[This picture was taken in our front room by her driver.]

In April of 2oo7, while doing foster care, we had a very special visit by the Governor’s Wife.  First Lady Dawn Gibbons came to MY HOUSE! I guess she was asking around about visiting a foster home. She learned that my husband and I were “Shelter Parents of the year for Clark County” and requested a visit. We were contacted the day before and informed that she would be coming. So, I had one day to get these backpacks done. I had gone on-line to research her family and discovered that she had 3 little grandchildren.  Since I make these little backpacks for all of our foster children, I thought it would be appropriate to make them for her grands.  It’s just a little taste of what the kids experience while in our home. All of our kids got a backpack/tote bag and a photo album of their stay while they were in our home.

• Grant
• Riley
• Brooke

She met our kids, toured our home and was very appreciative of the backpacks. She then invited our entire family to come and spend the night at the Governor’s mansion in Carson City and gave me the contact info.  (At the time, we were living in Las Vegas.) My daughter just happened to have a field trip coming up 2 weeks later to Carson City.  While we were unable to take the whole family to spend the night, we were able to get my daughter’s class in for a tour of the Governor’s mansion.  (Not an easy task so last minute.)

Soon after the First Lady stopped by, we received this package in the mail with a nice note from her.  =)  Thank you First Lady Gibbons!

I am truly blessed that she took the time out of her busy schedule to visit us. OH BY THE WAY…when we toured the mansion we saw the backpacks hanging on the wall under the stairs.  She always has a special item for the kids when they come to visit and now they go straight to their backpacks hanging on the wall to find it when they arrive.  :D

I was so sad to learn that the Governor and First Lady are no longer married. I still think of the First Lady fondly. I wish her well in all that she does.

If you would like to make a backpack like the ones shown, here is the link to the FREE PATTERN.

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My friend Becky had a little boy and I wasn’t able to make him a gift when he was a little baby. I had the privilege of getting to see Becky, her sister Megan, and Becky’s son, William, back in ‘07. William’s nickname is Silly Willy. I couldn’t pass up this John Deere fabric.

I made this pillow “travel” set for him to go back and forth from Grandma’s house. It’s a pillow, blanket, and backpack to keep it all together. The pillow has this John Deere fleece on one side and denim on the other. I used my sewing machine to stitch “Silly Willy” on the denim side.

Then I made the blanket with the same fleece on one side and flannel backed satin on the other side. I digitized the John Deere logo and put William’s name under in the same font that would have said, “John Deere”.

Using my backpack tutorial I made him this fully lined backpack. I digitized his name using Embird with Font Engine. Thanks for looking!

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