In Oregon and around the world, volunteer crafters are ready to finish your loved one’s projects

In Oregon and around the world, volunteer crafters are ready to finish your loved one’s projects 
The Oregonian - Homes & Garden; by Janet Eastman; 12/20/24, updated 12/24/24 
Sue Heagy touches the colorful yarn circles her late daughter, Angie Kimmel, crocheted to relieve her pain and fear of dying. Kimmel was 39 and working in Corvallis eight years ago when she made her last stitch. ... Over the years, Heagy would take the pieces out to appreciate her daughter’s fine handwork. Late last year, Heagy decided it was time for the “complicated and unusual work” to be completed. She contacted the nonprofit Loose Ends Project and was matched to Bobbie Wallace, a volunteer “finisher” who lives in Arizona near Heagy. ... Heagy, who received the completed throw blanket this summer, said, “It’s so touching, so intimate” how finishers like Wallace work. “To have the sensitivity to delve into the creativity” of someone they never met. The place where Kimmel’s final stitch continued under Wallace’s hands is marked with a tiny heart-shape red button. “When I saw that, I burst out crying,” said Heagy, who has draped the throw blanket across her favorite reading chair. “Angie’s blanket hugs me,” said Heagy, “and it was a real comfort to talk to Bobbie, who has such an open heart, about my daughter.”