Unexpected Generosity

Our dedicated little group meets twice monthly (the second and fourth Thursday) at a little country church, for sewing, crocheting, knitting, etc.  That church has been so kind to let us leave our things there and not have to cart them around.  And like most of us who have sewing rooms, the supplies seem to be like that movie "Gremlins"!  I really think they multiply during the night.

So our "stuff" (I mean, very important supplies) has started to grow and GROW, until now a couple of people have started to comment.  I thought we might have to pare it all down to a manageable level, maybe have each board member take some of it home to store, and bring back each time we meet. 

But NO!  I couldn't believe it when I was told that the church really likes hosting our group so they decided...  get ready... drum roll...

They decided to pay a carpenter $1,500 to build "built-ins" into their fellowship hall to store all our bins of fabric, trimmings, sewing machines, etc!  Can you believe it?  We are so grateful for the ongoing surprises God has had in store for our little group.  One lady contributed a few dollars and said she wished she had more money to donate.  Another group had some canning jars to sell, and then gave us that money.  People are incredible. 

And our Heavenly Father just watches over us and arranges things every time we meet.  Our fellowship times and mutual counsel has been priceless for all who join in.  Thank you Lord, for these friends, for these projects, and for the way you always provide just what we need - just when we need it!  Amen!

Tax Time - Generous Children

What a relief!  I was really stressing over the responsibility of doing a tax return for our little 501(c)(3).  We only have about $200 in the bank, but still...  Tax time is always stressful for me and I didn't want to make a mistake on this very important task.

Well as it turned out, since we are so teensy I was able to do it online and eFile the little return they call a "postcard" - hooray!  They just want to know that we are still around, that our information hasn't changed and that we have less than $50,000.  Make that waaaaaayyyyy less than $50K - LOL.

But actually soon we will have some more money in the bank.  Sweet Nicholas' younger siblings, twins David and Andrea, just turned 6 years old.  Their mom and dad are training them about budgeting, so they had a family talk about the birthday money they received.  They will give some of it to their church, put some in the bank, have a little fun spending money, and the rest gets donated to a charity.

 They discussed several options and decided they wanted to fly to Japan and help all those people devastated by the earthquakes and sunamis.  What generous children!  The problem is that they didn't get enough money to fly to Japan and go help them.  So they discussed other options.  In the end, David and Andrea decided to send their birthday money to help the Nicholas Project!

 I have connections to missionaries in Japan, so on David and Andrea's behalf we will get information on how we can best and most effectively help.  Shipping costs are exhorbitant so we'll most likely send some money.  But if we find a way to partner with someone else, we may be able to make some things for them.  We have received a free pattern for little stuffed bears that might be good for the children to cuddle.

Thank you so much you two - you're the best!

One Family's Story

from the grandma:

My first grandbaby was born Dec. 4. He was full term, and a healthy 6 lb 8 oz.
Long story short, he had only one lung, and half his heart wasn't developed, and
he died the next day. The compassion shown to my daughter and her boyfriend by
the hospital was amazing. And among the things the hospital gave them was a
little layette including crocheted blanket, white batiste gown, and crocheted
cap. I knew the hearts of the ladies who had made those and donated them, and
had never dreamed my daughter would be the recipient. It was heart-wrenching to
say goodbye to the little fellow so soon, but he was enveloped in beautifully
created things and he was gorgeous. Perfect. They made hundreds of photos of
him wrapped up in the blanket and wearing the little gown and cap, and now my
daughter has those things in a memory box for her sweet boy. He was buried in
another outfit because my daughter wanted to keep the sweet gown. I have seen
her hugging and patting and folding the items over and over since she came home
with empty arms.

Just know these gifts are priceless and do an important part in filling the
empty holes in families' hearts when a baby is lost. Thank you for the efforts
and time and love. I'm working on my first crocheted blanket to donate to the
hospital where my grandbaby died - the first of many.....

With lots of love, Marie

Clothing Giveaway

The church where we have our semi-monthly workshops is having a huge clothing giveaway, so that means the room we use for sewing is full of clothes!  It's for a very excellent cause, and we hope to have lots of people come by and "shop" this weekend.

In the meantime, this week's workshop will be canceled because the room looks like a very interesting thrift store.  There's some seriously good stuff in there, so come on and see what you might like!

Grace and peace,
Donna

Lily's Quilts: Fixing a too-scant seam

Lily's Quilts: Fixing a scant seam

This picture is just my "teaser" for her post.  Click on the link to get her very easy-to-understand instructions, then cruise around her great site!

Jenny Elefantz' GiveAway!

You might like to hop on over to Jenny's blog and enter to win her giveaway - an adorable project(s) book!  All you have to do is "comment" on her post about the giveaway.   This pic is the book being given away:

Jenny Elefantz' Blog

I love, love, love her site. Plus she's part of the group known as the "Gum Tree Designers" - all very talented and generous women.  They share a lot of tips and offer free projects throughout the year.  There are a lot of very nice and easy hand embroidery designs to drool over, or even use for one's own projects.

Jenny Elefantz' Blog

Simple Quilts - Any Size

It's important to have love in our hearts as we serve others through the work of our hands, so we try to do our best when making things for others.  We want to make sure our edges are finished and our work is not rushed or sloppy. 

With that in mind, we also recognize that everyone's skill levels are different and this should be an opportunity to fun and even growth, rather than stressing over "not measuring up" to some unattainable standard of perfection.  So please have fun and sew (or knit or crochet) with a friend (or group of friends)!

For quilts it's best to use woven all-cotton fabric, or cotton flannels, or at least a small percentage of woven polyester like maybe broadcloth.  But really, cotton is preferred.  You can choose to pre-wash or not, it's up to you.  BUT each quilt should be consistent in that - either all pre-washed or all not-pre-washed.  There are very nice-looking quilts of both types.  If you have some fabric in your stash that you know will "bleed" when washed, then please pre-wash (and rinse well) all the fabrics you'll use in that quilt.

Next - thread:  again, it's good to use cotton thread in the needle and bobbin, for construction and any quilting or tacking you do.  IMPORTANT NOTE:  we absolutely cannot accept tied quilts, for safety purposes. If you send a tied quilt, then we will have to take all those little ties out, and then replace them with machine-tacking.

If you're making a small size for an infant, definitely use only cottons, preferably very lightweight fabric, even flannels, tiny prints or solids.  If you're making child-size quilts, still try to use cottons, but a mostly-cotton blend would be okay, in bright colors or pastels.  If you're making them for adults (i.e., for nursing homes, cancer patients, etc.) we'd still prefer cottons, but blends would be okay too.  

For stillborn babies, please use only white, all-cotton, preferably batiste.  These are whole-cloth wraps, meaning all one piece - not pieced or quilted. If you use batiste, it would be okay to use that cotton-poly batiste, since it has a high cotton content and is lightweight.  For these special wraps, it's okay to use something lightweight as an inner layer, such as lining fabric (again, white preferred.)  If you find some nice very very pastel pink or blue, I would accept that.  Also for these, it would be okay to put a nice cotton or rayon lace trim all around the edge - but please don't use those stiff cheap laces.  Also for these

For sizes, here are some general guidelines:  preemies 16"square up to 24" square, one side lightweight cotton and the reverse side could be lightweight flannel or lightweight cotton, no batting necessary, unless you want to use a layer of flannel for batting.  For infants we like 36" square up to 45" square, same materials as preemies. 

For other sizes, you can do what you like!  a lap-quilt size is usually about 45" square, more or less, not set in stone at all.  For young children, you could do 45"x55" and on up from there! Twin size is nice for anyone, especially people undergoing chemo, but it could be a little shorter than that, since they're usually in recliners.

Putting a border on the quilts is a very nice finishing touch, but it is a little extra work so again it's up to you.  You can also do it an easier way and sew the layers right sides together, leaving a few inches open to turn it right side out, then whip-stitch that opening closed.  If you're doing one with a layer of flannel in the middle as batting, you can still use this technique, trust me.  Just be sure you have the face of the quilt and that back of the quilt with right sides together, and then have the flannel (batting) against one of those layers' wrong side - the outside.

I'm sure I've left out something important, but can't think of it - soooo, just ask! 

Bless you for helping!