Hello!
I am writing this week’s newsletter extra-early because April 17-20 is the annual Nordic Needle retreat! We are expecting about 70 needleworkers from 19 states of the United States and five foreign countries (England, New Zealand, three provinces of Canada, Bermuda, and Trinidad and Tobago) to descend on Fargo, North Dakota for four days of fun! The women who come to the retreat really do make these days so enjoyable!! They take classes, talk, shop, stitch, laugh, eat, shop, talk and laugh some more!! If you get a chance in future years to come to the retreat, please try. It is an incredible way to share your love of needlework with like-minded crazy people!!
 Some of you have kindly asked about my grandchildren. It has been awhile since I have included photos! Actually in my last newsletter where I mentioned Gabriel’s second birthday party, there was supposed to be a photo of him with his chocolate cake, but it went missing in cyber-space! So thank you for asking. Here is an update on the joys of my life!
As I said, Gabriel turned two at the end of March. He loves everything related to cars, he loves the water and his swimming lessons, and is generally a smiley, happy child. Of course, he did just turn two, so he has learned those all-important words “no” and “mine”. He loves to imitate his big brother, and he gives great hugs!
Daniel is four and a half and is very outgoing. He loves to go  to preschool and play with his friends, but he must be learning there, as well, because he is starting to read. When they are out running errands, he will point out words on signs that he can read. It is amazing how those little minds work! Both boys understand both English and Spanish, and they are speaking more Spanish all the time.
Rebecca is three and a half months old. We haven’t seen her since she was two weeks old because my neck problems have prevented us from traveling to Illinois. But from the photos, I can see that she has grown and changed so much! She is a sweet and happy baby most of the time (we all have our cranky moments, right?). She has brought so much joy to her parents and to the rest of the family!
 So that is the update on my precious three. I will be seeing Daniel, Gabriel, Heather and Rafa in a few days when I travel to Minneapolis to have surgery on my neck. The recovery from this type of surgery is supposed to be fairly quick, so three weeks after we return home I have a train ticket to Illinois to visit Rebecca, Laura and Ray. What a joy it is to be a grandmother!!!
The bookmark challenge continues to go well. Thank you to everyone who has sent us a bookmark! During the retreat we are having a bookmark exchange, and we encouraged the women coming to the retreat to bring an extra bookmark to add to the challenge!
Briefly, here are the details. Send your bookmark(s) to us by May 8, 2008, and we will display them with your name, city and state (or country) in our store. After the challenge ends, we will hold a drawing and the winner of the drawing will receive a $100 gift certificate to Nordic Needle! The more bookmarks you send to us, the more times your name is entered into the drawing and the better chance you have to win!
If you would like, you are encouraged to attach a slip of paper to your bookmark with the title of a favorite book. All the stitched bookmarks will be donated to local Fargo libraries or elementary schools during Children’s Book Week, May 12-18. They will be used by librarians and teachers to encourage and reward children for reading accomplishments.
If we receive bookmarks with a Christian theme, they will be donated to a local Christian school. If you would prefer that your bookmarks are donated to an adult literacy program instead of children, just make a note when you send them to us and we will be sure that happens.
Send finished bookmarks to:
Nordic Needle, Inc.
Bookmark Challenge
1314 Gateway Drive
Fargo, ND 58103
If you want to read more about the Bookmark Challenge, check out my Newsletter #150 in the archives on our website.
Finally, I want to bring you the story of an amazing man and the incredible impact he has had on the world. Every year five ELCA colleges collaborate to host an annual Nobel Peace Prize Forum, in cooperation with the Norwegian Nobel Institute. This year Concordia College (where Jim works) hosted the 20th Annual Forum, “Striving for Peace: Investing in Community”. It honored the innovative work of Muhammad Yunus who founded the Grameen Bank to provide low-cost loans to individuals in Bangladesh to counter the prolonged effects of poverty. The bank has resulted in the creation of economic and social improvements from the ground up by the poorest of the poor. Today it counts more than seven million borrowers.
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus, who shared the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize with the Grameen Bank, has an amazing story to tell. His father was a successful goldsmith who encouraged his sons to seek higher education and his mother helped any poor person who knocked on their door. Yunus, the third of fourteen children, five of whom died in infancy, was inspired by his parents to commit himself to the eradication of poverty.
Yunus earned a doctorate in economics from Vanderbilt University after receiving a Fulbright grant to study in the United States. He began his career as professor of economics in the United States, before moving back to Bangladesh where he taught at a university.
In 1974, Dr. Muhammad Yunus led his university students on a field trip to a poor village. They interviewed a woman who made bamboo stools, and learned that after borrowing money in the traditional way to buy raw bamboo, she was left with a penny profit margin. Yunus lent a group of 42 basket-weavers $27 from his own pocket. He found that it was possible with a tiny amount not only to help people survive, but also to create the spark of personal initiative and enterprise necessary to pull themselves out of poverty.
Against the advice of banks and government, Yunus continued to give out ‘micro-loans’ and in 1983 he formed the Grameen Bank, meaning ‘village bank.’ The Grameen Bank has reversed conventional banking practice by removing the need for collateral and created a banking system based on mutual trust and accountability.
The bank currently has a repayment rate of 98 percent, a recovery rate higher than any other banking system, and has been profitable in all but three years of existence. It has more than 7 million borrowers (97 percent are women), more than 2,400 branches and provides services to more than 97 percent of the total villages in Bangladesh. Grameen methods are applied in projects in 58 countries, including the United States, Canada, France, the Netherlands and Norway. What an amazing success story, from such a humble start!
If you want to read more about Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank, go to
www.grameen-info.org/bank/
On a related note, there is an organization that allows you to become a micro-lender to a specific entrepreneur. Their website says, “We let you loan to the working poor. Kiva’s mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty. Kiva is the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world.
The people you see on Kiva’s site are real individuals in need of funding – not marketing material. When you browse entrepreneurs’ profiles on the site, choose someone to lend to, and then make a loan, you are helping a real person make great strides towards economic independence and improve life for themselves, their family and their community. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates and track repayments. Then, when you get your loan money back, you can re-lend to someone else in need.”
 I spent some time on their website, and it is amazing to read the stories of the people, many of them women, who with a very small loan by our standards, have improved the lives of their children and extended families.
For example, consider this story from the Kiva website:
“Mrs. Eliza Mercedes Zavaleta Castro is 35 years old, and studied through her second year of high school. She has five dependent children, and lives in the province of Otuzco in La Libertad, Perú.
For her business, she sells soups in the morning and a set meal in the afternoons on a cart through the street of Santa Rita in Otuzco. With her excellent taste and convenient price, she has earned many customers.
She started her business selling fried pork in small quantities, and as she became better known, others recommended she try other dishes, and she did. Currently, her business is going very well and she has more customers everyday.
She joined the communal bank "Mujures de Olivo" where she received her first loan for $100, money she used to buy all the ingredients she needed for cooking.
With this new loan for $200, which she will repay in four months, she will buy a package of noodles, vegetables, potatoes, 12 kilos of rice and other ingredients for making different dishes.
Her greatest dream is to own a car so she can travel through various homesteads and buy fruit to sell in the Otuzco markets.”
This is just one of many stories that will tug at your heartstrings. If you would like to consider becoming a micro-lender go to:
www.kiva.org
I believe this is one of those times where the giver actually receives more than the recipient!
Today’s recipe is one I received from Laura. She got it from her good friend Jamie. I made a half recipe the other night, and it was delicious! And so easy!!
Chicken and Dumplings
- One half sweet onion, chopped (optional)
- 2 cans (10 oz) of chunk chicken – or cook and shred your own
- 1 can (15 oz.) Veg-All Original Mixed Vegetables, drained – or your favorite vegetables
- 2 cans (10.75 oz.) cream of chicken soup
- 2 cups (8 oz.) shredded cheese
- Pepper (optional)
- 1 can Pillsbury Grand biscuits 8 count
Preheat oven to the temperature listed on the biscuit can. Place the onion in a pan on top of the stove and sauté for a few minutes. Drain chicken and Veg-All vegetables. Add drained chicken, vegetables and soup to pan. Heat to a simmer and cook a few minutes. Add a cup of cheese and some pepper. Continue to simmer about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Put all 8 biscuits in a 9” x 13” glass baking dish. Bake the biscuits for 10 minutes. Remove the biscuits from the oven, top with simmering chicken mixture, top with the rest of the cheese and put it back in the oven for another 15 minutes.
This recipe makes a large batch, so for just the two of us I prepared half a recipe (I bought the smaller can of Veg-All) and baked the four extra biscuits separately. We still had leftovers!
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As long as we’re on the topic of food, here’s a food safety tip I wasn’t aware of! Placing a big container of hot food directly into the fridge is a recipe for uneven cooling and possible food poisoning. It can take a long time for the temperature in the middle of a big container to drop, creating a cozy environment for bacteria. You can safely leave food to cool on the counter for up to an hour after cooking, or divide hot food into smaller containers and then refrigerate so it will cool faster.
Here’s another household tip shared by a reader. Louisa wrote, “I'm a day late getting to the newsletter, and Monday just doesn' t feel the same without it! I enjoyed reading all the suggestions for fitting extra stitching time into your day. I'll have to try a couple of them. I was interested in the letter from Beth R. in New Brunswick about using aluminum foil instead of dryer sheets in the laundry, and I thought I'd pass along my method. I picked up a couple of tubes of tennis balls at the dollar store, and I use those in the dryer to soften the laundry. They are infinitely reusable, and very handy when washing winter coats and snowsuits to make sure the fibrefill is properly distributed. Good luck with the christening gown. I hope you'll post a picture when it's finished. I can't wait to see it. Have a good week!
Louisa D.
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Before I get to today’s featured products, I am very excited to tell you about some Special Purchase fabric we snagged this week! We were able to buy four different counts of fabric, so whether you do cross stitch, Hardanger embroidery, blackwork, or other counted thread embroideries, you should be able to use some of these fabrics! They are all first-quality products from Zweigart, but are available in very limited supply. If you see something you can use in the future, buy it today! It may be gone by tomorrow.
The first Special Purchase item is the 14 count cream Andrea Afghan by Zweigart. This 100% polyacrylic afghan is 45” x 57” with a pattern of eight diamonds in the center. Each diamond has a stitching area of 7.5”. You can also stitch in the large rectangular areas that surround the center. Very limited supply!
990-429-0020 Andrea Afghan - Cream
$62.25 on sale for $19.99 Save 68%!
learn more about this item!
If you prefer a slightly finer count afghan, buy the 18 count white Abby Cloth Afghan. This polyacrylic afghan is also 45” x 57”. It has a 21” x 33” rectangular area in the center with a diamond grid pattern, plus rectangular 3.25” wide stitching areas bordering the center. Ready to fringe or hem.
990-429-0021 Abby Cloth Afghan - White
$55.00 on sale for $19.99 Save 64%!
learn more about this item!
If you enjoy stitching on a fabric with a natural or raw look, buy this gorgeous 25 count oatmeal Floba. It is packaged in fat quarters (18” x 27”). Floba is 70% rayon and 30% linen with a wonderful texture. Very limited supply!
990-429-0013 Floba 25 count Oatmeal – Fat Quarter 18” x 27”
$13.00 on sale for $4.99 Save 62%!
learn more about this item!
Linen enthusiasts will love this bargain, too! Pearl linen is a 60% polyester/40% linen blend. We are offering fat quarter packages (18” x 33”) of 20 count cream Pearl Linen at a huge savings, while quantities last!
990-429-0014 Pearl Linen 20 count Cream – Fat Quarter 18” x 33”
$16.50 on sale for $5.99 Save 64%!
learn more about this item!
Finally, let me re-mention a fabric for all of you who enjoy huck embroidery or Swedish weaving. We are offering a special “runner cut” of the beautiful natural Popcorn fabric. It is being advertised as 16” x 30” but some of the pieces are a few inches wider and/or longer. This fabric would be perfect for making a huck table runner, or two pillow tops! Popcorn fabric is 7 count cotton with pairs of floats going both horizontally and vertically so you can easily turn corners in huck embroidery. The natural color is a rich, warm dark beige. Limited supply!
990-076-0001 Natural Popcorn Runner Cut (16” x 30” or larger)
$8.50 on sale for $4.99 Save 41%
learn more about this item! |
