And The Winner Is.....

Angel Pillows Project, Inc.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

  

I want to thank everyone for name suggestions for my angel girl. There were many entries and they were all awesome.  It was not easy to choose.

Kristin Motter  suggested "Joy" and I like that name for her.  It is sweet, simple yet really so beautiful.  Kristin, be looking for your angel pillow in the mail very soon ! 

It's been a busy time for us here at APPI.  (which rhymes with "happy" (0: ) I just returned home from a visit with some dear friends in the Phoenix area who inspire and motivate me as I stay busy cross stitching pillows and adding music boxes to little teddy bears.  In November we will be selling some pillows, bears, greeting cards and angel charms  at the Hear On The Mesa event in the Phoenix, Arizona area. The proceeds raised from this event will benefit Olive Osmond Hearing Fund.

  If you want to know more about this awesome event, visit the Run 4 Hearing website at Run For Hearing or Olive Osmond Hearing Fund

Wishing you all the best.  Until next time.

With love,

Tale of the traveling angel pillows

Angel Pillows Project Inc.

September 4, 2012

Originally the angel pillows were designed only for parents who were experiencing the death of a child.  Shortly after the project got started, I met an online friend who went by the name of Butterflymom.  I later learned that her name was Brenda and I grew to feel a great love and friendship for her over weeks, months and now years of bonding as moms who were grieving the death of our sons.

Brenda lives in Canada and with her help, the angel pillows found homes in the communities in her corner of the world.  Not only did they go to mothers and fathers who had "lost" children, but also to children and families fighting cancer.  Brenda's son, Justin, passed on after bravely fighting cancer.  He was five years old.

Our angel pillows have traveled to homes located in the United States, Canada, Mexico, China, Africa, and the United Kingdom.  With the help of volunteers, pillows have reached thousands of parents and children.

Some of our pillows have also been given homes with families and children with hearing loss. One of the charities we support is called the Olive Osmond Perpetual Hearing Fund, also known as Olive Osmond Hearing Fund.  Their mission is to assist those with hearing loss with the gift of hearing aids and educational support so that they can live successfully in a world filled with sound.

 And to think, this all started with a prayer.

Here is a photo of the most recent angel pillow I've stitched.  The angel on the front of this pillow was the original cross stitch design I created for the very first angel pillow I ever made. 

We'd like to christen this angel on the front of the pillow below with a name. Send your suggestions to: sandyriggsinarizona@gmail.com   We'll choose our favorite of the names you suggest,  give you an honorable mention here in the blog for your help . and we'll send you a free angel pillow if we choose the name you suggest.  After ten years, it's time this little angel girl gets a name!

Until next time.  All my best to you.  

With love,

In The Beginning

http://www.angelpillowsprojectinc.com

Monday, August 27, 2012

  Now that our new website is up and running, we want to keep you up to date with all things Angel Pillows Project.

  First, I'd like to introduce myself.  My name is Sandy Riggs and the Angel Pillows Project is my baby and my passion. 

  The back story:  In November 1986, I gave birth to a beautiful six pound twelve ounce baby boy.  My husband, Randy, and I named him David.  He was a happy little guy who brought us enormous joy and we felt blessed to have him in our family.  He was healthy, he was full of energy, he was funny, he was loving and then the unthinkable happened.  He died.  At age five years and five months old, we had to say "good-bye for now" and bury our only son.  I was devastated.

  I am currently working with a co-writer on telling David's life story and I hope you will get a chance to know him and love him.  I'll keep you updated on how the book is coming along, but I anticipate it will be quite some time until it written and polished enough to publish.  After all these years, it still hurts to think about what happened to him, but I determined a long time ago to focus on the happy memories I have of him and live my life so that he would be proud of me.  I believe he is not so far away in spirit.

  The Angel Pillows Project idea came to me one sleepless night ten years ago.  It was exactly ten years to the day that we had buried David and my heart was aching.  I prayed for inspiration and a way to make something good come out of the sadness.  The Angel Pillows Project was born!

  At first, the idea was to design and cross stitch small pillows with angels on them and give them as gifts to mommies (and daddies) who were suffering the loss of their children in honor and memory of their children.  I formed a group on Yahoo.com and in MSN groups and "met" many moms and some dads and got the word out about the pillows.  Fast forward to 2012 and I have shared hundreds of angel pillows with grieving moms, dads, grandparents and children.  The project even expanded to other areas, which I will write about in my next entry.  Stay tuned!