed up a mission at her church that has sent more than 15,000 squares to South Africa! I'm so proud of Mom and the hard work she does for KAS. Maddie and Amelia have grown and blossomed into creative, caring young women and I'm so proud of them too. And I'm still plugging away, stitch by stitch, doing my tiny part in this KAS community that has done so much for me and my family. THANK YOU!!!!!!

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