Charity Knitting

Yesterday I took the opportunity to join other members of the Knit at Night Guild (KANG) in a charity knitting event at Central Market.  Central Market is one of those fancy grocery stores where, instead of Saturday tastings being some frozen concoction, they sample home made marshmallows.  They have a wonderful meeting room on their second floor, next to their cooking school, and about thirty of us met on Saturday for some knitting for charity.


This group is one of the classiest craft guilds I have ever belonged to....and I think I have been a member of about 99% of them at one time or another.  Everything you could possibly need to be successful at the chosen projects was provided including wonderful food (catered by the store) and endless, excellent coffee.


Two projects were presented.  One is a blanket buddy from Lion Brand Yarns and the other was a selection of facecloths.


Each participant received a kit that included the pattern(s) for their chosen project(s), sufficient yarn to complete one or more of the project and knitting needles to make the project.  The needles were a thank you gift and are high quality bamboo ones.  There were fabulous door prizes including a book (with supplies) for knitting with wire.  I did not win anything but those that did were very pleased.  (Check out this site for great prices on quality needles.) 


I chose the blanket buddy project which is basically a knitted square with a bunny head and arms.  The instructions required a little interpretation and mine came out like this:

Pretty cute, yes?


All the yarn was donated and I received two skeins of DK weight yarn called Jamie.  You use this yarn doubled for the blanket buddy so this toy really has some heft to it. I think I may have enough left over to make another one. So far Alex has not realized that there is a new toy in the house and I hope I am successful in keeping it from him until I can hand it in.


Most of the items made will be donated to Texas Children's Hospital and other local charities.


I must admit I thought this would be a pretty lame gathering and, except for the one woman who kept telling medical horror stories, the group was very congenial and everyone seemed to be having a very productive time.  I left with about a half hour's of work left and some people actually completed their project.  


The facecloth folks were given patterns that could be a stretch for some people as each used interesting and slightly complex stitch patterns.   Check them out -  Lizard Ridge, Darrell Waltrip and Dimpled were all presented.  I am glad I chose the blanket buddy as I was not in the mood to struggle with a new stitch pattern however I really want to try the Lizard Ridge one as it produces such a great result. 


I hope they will do this again and they are looking for a more central location for the next one.  I wonder if I can convince them that Kingwood is a more central location as I know I could get the Elmgrove Community Room for such a great project. 

Red Scarf Project 2011

The Red Scarf Project is off and running for 2011 and I have actually completed one already.


What?


You don't know about the Red Scarf Project?


Begun by Foster Care to Success (formerly the Orphan Foundation of America) in 2005 when they collected 3,500 scarves to send to their clients on Valentine's Day.  The next year they collected and distributed 15,000!  The project keeps growing but so does the need.


I cannot imagine being 18 years old, with no family, being literally dropped on the street by your foster family and having to fend for yourself.


I cannot imagine trying to finish high school, find a home, shop for your own food and make all those life changing decisions that young adults make without any support from an adult.


I cannot imagine being a friend of a Knit at Night Guild member who was dropped form the program in the middle of their senior year  of high school who spent those critical last months of high school sleeping on friends' couches.  The KANG member related that this friend of hers received one of the Red Scarf Project scarves and how much it meant to him that someone he did not know would make something for him and send a word of encouragement.


I may not be able to imagine all these things but I can make a scarf, send a word of encouragement to some kid in these circumstances.


My first scarf, of what I hope will be several this year, is a simple 2 X 2 rib made from Knit Picks sport weight Stroll yarn in Holly Berry.  Here's how it turned out:

I used two skeins for the body of the scarf and some of a third ball for the fringe.  Excluding the fringe it is about five feet long.  The yarn was easy to work with but I was a little disappointed that there were so many joins in each skein.  There were at least eight in one of the balls and another 6 in the second ball.  In general, that should not be a problem but each join is a potential weak spot and I do worry that repeated washing could make for an unexpected unraveling... or maybe not.


Grab your knitting needles or crochet hooks, review that guidelines and make a scarf.  Heck, you might even learn a new stitch pattern or opt for the tried and true like I did.  In either case you could make a real difference in the life of someone you don't even know and what could be better than that?

Walker and Wheelchair Bags Distributed

Over the past couple of months I have been writing about the project to provide everyone in a local nursing home with wheelchair and walker bags.  The whole thing started off innocently enough with the beautiful Rose heading up a project for her church to improve the lives of the residents of the Pine Shadows nursing home.  Over the past few months it grew as members of the quilt guild and the church made about 100 of each kind of bag and today was the day that we distributed them.


Here is one of the new bags in use... and it works!

I also got a chance to view this wonderful quilt on a patient's bad...hand quilted too!

And check out this fabulous afghan-

But there didn't seem to be a lot of these homey touches on a lot of the beds. 


I don't think anyone was enthusiastic to visit the home but 14 of us gathered to bring over the bags and to visit with the residents.  


First of all, the smell of urine and/or feces was NOT present so one worry was alleviated.  Also, despite a whole range of disabilities of young and old patients, the staff seemed loving and caring and I didn't see anyone with soiled garments or dirty bedding.  Another worry alleviated.  The final worry was about those who really can't look after themselves at all.  All the residents seemed seemed well cared for and their needs acknowledged and tended to quickly.


But here's the thing... no matter how nice a facility is or how healthy the patients could be, this is still a nursing home where most of the residents will leave when they die.  Families and friends visit rarely, if at all, and boredom is only somewhat alleviated by meals and light rehab activities.  Its depressing and not where anyone would like to be.  With 75% of the Medicaid budget going to these types of facilities I wonder how the level of care might deteriorate if certain politicians have their way.


BUT I am glad I went and that this project is over with for now.  I have  a feeling we will be making more as time goes on but not so many all at once.  I don't think I'll have all the energy I needed to get this project completed until next summer. 

Cold Nights, Warm Ears

Well, we haven't had any cold nights yet...unless you count the 80F we had the other night, down from 100F during the day.


Anyway, Knitters North of Town (KNOT) of the Knit at Night Gang (KANG) had a great program the other night to create a cute ear warmer headband with a little flower on it. Mabel agreed that it would be a great addition to her winter wardrobe so, after many false starts, here she is in her new ear warmer:

Pretty cute, yes?


This was created from a class pattern that the wonderful Marilee had and that many of us wanted to learn about.  The pattern is unpublished but if you ask nicely I'll see what I can do about getting you a copy.  UPDATE:  Here is a similar pattern I found...looks the same except that this pattern makes a wider headband of 33 stitches instead of the 19 I used.


This ear warmer is made out of chunky yarn on US size 11 needles.  I used Berroco Ultra Alpaca (won as a door prize that evening!) in a lovely heathered blue to make Mabel's ear warmer.  I worried about the increases and decreases being too prominent with such thick yarn but the stitch changes are all hidden within the 1x1 rib pattern.  I did have some trouble keeping straight which was the right side so ended up with some huge markers to remind me that the right side was not the wrong side.  The flower is a somewhat free form piece of crochet with a knitted bobble in the center.


I so enjoyed my adventure with this pattern that I have started another one.  I think my second one will go to the church that provides KNOT with space FOR FREE!  With the high temperatures that we have been dealing with here, their generosity is very much appreciated.


I also want to let the world know how generous the KNOT group is with their excess yarn and needles.  Thursday night I collected enough yarn and needles from this group to over fill a huge plastic bin.  Their donations were made for the middle school knitting program that  I hope will be restarting soon.  Some of it will be going to a group locally that knits hats for chemotherapy patients.  One little bit of it went onto my needles and became another ear warmer for Mabel.


The yarn was very chunky, almost like roving, and I wanted to see what it was like to work.  I kept knitting in garter stitch until there was none left, at which point I realized that it was just the right size to warm Mabel's ears.

Good thing Mabel is generous with her hats as I really do need ear warmers when I walk the dogs in the colder weather.  Of course, it feels like we won't ever have cold weather again but I have faith that the weather gods will screw with my expectations of a couple of months without air conditioning or heating bills.


Now back to watching Irene's progress up the coast.  Stay safe and dry!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Some of us are dealing with friends and family with Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease.  Some of us will be victims later in our lives.  Some of us remember the first time they saw a friend cry because her husband kept playing with his zipper.  And some of just want to help both the patients and caregivers to make their lives a little better.

One of the side effects of these diseases is described as busy hands.  Fiddling with a zipper, buttons, pockets, shoe laces, towels etc. etc. etc.

To help keep busy hands busy and to help the patients with a sense of accomplishment someone came up with the brilliant idea of creating Busy Aprons.  Essentially a busy apron is a butcher's style apron that has been embellished with simple activities and interesting textures.

It will be the next activity for the once Upon a Time Bee and I made up a sample the other night.  Here is what I came up with:

On my apron I included chunky buttons, a Velcro key tab, a key ring, a tassel, a sideways pocket, a pocket held together by a ribbon bow, a big pocket, a bit of toweling, a chunky zipper with a ribbon pull tab, all with rick rack and other trims for more texture.  I have space to add more things but for now I'm calling it done.

Other things I could have included were:  shoe laces pulled through shoe grommets for lacing, a see through pocket for family photos, a key to something innocuous like a treasure box, big beads and cording for stringing, a soft toy tethered to a pocket, pompoms, ruffles, pockets for washable markers and a coloring book, laminated family pictures to dangle from a key ring, beads and sequins, all kinds of trims, a bow tie or regular tie to tie, cords/yarn to braid ... I think you get the idea. 

Several web sites have more information on practical solutions to busy hands.  Here are some that focus on Busy Aprons - 

• Bibs with Dignity 
• The Alzheimer's Store
• Dementia Activities
• Simplicity Pattern Company has an activity apron pattern 2623

Time to get busy... after I turn off the soaker hoses which may have flooded my yard by now!

  

Walker Bag Instructions

Last week I talked on the latest Women on a Mission project.  Today we tried to figure out the best way to get the walker bags efficiently put together.  These are a little more complex than the wheel chair bags that we have made in the past but the results are pretty spectacular.


Here's what we figured out.


Take note - these bags are best for the aluminum frame type walkers rather than the ones with brakes and seats.


Staffing needed:  One person serging, two sewing, one ironing/running/trimming/organizing.


Seam allowance - between 1/4" to 1/2"


Fabric cuts needed - four pieces 4" x 12" for the straps, three upholstery weight or five quilting cotton weight cut 16" x 14" for the body (and lining) and an exterior pocket, two pieces of 6" of Velcro (optional)


Handles (four 4" x 12" cuts of fabric) - Fold and press the handle fabric, wrong sides together, lengthwise then fold the long raw edges into the center of the handle and press again.  Top stitch the open edge closed and the folded edge as well.

(images from Sewing 4 Dummies)  

Trim and set aside.


Note: the Velcro, if wanted, should be attached after the bag is constructed as we have found this is the best way to make sure that pieces line up correctly.  If you don't use Velcro then the handles can tied to attach the bag to the walker.


Pocket (one 16" x 14" piece of fabric):  


Wrong sides together, along the long (16") side, sew or serge a seam creating a tube.  Turn right side out and press so that the seam you just made runs along the middle of the pocket and not on an edge.  


Top stitch one long side as the top of the pocket.  


Top stitch the other long side to one of the exterior pieces two inches from the bottom edge. 


Perpendicular to the top stitched seam you just sewed, sew one or more seams subdividing the long pocket into two or more smaller pockets.  Back stitch these seams securely at the top and bottom of the pocket.


Putting it all together


Upholstery Weight Fabric


Place the pocketed piece of fabric right sides together with the remaining piece of exterior fabric.  Serge along the sides and bottom of the bag.  Make sure you catch all the layers!


To make a 'bagged bottom' line up the side seam and bottom seam together making a pointed corner.  Serge off this tip making a four inch long seam.  Use the bottom of the pocket to estimate where to sew.  Here is a nice tutorial on how to do this.


Serge around the top of the bag making a nice clean finish.  Remember that you will be sewing only one layer of fabric!!!


Top stitch all of the serged seams, except the top.  You may be sewing through very heavy fabric so do the best you can.  The purpose here is to reinforce the serged seams and to making a nicer finish on the the interior.  Try to also sew down the serged seam in the corners as well.


Fold the top, serged edge about one inch into the interior of the bag, pin the handles, two to each side about three inches in from the nicely serged and top stitched sides.  Top stitch around the bag at least twice, once at 1/4" and again at 3/4" in from the folded top edge being sure to catch the handles both times.


Sew Velcro onto the handles (if wanted) being sure that the handles don't twist when the Velcro is pressed together.



Trim, trim and trim again.  There will a lot of thread ends no matter how careful you are so trim, trim and trim again.


Quilting Cotton Weight Fabric


I wrote a reversible tote bag set of instructions a couple of years ago and the construction of the walker bag using quilting cottons is a very similar construction method.  You can find the full instructions here.


Layer your 16" x 14" fabrics n this order:


one interior fabric face up
one interior fabric face down,
exterior fabric with the pocket face up,
exterior fabric without the pocket face down.


Serge along the sides and bottom making sure you capture all the layers.


Bag the bottom aiming for a four inch long seam.  Use the bottom edge of the pocket as a guide.  See the reversible tote bag instructions for a good picture.


Turn the bag right sides out and press well.


Press the interior and exterior fabrics about one inch into the space between the fabrics.  See the reversible tote instructions if this doesn't make sense to you.


Insert the handles, two to each side, about three inches from the side seams and pin in place. Top stitch around the bag at least twice, once at 1/4" and again at 3/4" in from the folded top edge being sure to catch the handles both times.


Top stitch the side seams, the bottom seam and bagged corners as best as you can to reinforce the serged seams.


Sew Velcro onto the handles (if wanted) being sure that the handles don't twist when the Velcro is pressed together.  

Trim and trim again although there will not be as many thread ends to finish off as the upholstery weight fabric bags it pays to check carefully just in case.


DONE!


What?  No pictures?  I sent all the fabric kits and practice bags home with the beautiful Rose but I will try to get some pictures the next time.


Want to do something simpler?  Here are the instructions for the wheel chair bags we have been making for a couple of years now. 

Women on a Mission

There is a woman named Rose who is a wonderful character about town here.  At 78 she's a little bent over when she walks, has a perpetual smile on her face and usually wear's an odd assortment of shorts and t-shirts.


Rose is a very generous woman.  Although she lives on a very limited income she is always finding ways to give back to the community.  Just ask Rose about a project to benefit others and she is always there to lend a helping hand or to organize reluctant friends to pitch in.


Recently Rose became involved with a local nursing home serving 161 souls.  This is a place, where but for the grace of God, and a lifetime of saving, go many of us.  Near the ends of their lives many of these people never get any visitors and have no financial resources after paying the fees associated with their care.  Its a small community with many needs.


To solve two issues at the same time Rose was encouraged by her church to make wheel chair and walker bags for the residents.  As part of the process, she is also encouraging other members of her church to visit with the residents when the bags are being distributed.


Visiting can be tough for some people but making bags.....anyone can help with that project.


Enter the Women on a Mission.


Rose approached me about the instructions for making wheel chair bags and I saw that this was going to be a relatively huge project.  There are 91 people using walkers and 10 using wheel chairs at the home.  That's a lot of bags!!!!


Saturday, during Strip Club, one of us cut out 20 wheel chair bags... enough to cover the current need with a few extras.


Today five of us gathered to begin cutting out the walker bags.  I would like us to have at least one hundred kits put together before we start sewing with more being the goal rather than less.


We cut and assembled about SEVENTY of these kits (a kit being cut-to-size fabric for the body and handles of one bag) today in about two hours!!


We are going to meet one more time, on Thursday afternoon, to cut some more bags and I have high expectations that we will more than meet the one hundred bag goal.


Then next Friday we will gather to figure out the most efficient way to make these bags.  They are slightly more complex to put together than the wheel chair bags and I hope we can get a smooth assembly line figured out.


I don't expect we will get much done but there will be one final big sewing day at Rose's church with church members, guild members and anyone else we can drag into this project, to make the majority of the bags and get them together to go to the home.


I am so impressed with all of these people.  A need was expressed, someone saw a way to fill the need, others ransacked their stashes for fabric (I even bit the bullet and donated a bolt of fabric I have not used in over ten years even though I loved it!) I organized the cutting days, someone else has organized a preliminary sewing day and someone else will organize the BIG sewing day. 


Women on a Mission... without them this world would be a poorer place.

Walker Bags

I have successfully made many wheel chair bags and the recipients have been very pleased with them.


However, I am always asked for bags for walkers and today was the day to bite the bullet and devise a walker bag that is durable, easy to make and usable.  I have been hesitant to make walker bags because the walkers come in so many sizes but I think I have come up with a basic style that should work with all walkers available.


The basic bag follows the same directions as for the wheel chair bag here.  There are two major differences.  One is that the handles need to be able to be tied, velcroed or buttoned to the walker.  The other difference is that I bagged the bottom of the bag as you would do for a tote bag (see here for one method of bagging the bottom of a tote).


More details:


Fabrics 
Body and pocket - 16" x 14" - 3  of upholstery weight fabric or 5 of quilting cotton type fabric
Ties - 12"  - 4 of 3/4" webbing (what I used) or 4 of other fabrics 4" wide


Final size, excluding handles - 15" wide, 12" tall and 4" deep


Here is my sample - 

I hope to get someone to test out the usability of this style of walker bag before we put it into production in a couple of weeks.  If they like it, I will produce more complete instructions and post them here.

Easiest Pillowcase Ever

 I have participated in several sewing projects for charity that have involved making pillowcases for a variety of causes.  Not only are these a great charity project but pillowcases are a great present or an addition to a quilt and a great way to refresh your bed linens.


The Million Pillowcase Project at APQ has contributed over 270,000 pillowcases to the needy  through a variety of sewing outlets. 


I have made, or helped to make, well over 200 pillowcases, some for the project, some for the American Sewing Guild and some for for various quilting groups.


Over time I developed a swift, accurate and secure method for making them and I would like to share this here.


Why now?  I just made about ten for a local quilt guild and realized that the people who made the kits had probably no idea how to make a pillowcase.

Easiest Pillowcase Ever

Fabric
27" (2/3 yd.) for body
9" (1/3 yd.) for hem
2" for accent
all cut selvage to selvage


Supplies
Sewing machine with thread matching or contrasting with the body fabric
Serger with thread matching or contrasting with the body fabric. (Optional)


Construction
Press the accent and hem fabric, wrong sides together, lengthwise.


Layer the fabrics selvage to selvage with the body fabric right side up, then the accent fabric, then the hem fabric... raw edges together and serge or sew together.

Finger press the hem and accent away from the body fabric and top stitch the serged/sewn edge to the body fabric.

Inside after top stitching

Outside after top stitching

Wrong sides together, serge/sew the raw edges using an approx. 1/4 seam.

Turn the pillowcase wrong side out and re-sew around the pillowcase encasing the serged/sewn seam within the new seam.

Good seam

Turn right sides out, check to be sure your first joining seam is fully enclosed, fold nicely and use in good health.

Oops!

Another way to enclose the seams, including the hem and accent edge, is the 'burrito' method and is explained here.  

Special Needs Patterns

As you may know, I belong to a group within the Kingwood Area Quilt Guild that is devoted to making things for those in need in our community.  We, generally, don't do quilts but we do lots and lots of other things.....chemotherapy caps, baby hats, baby blankets, wheel chair bags, ditty  bags, Christmas stockings, and many other items.


Many of our projects are for those who cannot provide these items for themselves due to the expense and/or the unavailability of these items in regular stores.


For instance, caps for those suffering from hair loss can cost well over $20.00 a piece, which can be quite an expense as you need many to always have a clean one on hand.


The patterns we have obtained or developed meet some of the needs in our community but are very basic.  I came across several patterns lately, developed by Simplicity, that can be used to make wonderful accessories for the special needs community.


For example, Simplicity patterns 2382 and 2822 are a wonderful assortment of wheelchair, walker and scooter bags.  They are definitely fancier than the generic ones we make and would be great to customize for that family member who has such mobility devices.  If you are looking for even more interesting bags for walkers, pattern 2300 has a lot of bags for different styles of walkers.


One of the things I didn't get a chance to make for my dad when he was in rehab was a bib to save some of his clothes.  Pattern 2687 has great bibs, customizable for male or female users and definitely useful for those of us who tend to eat in our cars.


My absolutely favorite pattern is Simplicity 2623.  Although the packaging does not mention it, these patterns are wonderful for Alzheimer patients.  Each item has multiple functional buttons, zippers and pockets that allow the wearer to practice fine muscle control and help keep busy hands occupied.  Similar aprons cost cost around $50.00 at a store but can be made from your stash for a lot less.


For chemotherapy caps, Simplicity 2494 is the only simple hat pattern I can see in the current catalog.  These are designed for fleece but could be easily adapted to other fabrics.  McCall's Pattern Company's M4116 is a wonderful pattern for using knits and the styles included are quite exotic.  For other hat patterns, Nancy's Notions, has many free, simple patterns and other companies sell or give away many others.  The only rules about chemotherapy caps is that the fabric must be soft, washable and all seams or decorative bits cannot rub against the scalp.


If you like the projects we make for the local community but need something for your own or someone else's use, check out these great patterns.  They are simple to make, easy to customize and can be real stash busters! 

Quilt Show Garage Sale

The Kingwood Area Quilt Show and Auction is over for another two years and I am suffering from post show let down.


Not that it was not a wonderful experience but after living with it for the past year and a half I feel like there is nothing left to do...BUT I have lots to do like start cleaning all the spaces in my house I have not been able to clean since it started filling up with boxes, bins and bags of donations.


Here are some photos of what I had to offer...

Two tables of scrap fabrics.

Two tables of pre-priced items

Five tables of books, magazines and patterns

Four tables of larger pieces of fabric and tons of non-quilting fabric.

See all those bins and boxes under the tables?  They are full of even more stuff to sell and by the end of the first day most of the bins had been emptied out onto the floor in that search for the perfect fabric for a project.  


In the end almost everything was either sold or given away.  Anything left I considered worthless and is being recycled or trashed.


All in all we made over $2,500.00 for the Guild!


If you and your organization want to do something similar I would recommend the following:

• Start early to gather your stuff to sell.  Six months before your sale is almost too late.
• Do not limit yourself to just one type of goods.  Although this sale was part of a Quilt Show about 25% of what I had to sell was non-quilt related books, fabrics and supplies.
• Simple pricing allows easy change making and allows buyers to easily figure out how much they are spending.
• Don't worry about perfect accuracy in calculating yardage.  An extra $0.50 will not make or break your sales figures.
• Be prepared to bargain!  Sometimes people did not want to pay $5.00 for something pre-priced so I would make a counter offer or, if they were already buying  a lot, throw it into the mix for free.
• There are two goals to this kind of sale - make money for your organization AND to help members get their discards out of the their homes into someone else's home.  Be prepared to just give it away for free if that's the only way to get rid of the stuff.  I'd say about 20% of what I had was free for the taking.
• Find out what people want to acquire and be prepared to offer it to them even before the sale happens.  About 20% of my sales were made before the show even opened.

Now I have at least a year before I start doing it all again.  I hope I will continue to have the energy and friends necessary to make it another successful sale!

Until then I will catch up on my sleep and puppy time.  

Knitting for Japan

A couple of weeks ago the Knitting in Kingwood group decided to make knitted items to aid int he japan relief effort.


It was a spur of the moment suggestion and today people turned in their efforts.


About FIFTY items were donated including the cutest little pair of baby booties, a lovely periwinkle scarf with three columns of cables and ribbing, a set of fingerless gloves that matched a scarf and a hat, a hand spun wool watch cap and so much more of hand knit love.


What do you think of our take?

We even got stuff have people who are not part of the group but who wanted to contribute.  Now comes the final search of an appropriate delivery method...but that can wait until Monday.  Until then I will examine each piece carefully for future projects then pack it all up to be mailed off.

Workshop Houston Update

This afternoon Workshop Houston had their Spring pop-up shop event and I had a chance to spend a little bit of time wandering around seeing what damage i could do to my bank account.


I was disappointed that I did not see any of the kids I have worked with but, then again, I wasn't there more than twenty minutes so that doesn't mean they weren't there at another time.


I did get to see some of the board members and lust after some spectacular silent auction items.


The best part of my brief visit wast that I got to buy one of the reversible tote bags that the kids made.  The construction is based on my easy reversible tote instructions changed to eliminate the bagged bottom.


The best part is that the kids silk screened the fabric so that a logo is visible whichever way you use it.


Isn't this a neat tote bag!


Side one - green canvas with navy and purple silk screens.

Side 2 - orange canvas with light blue and purple logo.

I was busting with pride that I had taught this tote bag construction to the kids and the Style Shop coordinator and that they had done such an excellent job constructing the bags.

I hope this program can keep going.  It is a huge undertaking and needs all our help.  For now I will keep showing up and helping these kids get excited about sewing.

Charitable Giving

The earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan have brought up the age old problem of how to make things better for the victims.


There are three sides to this dilemma:

1. make a monetary donation to a big reputable charity,
2. send a virtual message of support, or
3. make something and send it on to the victims via some large organization.

If you make a monetary donation through a large reputable group you know your money will be put to good economic use.  Sending a quart of milk to a disaster area is way more expensive that have a large group buying gallons of milk to be distributed through proven distribution channels.  Yes, there have been charity scams but, in general, your money makes it to people who can efficiently use it.  I have given money for many charitable uses and I have received items from large charities.  Both have done the job of giving aid but feel/felt very impersonal. 

The second option of sending messages of support in  a virtual way is slightly more personal but, in many cases your efforts are integrated into a much larger project.  I love the 100,000 cranes project (see here for more info) and so far have made seven myself.  So I will make my cranes, send them on and much money will be donated to Japan relief and the cranes will be incorporated into some large installation.  Yes, it can be fun to anonymously contribute a large project but the personal touch is missing.

The third option appeals to me on a much more basic level.  I can make something and have it delivered into deserving hands.  When I cleared out the house of spare blankets, pillows and quilts for Katrina victims at the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston and later saw them in use when I volunteered  there I was moved beyond belief that something form my hands went to someone in need.  For Japan relief, I will be sending quilts to Mission of Love for their distribution (more here). They may not be my best work but they should bring someone comfort.  I am now looking for a group to take knitted items and, if I can't find a reputable group to take them, then I will seek out individuals to receive these items.

So I'll write a check, fold some cranes and send some handmade items.

I may feel better but I know it will never be enough to comfort those who have lost their friends, family and homes during this disaster.

I so hope that it will be a quiet hurricane season for those of us on the Texas Gulf Coast.

Women on a Mission

The Once Upon a Time Bee met today in the final chapter of our three month journey of making baby related items..

In January we worked on diaper covers for the Cloth Diaper Foundation.  In February it was one yard hugs and this month we made baby hats, both for the local charity hospital.

And, oh baby, did we make hats!

Almost 150 in one marathon session this afternoon.

Two people cut them out from donated t-shirts and scraps from the making of t-shirt quilts.

I serged a lot of them together and our final participant used her brand new, never out of the box, several years' old, cover stitch machine to hem those hats that needed a hem added.

Here is a shot of just some of what we accomplished today:

Don't they look fabulous?

There were about 50 cut out that we never got a chance to finish and our new cover stitch expert and I will finish them up this weekend so I can deliver them with the one yard hugs on Monday.

I am so pleased that we can help with making sure that some of the babies born at this fabulous hospital will be going home with a hat and a blanket.  We can't fill the need completely but we can make a dent in it.

April will not have a project as the quilt show and auction will occur on our regular date.  I have put out the word to the membership of the quilt guild that we are looking for new local partners in the community so that we can have a recipient before we begin a project rather than searching for one after we finish the project.

I hope you have a pleasant weekend coming up for you and yours.  I have most of the weekend mapped out to include creative sewing and income taxes.

Yeah and Yuck!

Simple Baby Hats

Once a month some of my friends and I get together to make projects for charity.


Last month we made almost 100 one yard hugs... those one yard pieces of kid friendly flannel fabric that we clean finished the edges of for the local charity hospital.


This month we will be making baby hats for the same hospital.


This is the ultimate in recycling as we will be using old t-shirts as the base fabric.


How easy is this:  cut out  two pieces approximately 7" square from an old t-shirt.  If possible, make one edge of each piece the hem of the t-shirt.  Sew/serge up the seams for the sides and top.  Hem the bottom if necessary.  


I'm not enamored with the helmet look as I also rounded the top seam from about two inches down from the top edge to about mid-way along the top seam.


There are a thousand variations but they all start with the same components.


From one ladies t-shirt I was able to get six baby hats constructed this afternoon.

One important construction note:  If you are serging your seams test your stitch carefully to ensure that you don't end up with a rippled edge.  This is particularly important if you have to hem your hat.


Let me say it again....test your stitch!


Cheers!