News

Dear friends,

Summer is here with sun and lovely weather.  We are happy and looking forward to a nice summer with holidays waiting. We hope that you will find time for rest and relaxation. The good news is for all of us that after a long time of Covid 19, everything now looks to be easier. The news in Romania is that fewer and fewer people are being infected or hospitalized. 

 With wonder, we see how Sunflower Design has managed through this long time without anyone being infected. The work has gone at full capacity through the fine team of leaders and workers who are on site. 

Thank you also to all of you who so faithfully continue to support the work financially by shopping, ordering or sending in a donation. You should know that it means a lot. 

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We hope that we will soon be able to receive guests and teams to Caminul Felix so we can welcome visitors to our gift shop. We need that! 

Let’s share a little about what’s happened since we wrote our last newsletter. 

One of our fine employees who has been with us for many years decided to quit her job at Sunflower Design to take up a new job. We are grateful for the years Miha has been in the team she has delighted us all with her beautiful smile. Now we wish her good luck in the future. 

Lisa moved back to Sweden with Lars after 30 years of service in Romania. Sunflower Design was a project she started 25 years ago. Lisa will continue to work and provide support from Sweden and we are grateful for her vision and support.  

In spring we joined a new project in Mölndal, Sweden. We made bedding and children’s clothing for people who need economic and social support. The products were given out from a diaconal group in a church, who work with people who need social support. The project continues and if anybody would like to support with a donation it would be very welcome. With the money you donate, you support both a job for our team and support people in need in the project in Mölndal. The donated money is used to make the products which are then given away to those who need support. Double support – double happiness. 

We also continue with the project making bedding for children in Caminul Felix. If  you want us to make new bedding for a child you support or to give another child in Caminul Felix, we can make it. The price for bedding is 22€ including a pillowcase. Our goal is to make 2 sets of bedding for each family, totalling 32 pieces. 

In previous years, we have offered you the opportunity to send an extra gift for the team at Sunflower to have some extra fun for the summer, before they start taking their vacations. If you see an opportunity to give a gift for this purpose, feel free to send it to Sunflower Design.  Please mark your gift with the message: “Summer gift for Sunflower”. 

Join us on Facebook, Instagram and our website to keep up to date. Don’t hesitate to contact us for any requests. The products can be shipped from Romania and Sweden. For our Swedish friends it is easy for you to make a donation by Swish. 

We want to remind you of the opportunity to get our newsletter on email. You can sign up on our facebook to get it on email in English or send an email to let us know.  In this way you will be making a contribution to reducing the substantial cost of postage. 

We want to wish you a really nice summer and vacation.

Thank you all for support and prayers for our team. 

Greetings from the whole team Sunflower Design

Our Christmas party took place in  Sunflower Design where we helped to cook and set the table nicely. The joy of Christmas was there. THANK YOU to those who sent us an extra gift so we could make a nice party with food and Christmas gifts. It is important and valuable to feel a sense of belonging and joy.

We look back on the year behind us with great gratitude. The year behind us has been a year of struggling. But, with help from many of you, we have been able to work our way through this period in a fantastic way. Through your support, we have been able to continue sewing sheets and other necessary products to other organizations that need help. We continue to do this now.. We have now established another contact with an organization that works with Roma families and with girls who have fallen victims to trafficking.

It was not possible to do our yearly tour last year in Sweden in November, because of the pandemic. Despite this, we were able to sell in different ways. Some friends helped us to sell locally in Sweden, England and Norway. It was also possible to sell in smaller groups in Korskyrkan in Mölndal, Sweden, where we could have all the products on tables during the whole of December. Its amazing how we all could work together in different ways in a difficult time.

We try to seek and find sales opportunities in Romania in the hope of inspiring people to place orders that will give us an income. Two important days are  The Valentine’s Day and  The International Women’s Day.

After years of using and repairing very old household sewing machines, it became necessary for us to replace and buy a new one. The machines have been used many years in schools in Sweden before we got them and afterwards we used them another 10-15 years. In order to make nice things of high quality we bought a new sewing machine which matches our purpose, and a professional iron as well. We give thanks to Korskyrkan in Mölndal for the support to make it possible.

Our plan is now to get started with the renovation in our rooms in Sunflower. It has not been done for many years. That’s what we really need. Getting to work in a  pleasant environment is important.

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Remus has worked for 10 years at Sunflower Design on February 14th and we celebrated that! Mari sat down  and had a talk with Remus about work. You can read what was said as follow:

M: How long have you been working at Sunflower Design? 

R: 10 years. I have been late  to work twice. But then I took a taxi because I did not want to miss work

 M: When do you get up in the morning to be on time for work? 

R: At 05:00 

M: What is the best thing about the job? 

R: It is a nice atmosphere, peaceful and I can listen to Christian radio in my room. We also have good leaders. 

M: What do you remember in any special way from work that made you happy? 

R: When Gabriela worked with us as a leader. She was always happy and encouraging. 

At Sunflower Design, we are happy and grateful to have Remus in our team. He is the only man among  all ladies! 

You can help Sunflower Design by giving support for us to make:

*  Covers, pillowcases and bed sheets for the Ministry in Dumbrava. Or to the 100 Roma families who receive help through another organization.

*Bedding for girls who have fallen victim to trafficking

* Jumpers for our children in the Caminul Felix Villages

* Jumpers for children who need help

* For renovation or our facilities

At the end we would like to offer you the newsletter as email instead.  Please inform us and send your email address if you are interested. Already now you can sign up for the newsletter in English on our website.

God Bless you all,

Greetings from the whole team at Sunflower Design

Dear friends,

It’s time to write to you again. As always, we do with great joy and gratitude.

It was a very different spring and summer for us at work. Just as we know it was for many of you. But, in all this, we have experienced fantastic support from many of you who sent in a gift that made it possible for us to pay the salaries for our team.

Catarina has been in Sweden for a long time since the borders between the countries around Romania, have been closed and the rules to travel into the country have made it impossible. Instead, Catarina has worked for Sunflower back home in Sweden by taking orders and selling. In addition to that she works as a nurse and makes a nice contribution there.

Saddle cover 6€

We have had the pleasure of receiving donations from several of you, that we have used to sew sheets, pillow cushions and other articles requested, which we then passed on to the Ministry in Dumbrava. This is a work and a mission that continues and that constantly needs help. Today there are about 420 residents in Dumbrava. Elderly and homeless people who get to live their last days in life in a nice home and peaceful environment. We can continue to give them support through your help. We would be grateful if you could continue sending a gift for work we do for Dumbrava. In this way, you provide support to Sunflower Design and to Dumbrava.

We have also received orders from Romania. Many come to have their clothes changed or repaired. All this provides an extra income. The schools in Romania started up in the beginning of September. The government requested all younger students to wear facemasks. Also a cover to keep their changing clothes when they come to school. Sunflower was there to offer making facemasks and the cover for clothes. These were made in bright and happy colours for the children, with their names on using our embroidery machine. It is amazing to see the support we have received from Romania during this time. We are so thankful for that, and to see Sunflower Design reaching out in Romania.

For a week we had a major cleaning in our workrooms  in preparation for laying the  new floor in our workshop as well as repainting several rooms. Our gift shop was renewed by allowing us to buy some new shelves and hanging up new curtains.  Now we are  waiting for the help to have the new floor done. It is important to have a nice and pleasant workplace to offer our team to work in.

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We can now offer you payment for products or donations by PayPal. It makes it easier  for our customers to order and pay. Don´t hesitate to contact us for any kind of orders. Time goes fast Christmas will be coming soon, so be sure to order gifts in time for your family, relatives and friends.

Shipping cost;

England: 2 kg 16€, 4 kg 38€

The US: 2 kg 24€, 4 kg 41€

Dresses 14€                                                 Teatowels 3€

Our friends in Birmingham, UK have a quantity of Sunflower goods in stock, including some nice new additions.  They are eager to hear from you to explore ways to supply goods with lower postage and packing within UK.  (or even a possible link up).  Contact: danightingale@hotmail.co.uk

We wish you all a blessed time this autumn and ask you to keep us in your prayers!

Many greetings from the whole team at Sunflower Design

Wetbags 7 € Dresses 14€

Dear friends,

It is time to send you greetings from Sunflower Design and we do that with great joy and happiness, even if things around us seem to be chaotic with the corona virus, and we know that all of you are in the same situation.

We could not imagine that it should hit Romania as hard as it did. We could work as we used to do until Easter time, when directives came from the government as to how we should continue.  Delia who is living outside Oradea and travels everyday on bus and tram was asked to work from home. Andrea and Remus were also asked to stay at home, leaving Miha, Ana, Mari and Estera. 

As many workplaces and shops were closing down, and people were out of jobs we became worried  about our place. What shall we do? Who will buy or order things now?  What will happen? In Caminul Felix many of our guests and visitors who were supposed to come cancelled their trips and we lost them as shoppers in our gift-shop.

Then, came a phone call to Mari: Can, you make some face masks for us?  From that day we have been able to make around 2000 face masks and more will be done. For us it has been a miracle to get those many orders as it has given us an income.

In Sunflower Design one of our goals is to reach other Ministries. And we have been able to do that this time too. We wrote a request of help with support on facebook and many of you responded and sent a gift. Thank you for doing that! You have been a blessing to many people, and so to Sunflower Design. I will share one response we got from one of our friends who responded to our call of help:

Elder Orphan Care’s mission is to “bring hope and help to older adults in need.” And the help that God allows us to provide is of a practical nature, which is where our partnership with Sunflower Design Romania becomes a perfect fit! EOC is based in the US. And our teams usually travel to Romania twice each year to visit over 500 elderly and frail being cared for by our ministry partners. For a time we were shipping, or bringing with us, lots of stretch-top pants and bedding, like sheets and pillowcases, etc. One day it became clear: why not instead collaborate with our good friends at Sunflower Design, based right next to where our teams stay at the Noble House at Caminul Felix? It would be a “win-win”! Elder Orphan Care gives money to them, which provides jobs and salaries, and then they create needed items, which then are given to the elderly and frail! The pandemic has caused EOC to cancel some trips to Romania, but we continue to send funds, including money sent to Sunflower Design for the creation of masks. Over the past few years our friendship and partnership with the wonderful people at Sunflower Design has deepened.  We thank God for each of them!

Greetings from Kim Jackson

I have planted some Sunflower seeds at home. I looked in the dictionary about the Sunflower. I was  amazed and happy when I read that Sunflower is a symbol of God´s love. It is also a symbol of the sun. The yellow colour is a symbol of energy. It told me that this in some ways reflects the whole team in Sunflower, and all of you too!

We wish you all the best and pray that you all shall stay healthy. We will continue to work and support and help as many as we can around us as we know it still will continue to be a time of many challenges. Thank you for standing at our side and if you see a way to send an extra gift to us would be wonderful.

Tea towels 3€, small wetbag 5€, teddybears 7€,  hand made dish cloth in Bamboo/cotton 6€

Please, feel free to contact us to let us know how you can support us, bearing in mind that because without visitors to our shop, income has drastically reduced.

God bless from the Sunflower Team/

Dear friends,

It is the beginning of a new year and we look back on last year with thankfulness. During 2019 we had many orders locally in Oradea, and also other countries. We ended the year with a great tour in the western part of Sweden and Norway, and soon after Christmas sales in different companies in Oradea. 

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A large company, in another town, ordered Christmas gifts from us for their employees. We made 1000 potholders, 1000 guest towels and 50 sets of coasters in leather. It was a huge order for us to make during a short time, but it´s good to know that our name and products are spreading out more and more. It was a big challenge for the team. They took this order seriously, worked hard to maintain good quality and respect the dead line. At the end we were all proud of the result.

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The year has now begun with new orders and new fabrics. We have soft fleece for blankets and jackets for adults as well as children. We also have new fabric in 100% cotton for bedding. We can supply orders as well, so please contact us for more information.

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We also have sweatshirt fabrics in different colours for sweatshirts and trousers. Take the opportunity to order a sweatshirt and trousers for your child or grandchild. You may also wish to take the opportunity to order this set for a child at Caminul Felix. Maybe you sponsor a child and would like to surprise them, or just want to  give a gift to a child in one of the families. We have different colours and can make in different sizes. The price is €18 for a set for size up to 122cm and €22 for 130-164cm. 

Recently we also received an order making 50 aprons for a company in Oradea. We will focus on that for a week and the whole team will be involved to make a part each. 

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We are thankful for all orders and donations we receive, big or small. Together we can make a difference in people´s lives. The young people in our team can have an independent life with the salaries and support from Sunflower Design, and all who support us. Thank you also to everyone who made it possible to arrange our tour in November!

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Greetings from the whole team at Sunflower Design!

Dear friends and supporters,

Warm greetings from the Sunflower Design team. Now it is time to send a report from us about the work. When we wrote the last letter, summer was coming, and now autumn is already here. With autumn comes many activities and orders for us. We like that and  we are looking forward to it. We need all these sales opportunities to raise money for Sunflower Design. For a couple of years now we have seen how our sales have increased in Romania and we are grateful for that, as we need to enter the Romanian market and make ourselves known. Of course, we also have many happy visitors who visited us and bought things in our gift shop, others made orders and shopped that way.

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We would like to thank all of you who responded to our desire for extra support for the team to make something extra fun this summer. The response from you gave us many happy moments for which we are very grateful. There was a great atmosphere in the team that day when Mari said “Now you can put your things together and take what you need to leave Sunflower for a little while”. The excitement was great and there were many questions about what we would do. The goal was a newly opened café in Oradea. It is difficult to describe in words the joy of the team when they were asked to order what they wanted from pastries or ice cream. One of the girls said she had never been to a cafe before and this was something special. What nice memories you gave the team! Thanks!

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Many visitors have been to see us. Some have worked with us for one or more days. Many have come back to us year after year and become nice and important friends to us. They go home with their suitcases full of Sunflower items which they then sell for us.  These visitors and each of you are all important ambassadors for Sunflower and we need you.

A great sales success for us has been to sew bed-sets in different colors and qualities. We had many orders this summer.

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Sometimes we get asked how you can help? What do you need? Here is something:

We work with an organization in our area that works to bring in and provide space for lonely, sick, homeless people who have nowhere to go. The man leading this work is doing incredible work that Romanian society cannot do. Many hundreds of people have received, and live their last days in, an environment of warmth and care. At Sunflower we receive orders and produce sheets, pajamas and other things they need. Here you can make a contribution and thus support Sunflower Design and  housing for the elderly and homeless. For many of them, it may be the first time to go to bed and sleep in clean sheets and with warm and comfortable pajamas,

Write: `Pajamas and sheets’ on the message if you decide to give a gift for this.

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If you are celebrating yours or a friends birthday you can do so with a gift to Sunflower Design, or order a special designed gift from us.

We have now started to prepare for different Christmas sales, both in Oradea and abroad. We hope it will be a successful event this year. You can also take the opportunity to order your Christmas gifts from us. Some examples are bedding, towels with embroidery, knitted ponchos in pure wool and baby’s and children’s clothing.

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Our website is now updated. There you can sign up to get news online. www.sunflowerdesign.ro. Share and follow us also on Instagram (sfdro) and on Facebook (Sunflower Design Romania) With more followers, the more we reach!

We wish you all God’s rich blessings!

Many greetings from the whole team at Sunflower Design

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At Sunflower Design we continually enlarge our product offerings and we want to share some news. Our new products are all unique and very personal as we make them one by one, piece by piece.

Beddings

We now have white fabric in stock. The fabric is of high quality 100% cotton. We make after orders in desired sizes.

Price for single bedding including one pillowcase 27€

We also have other fabrics in 100% cotton in different colors for a reduced price. It is also possible to order baby or children sizes.

Price for single bedding including one pillowcase 19€

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Children clothes

Children’s clothes are made of soft, ecological cotton fabric. We make dresses for children, babypants, bibs and hats. All in different colors and sizes.

Pants 7€, hats 6€, bibs 5€ and dresses from 13€

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Dish cloth

Hand knitted and crocheted dish cloth in different colors. They are made out of yarn that is 50% cotton and 50% bamboo. Bamboo yarn is extracted from plant fibres, which is very environmentally friendly. Bamboo yarn is a natural material which holds antibacterial qualities and has an absorbent ability.

Wash in 40°C

5€/pcs or 3 pcs for 13€

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Special designed bag

Our popular sailing bag is specially designed and made out of recycled denim with a waterproof bottom. It can also be made out of other material on request. Also, it may be personalized with embroidery, like a name or logo.

Price including the embroidery from 23€

Do not hesitate to contact us for more information.

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Dear friends and supporters,

With great joy and warmth we write to you again. The warmth comes from the team in Sunflower Design, but also from the summer heat that has now come to Romania. We love it and we enjoy it!

Sometimes we wonder where time goes. Much happens between the letters we write to you.

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Here is a report of some of what has happened since last time.

As always, when spring and summer come, we get many visits. They are much appreciated. Some teams that have come to work with Sunflower Design have worked together with our team. Much happy laughter has filled our rooms when our new students have learned to sew, paint, polish etc. Then they have bought things from our shop which has been a really great help to our finances.

We had a visit from a group from Trollhättan in Sweden. From there we have experienced great help and support over the years. Both economically and materially. Now they can see how their gifts were invested in the work.

Then we have had many other groups and private persons who have come in  to visit and looked at and bought things in our gift shop. This is important to us and our economy.

Many orders come to us through Facebook, the web and in other ways. Sunflower Design has become a concept for many. Here are products of fine quality and very well made. Our new website is now done, please visit and join us there: www.sunflowerdesign.ro. We also want to encourage you to be our followers and share on Instagram and Facebook. Please help us to spread our products around the world!

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A new project is underway soon. We have been contacted by a Romanian company to sew dresses. Mari will take responsibility and lead this project. It is important for us to establish ourselves in the Romanian market. We know that there is a market for it.  We have a few months off-season in our gift shop, and because we need money for salaries and other expenses, we believe that increased involvement in Romania is important.

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Miha who has worked with us for many years has now moved into her new apartment, which is close to Sunflower Design and Caminul Felix village 2. It is a small apartment. She has now, with help from people been able to finish it and it looks very nice. It was a great joy and a great day for Miha when she moved in.

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Ana who was the first girl  to work when we started up Sunflower Design has been away from work for some years. She is now back and works some hours every day. We are happy for that.

This spring we were able to buy two new sewing machines and some equipment for them, all with your help. Thank you!

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As we now end our greeting to you by wishing you a really nice and lovely summer together with your families and friends, we would like to offer you the opportunity to give  an extra support to a project that is close to our heart. Our team does not have big salaries and they do not go out very often to have some fun. Together with them we would like to do something special one day. Eat pizza, go for a picnic or something like that. We want to give them a nice summer memory. In Sunflower we have no extra resources for this. If you can give a donation for that you can write. `Summer party with Sunflower´.

You are always welcome to contact us if you have any questions.

We all wish you, every blessing.