Our March 15th Sew Much For Charity event was successful! There were about 35 people in attendance, with 5 different needle arts groups represented. We saw awesome talent, ingenuity, and creativity in the various projects the groups were working on. 488 items were made by Binky Patrol, Knitters and Crocheters, Norma’s Homeless Blankets, Sew For Peace, and Sewin’ Sisters Sowing, for the following charities: Binky Patrol, Harrisburg Hospital, Morning Star, Norma’s Homeless Blankets, Salvation Army, and Sew For Peace. The fabric swap tables, though piled high at the start of the event, were picked nearly clean by the end of the day. Left over fabric was donated to the Methodist Church Mission Central where it will get distributed for free to those who need it throughout the U.S. Thanks to all of my sewin' sisters who made this event a fun and wonderful event!
On April 19th, we will concentrate on sewing the items that Salvation Army has requested. We do not need any more summer camp tote bags! They requested 90 bags, and we have donated 114! Amazing! I thought we'd be sewing them up until the end of May, but you guys are so incredible, we finished that task by the end of March! We need to concentrate now on the 45 adult smocks and 60 youth smocks they need for their senior and youth arts and crafts programs. Jenny Gallagher-Blom of Salvation Army LOVED the smocks we've made so far. In fact, she loves them so much, she requested 90 more for their summer day camp. That's a total of 195; we've already donated 22 smocks, so we need 173 more. They are VERY quick and easy to do. Using men's and women's button down shirts with cuffs allows them to be used by either children or adults. Just cut off the collar below the neck band and bind the neck. Cut off the cuffs, zigzag the raw edge, turn the cuff edge up inside to form a casing for small elastic to be inserted, insert the elastic, and sew the edges together at the placket. That's it! We have shirts, binding, and some elastic here, so come on over and pick some up! They also need child's size aprons. If you need a pattern or fabric, stop by.
Major Elizabeth Griner, our new contact for Salvation Army, says they really, really need 2000 towels and wash cloths for their nursing home ministry. So put the word out we need old but decent beach towels, terry tablecloths, and terry bathrobes to cut up for wash cloths or towels. She also said she needs hundreds of walker bags. Dimensions for the walker bags are: 14" x 14" unfinished, with two 2" x 20" straps sewn onto the side seams at the top so they can tie the bag onto the walker. They don't need a closure.
BIG NEWS!!! We are partnering with Salvation Army's volunteers to do cutting for us! I have given Major Griner a lot of fabric and a walker bag template for them to cut out. They will deliver the cut out pieces the week of the 21st of April. MORE BIG NEWS!!! Hershey Hotel is going to give Salvation Army bedding and towels that aren't in "mint" condition. After Salvation Army goes through them and takes what they need out, we get the rest!!!!! Oh, the possibilities are endless what we can do with this windfall!
Don't forget about the Hershey Medical Center's pediatric bereavement program's need for drawstring bags from size 6.5" x 7.5" to 11" x 11". We have fabric here purchased specifically for these bags, so drop by and pick some up.
In addition to our sewing on the 3rd Saturday of every month, I want to add a cutting day. We'll clear the tables and just cut out pieces. I think this will help with the volume of sewing we are now doing to get most of the cutting done and out of the way. Then we can just take the pieces home and concentrate on sewing. I don't care if it's another Saturday, a Sunday, or even a week day or evening (but not Tuesdays), so let me know your thoughts on this. Thanks.
We have had quite a bit of fabric donated recently. So before you run off to the store, please stop by and check out what we have on hand. And thanks to all of you who DID stop by and take some fabric home. We now have about half the amount of fabric we did last week! Which is good, because a lady called to say she'd like to donate 52 boxes of fabric, and of course, I accepted! Haven't heard back from her yet, but will be delighted to share it with all charity sewing groups when we have it on site. I'll keep you posted . . .
If you haven't given me your email address, please do because things are happening so fast that I can't put it all in a monthly project sheet. My email is macurrens@netzero.net. Our blog site is www.sewinsisterssowing.blogspot.com. (Type it into the bar at the tippy top of your screen. Search engines can't find it).
Just wanted you to know that in 2006 we did 252 pieces, in 2007 we did 2500 pieces, and so far in 2008 we've done 1707 pieces!!!! You are the most amazing women I've ever known! I'm so glad we concentrate on DURABILITY, QUALITY, and ATTRACTIVENESS so that the pieces folks receive from us can be used from grade school through college. Our reputation is that we create good quality pieces. Thank you!!
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