"Hugs" for our soldiers

As many of you know, I am involved in the Home of the Brave Quilt project. We make quilts for moms of soldiers who have been lost in Iraq and Afghanistan. Another aspect is making "hugs" and "kisses" for our soldiers. "Hugs" are ties that have crystals in them that when you soak in cold water, they keep you cool. "Kisses" are hat inserts that do the same thing. About 3,000 Oregon National Guard members are being deployed soon so yesterday we had a "hugs" work day. Here are some pics of us creating 180 "hugs" of the 6,000 that we need.

The morning started with four of us sewing, ironing, stuffing and packaging up the hugs. Kaye and Terry are using their surgers to create the tubes for the hugs.



Linda pouring the crystals into the tubes.



Linda is wearing the first finished hug.


This is our first finished hug, put into a snack bag along with instructions to be given to the soldiers before they leave for their duty.

Ellen, Julie, and Nancy, joined Linda and I in the evening to keep the project going. In the middle of the table is two containers holding our finished products. Photographer, Phil, brought me supper so I could have energy to keep on task. I was the "task master" for the day, and am excited to report that 8 ladies completed 180 "hugs" for the day. Quite an accomplishment but more to go.