The Cost of a Smile

How much does a smile cost? When you are a child who has to face a life changing experience, a smile can be very hard to come by. Hospitals in themselves can be very scary places; full of sick and injured people. Nurses and doctors try to bring colour into the room by wearing colourful or patterned scrubs; parents and family members bring in flowers and familiar items. We hope that our pillowcases let children know that people care about them; a little gift from a total stranger. 


There are many children in different situations who could use this same gift. Children in orphanages or children who are removed from their homes could equally benefit from having something they can hold on to and bring with them everywhere they move to. It is only a small group of children who we are trying to reach but many more could use a smile.  

Pillowcases to be sent to the Royal Alexandra Children's Hospital

We are thrilled to confirm that our first batch of pillowcases will be sent to the Royal Alexandra Children's Hospital in Brighton! The Royal Alex is a fantastic hospital and located in Brighton where I went to university! We hope that the children there enjoy our pillowcases and look forward to receiving any feedback.

http://www.theroyalalex.co.uk/

Third Owl

Did you know that there are more than 150 species of owls in the world? And now there are 151. Our third scrap owl is now complete! 

We haven't named him yet so let us know if you can think of a good one! He is not up for sale yet, but watch this space..........!

1000 viewers!

We have now had over 1000 viewers from 10 different countries! Thank you for your support - please continue to check up on us and don't forget to tell your friends about us too! Laura and I are hard at work producing wonderful pillowcases out of the fabric we have received from your donations.
 

Photos of new pillowcases

As promised, here is a photo of our most recent batch of 5 pillowcases! Let us know what you think of them!

Update

This weekend we recieved more fabic from one of Laura's best friends when she came to visit. The sheer amount of fabric that we have recieved so far is almost overwhelming. I believe that with all the fabric we have so far we will be able to make a very large chunk of the pillowcases, though I am sure that we will need more at a later point. However, you are always welcome to send a meter or two of fabric at this stage so you can see it put to use in a pillowcase.

Later today or tomorrow we will post some pictures to our blog so that everyone can see the most recent batch of 5 pillowcases.

Second owl for sale

Following the successful sale of our maiden owl we have been hard at work making a second! Get your bids in early so as not to disappoint!

Click here to visit the ebay page: http://bit.ly/yOQMFW

Living in a Material World

Yesterday and today we received the most generous donations from two fabric shops, The Cotton Patch and DotsNStripes. It was so nice of them to take the time to dig out all of this fabric and go to the expense to post/courier it to us. So we want to say a HUGE thank you to those two fantastic suppliers. We have so many new possible designs for the next batch of pillowcases. Mark is getting worried that we will be making pillowcases for the rest of our lives!! haha.

Many other generous people have also donated and so, if you haven't spotted it already, check out our new 'thank you' page which can be accessed via the tab on the above toolbar.

First Week

Last Sunday, our flat started to take on the look of a craft studio. Where once a romantic candlelight table for two sat now sits a sewing machine and piles of fabric.  

As the week progressed raw fabric started to take the shape of pillow cases. These five pillowcases, are the second set that we made and we made one more today. Our choices of patterns are starting to get low so the number may stay at 11 until we get more fabric. 

 Due to the exciting auctioning happening on Ebay, Laura has gotten straight to work on a second owl tonight. (I'm not entirely sure who the two members of the Tanguay family are who are trying to out bid each other but I'm sure one of them is my Mom). I think Laura's owl will turn out to be better than mine.

My Mom e-mailed me tonight to tell me how she got on with the fabric shopping: 

"I went to Mardens and found several discounted fabrics for the pillowcases in 'boy' prints. While I was getting the fabric cut the clerk asked what i was doing with the fabric and i told her about your project. An older woman behind me said how wonderful it was and handed me $20.00 for more fabric."

Many thanks to those who have sent us donations and many more thanks to the perfect stranger.

Owl Looking for a Good Home

We have just put our first hand-crafted owl cushion up on Ebay! She is happy to go to either a U.K or American home! Click here to visit the Ebay page: http://bit.ly/wYZcgy 

What does an educated owl say?

After a good couple of hours today; owl number one is complete and Laura and I would like to show her off.
 

If you haven't figured out the answer to the joke it's; What does an educated owl say? ... Whom

Day 6: Goodbye Dining Room - Hello Crafts Studio

I would like to thank everyone for their responses to mine and Laura's idea. It has been just over a week since I posed this idea to Laura and just 6 days since we put it on-line. In just under week we have had over 450 hits on our Blog. We have been moving so much quicker than I thought we would be able to.

Tonight we finished another pillowcase as we watched "Rainman" in our tiny flat. Tomorrow we will finish at least one more and will post a picture of the last five that we have completed.

Last night Laura wrote to a couple of fabric suppliers and we have already heard back from two who have kindly offered to donate fabric - and one wants us to write an article on how to make our scrap owls!

Donations are already starting to come in and my mom is planning on what fabric she is going to buy and from where. Laura's mum is doing the same in England and I'm getting excited to see which patterns they pick.

Finally, if you like what we're doing, please take a moment to pass on our details to someone you know. Thanks again!
 

Scrap Owl

As we make our pillowcases we are left with remnants of material which are not big enough to  make more cases. With this material we have decided to make 'scrap owls' which are owl shaped pillows made with a patchwork of different designs. We are then going to try and sell these owls and put the proceeds towards buying more material for our pillowcases.

Here is our first owl in the making:

Pillowcase Labels

The pillowcase labels we ordered arrived today! We are ironing them into the inside of each pillowcase so that they are identifiable.

Donations from the States

Laura and I understand how impractical it is for Americans to send checks and how expensive it is to post anything overseas.

My mother has agreed (with a little arm twisting) to accept any fabric and monetary donations on our behalf. She will then use any monetory donations to purchase additional fabric and post a single package containing all of the donations. One or two bulk posting rather than a bunch of little ones.

One of the things that Laura and I are going to do is take photos of all of the completed pillow cases so that those who donate fabric can see the final product of that donation and if any photos are sent to us from the recipient of a pillow we will also be posting these (pending permission). Unlike other charities, those who donate will be in the rare position of being able to see exactly how their donation was used.
So as not to place my parents address for all to see, if you would like the address please contact Laura and I by e-mail at Laura_JTanguay@hotmail.co.uk.   

First Five Cases

Here is a picture of our first five pillowcases!
More to follow soon...

Our first pillowcase is COMPLETE!

Day 1 of Making the Pillowcases

Snowed in (sort of) and starting to make the pillowcases. Laura cutting fabric in her pyjamas.... > 

Our Personalised Labels

Pillowcase Labels

We have ordered personalised labels to iron on to the inside of our pillowcases which say "Love, The Tanguays" next to a smiley face in a sun. This is how we came up with our 'name' Love, The Tanguays. We wanted to get labels because we thought it gave the pillowcases an extra 'personal touch' and thought it could act as a gift tag from us to that child.

On the Hunt for Material at Walthamstow Market

Our First Blog

Today we went to Walthamstow Market to find fabric for our first batch of pillows. We came back with lots of beautiful designs and can't wait to get started! So far we have found that it is more difficult to find designs for boys than it is for girls. Mark is keen to get some pirate prints for the boys so watch this space!