Yellow Rose EGA

Baptismal Shawls

Members stitch 2 ¾” X 14” baptismal shawls to be used by St. Luke’s Methodist Church when christening babies in hospitals and for babies in danger. The shawls are to be given to the parents as a memento of the blessed event. They are long enough to enable the parents to divide the piece in two, if they wish, to allow for each parent or other loved ones to cherish. Each shawl has tiny stitched motifs of religious symbols on both ends embellished with seed beads. This project is a Thank You gift to St. Luke’s for allowing us to meet each month in their wonderful meeting rooms

Bayou Bend Family Day

Since 1997, our chapter has been teaching young children to stitch at the Museum of Fine Arts Bayou Bend Collections and Gardens on Family Day. Bayou Bend’s original owner, Miss Ima Hogg, has an extensive collection of needlework and the house is furnished with original hand-crafted Texas and American-made furniture. Each family day has a different theme focusing on Miss Hogg’s Legacy.

Go Texian Market Days

For 22 years, during the latter part of October, the Fort Bend Museum Association sponsors Texian Market Days at the George Ranch Historical Park. This event offers a living view of Texas’ past with costumed staff and volunteers presenting vignettes of daily lives and heroic moments from the early days in Stephen F. Austin’s colony (1830s) through the late years of the Great Depression and World War II (1940s), all benefiting the educational programs of the Fort Bend Museum Association, including the George Ranch Historical Park. Yellow Rose has participated since 1997 by stitching on the porch of the main house, the George House, and exhibiting different forms of needlework.

Habitat for Humanity

Yellow Rose has been stitching samplers for Houston Habitat for Humanity homeowners since the fall of 2002. At the beginning of 2004, at the request of the Houston Habitat office, we designed a special sampler that is unique to the Houston office only and features their logo, the bent nail. Up to that point, the samplers stitched were those stitched across the United States. This unique sampler was designed with eleven bent nails, Texas bluebonnets, and two hearts each holding a bent nail. It met with overwhelming approval by Houston Habitat and we presented the first homeowner with this new sampler in mid 2004. When the national Habitat organization changed its logo, Houston Habitat asked us to continue stitching “their” sampler.

Soldier Family Pillows

In 2005, wanting to show our appreciation for the sacrifices made by military personnel, Yellow Rose members began hand-stitching small 4” X 4” patriotic pillows designed to be used as a keepsake for the children and loved ones left behind by the soldiers departing for service of the U.S. The lightly stuffed pillows have a heart outline, the words “I love you,” and two red, white and blue stars within the heart, and are backed with washable fabrics in patriotic and camouflage designs. Each pillow is presented in a plastic bag with a note explaining the purpose of the tiny pillow and expressing our gratitude for their service. The soldier kisses the pillow and gives one to each of his/her loved ones to hold onto until he/she returns from war. When we began this project, we initially thought only about the children, but the wives and sweethearts requested them too, and then, the soldiers wanted one with everyone’s kisses on it to take with him/her off to war.

The response has been overwhelming. A very special project that we hoped would express our gratitude for the sacrifices of our servicemen and women has more than filled our expectations and has mushroomed into something that touches the hearts of everyone.

In the fall of 2006, Yellow Rose began offering the project to all Embroiderers’ Guild of America chapters. In November 2006, the project was offered to chapters of the American Needlepoint Guild. The goal was to have needlework chapters stitching for military units across the United States. Although early in our sharing efforts, by the end of 2006, 15 chapters have already adopted military units, 29 chapters are stitching for Hearts Apart, and two shops have joined in the stitching. (Hearts Apart is an organization for the school-aged children of servicemen and women who have been deployed or will be deployed, enabling them to be with other children who are missing their parents, and where they are guided in positive avenues of thought.) We have truly just begun to share this project with stitching chapters with requests coming in daily to participate. For more information or to participate, please contact yellowroseega.outreach@gmail.com

In 2005 and 2006, Yellow Rose has delivered 790 pillows to the 75th USAR Unit in Houston, Texas. An additional 100+ were delivered to them on January 2, 2007.