Friday, August 22, 2008

Still Working!

We are working hard to get crafters on board to help us with the Miss Myrtles Babies site and the Prematurity Project. Several have promised us dolls and we are so excited!! This week I received a huge box in the mail and inside was an assortment of the most wonderful dolls from Kate Erbach. If you visit Kate's Etsy site linked above, you will see that she makes the most wonderful dolls. I am surrounded by a monster, a pumpkin, a geisha, and so much more. You can't imagine the fun I am having with them visiting me until they are auctioned off for the cause. I believe my favorite is a tall thin man dressed in a red silky shirt and tie seated at a martini bar having himself a much deserved drink. I have had a rough time of it lately but these guys have more then lifted my spirits. The local March of Dimes Director has advised that they would like some of our dolls for an auction in November - I am sure these wonderful creations will bring in a good bit for them. Kate is also the one who donated the Keizi Matthews "Dear Ones" pattern to us for use in making dolls for the Miss Myrtles Babies site. Thank you so much Kate for all your help and support!!!

Carmen with Shweet Potato Designs is also keeping me in good humored graphics for the sites and much more. The two little girls above playing together made me think of how all things are possible when we work together. Thank you so much to Joann Bevan, Sandy Schodt and the other ladies of the DinkyBaby group - they have really kept me afloat!! Joann has sold two of her babies and donated the earnings and she allows us to use her babies for all sorts of things. She has some new ones in the nursery now at LinniePies! Sandy has made the most beautiful Baby to donate - she looks so real and huggable!! Theresa with Grammies Doll Nursery has created a layette for 8 inch babies and she will be donating a portion of all of the sales on that pattern to MMB also! We will have it loaded within the next day or so - it is downloadable!


We are very lucky to have such great doll making friends and we could not do this without them!! I hope to have pictures of all of the babies and dolls contributed posted soon! They are too wonderful for words!!!



Saturday, August 9, 2008

Downloadable Pattern is Ready!!


You can now download the Teenee Preemee Pattern by Vicki Riley! Click here to purchase your copy and a portion will be donated to our cause!!! Be sure to read the instructions. Let us know what you think!! We think this is one of Vicki's best yet!!!

Friday, August 8, 2008

We are Getting Official!!!

We are getting official - finally. I was able to obtain a tax ID number for Miss Myrtle's Babies today!! We have put in the paperwork to open a checking account and received donation which came from Vicki Riley with DinkyBaby.com! We are pretty excited. We have also received emails from at least 4 doll makers who will be donating dolls for the cause. We will be posting them on the web site as they are available. The first one is little Caleb from Joann Bevan with Grandamas Crafts in Bluffton, near Hilton Head, SC. He is such a little cutie - you will have to go by and see him. He is dressed in a sweet little homemade diaper with a blue blanket and cap. He has a little dark brown wisp of hair and a sweet little cherub face. He is up for adoption and his fee will be donated to the cause. Visit him at www.missmyrtlesbabies.com under the adoption link. Joann has also donated a sweet little Monkey and he has his own little handmade bib and diaper. You can also find him under the adoption link.

Thanks so much to all who are working toward this effort - I know we can make a difference!! Please send us your stories about pre-term labor or premature deliveries - we would love to post as many as we can on the site.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Excitement is in the Air!


Teenie Preemie Almost Ready!!
We are pretty excited around here today!!
Well Vicki Riley of DinkyBaby.com sent me the picture of the prototype baby for the Teenie Preemie yesterday. You can see her here - she is just so adorable I can't believe it!!! She is our new poster child for Miss Myrtles Babies! My favorite thing is her little hand behind her ear. :) Vicki will be allowing us to sell this pattern on our site as well as donating some of the proceeds to our cause - the prematurity project!! Soon we will be adding some personal stories to the site about pre-mature babies and their families. One of the first will be my beautiful little Great Nephew Carson. He was born at 33 weeks after my Niece went through a very rough two weeks in the hospital trying to stall the labor. He is a beautiful little guy but she really went through a very scary couple of months. I can't wait to post his before and after pictures. He is one of the most beautiful babies I have seen and yes I am a little prejudiced!
Many of you know that I have 4 boys - two of them were difficult labors beginning at 24 & 26 weeks. We almost lost our 3rd Son during that ordeal and I did miscarry my 4th pregnancy. My fifth pregnancy was successful with my Son Philip - now 13 and healthy! He and Clay were born at 37 weeks miraculously after hospital stays, drugs, and so much more. My first two - Andy and Josh - were very normal pregnancies. Proof that you just never know. That is our goal - to help in research to find out what causes so many pre-mature labors and how to better stop them. Our State - South Carolina - is one of the worst in infant mortality rates and pre-mature births!! We hope to help work on that.
As I have droned on about in other blogs, articles, I worked in administrative stuff for the past 30+ years (now I am telling my age) and although this work does require some of those skills, I am so happy to be back to crafting and working for a cause. As many of you know, the past 3 years or so with my work have been very difficult and this year was very painful - sort of like a divorce with my contract. But........through pain and difficulty can come joy and that is what I have found. I just know that Miss Myrtle would be so happy to lend her name to this wonderful cause - if you knew her then you know that she was the most generous caring individual that I have ever had the pleasure of knowing!! I hope to provide more information about her and what a wonderful person she was as we go along. Many of you may not know that she was my dear friend Ann Epting's Mother.
Watch as we grow and move on with this most wonderful cause. Help us help Babies!!!

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Miss Myrtle Up and Running!

Well Miss Myrtle's Babies Web site is up and running - finally! Annie with In A Pickle Web Designs saved me - I just could not get it to load for some unknown reason. :) It looks great and we are getting ready to start filling it with products and information to raise money for pre-term babies and research! The Web address is www.missmyrtlesbabies.com - I believe it may take some time to get it rolling but we are over the first hump. Now we have to file the paperwork for the non-profit. We have 3 board members so far - Ms. Carol Martin, Ms. Ann Epting, and myself. I would like to add maybe one or two more for ideas and points of view. If you drop by let us know what you think as we grow and develop the site and the group!
Lynne
www.linniepies.com
www.wordlee.com
www.missmyrtlesbabies.com

Monday, July 14, 2008

Changes! July 14, 2008


Well things are changing around here almost every day! This is my first entry onto the "Official" blog. In the past we have just used a page in our Web site to post the blogs but I thought it may be time to make a change!


We have also completely changed the Web sites to move them more to the craft side as I no longer have any active administrative contracts. I have been working very hard to get the Web pages some activity and start adding more dolls and babies!! We are also working on a new site which will be a non-profit to benefit BABIES!! My favorite topic!! The new site will be Miss Myrtles Babies in honor of a dear frind of mine that died a couple of months ago - Ms. Myrtle Baker. She faught a long battle with Cancer and she is now at peace. Watch for more info on this site - I hope it will do much good!!! This little guy will be our logo - he is "Thinking Andy" which is very appropriate since my oldest is named Andy! I have fallen in love with Shweet Potato Designs and Carmen over there worked this up for me. I just love her graphics and will be using them on all three sites. Change can be very exciting after all!!