Monday, April 28, 2008

We Need 130 Men's & Women's Button Down, Long Sleeve Shirts By May 17th!! All Sizes, Any Condition!!!

We need about 130 more men's or women's long sleeved, button down (or Western Style snaps) shirts for Salvation Army's smocks which are used for their Senior Adult Arts and Crafts program, Kid's After School program, and for their Summer Day Camp which starts in June. Please put a notice in your church bulletins, on your bulletin board at work, at civic centers, your gym, or wherever else you can think of. June is only one month away, so we need these shirts ASAP! By the way, the kids absolutely love the smocks we have delivered so far! The smocks will be given as gifts to the kids and adults, so we will need a steady supply of these shirts. Thanks sew much!

Hotel Hershey, via Salvation Army, has dropped off HUNDREDS of high quality, high thread count white bed sheets, pillow cases, and 16 high quality bedspreads. These will be perfect for homeless blankets; the sheets can be used inside baby and lap blankets instead of batting. The sheets will also make fantastic aprons, especially if you use brightly colored thread. Gorgeous summer baby blankets can be made by sewing 2 pieces together, top stitch with pretty thread, and add lace or trim to the edges. Great walker bags, too.

Thanks again for continuing to support the Greater Harrisburg Area through your needle arts!

Friday, April 25, 2008

The Cry of My Heart -- God Bless America

God Bless America
Irving Berlin, 1918

God, please bless America so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

I love this land, Lord. How many people does it feed? It's so pretty this time of year with the flowering plants just coming up, and the trees full of blossoms. It’s wonderful to sit quietly on the porch and hear the birds in full song.

Stand beside our nation, Lord. Remind us that you know what’s going on, because we sure don’t. Guide our elected politicians, God, and those who are appointed to positions of trust in our government in all godliness and trustworthiness.

And guide our business barons to deal honestly and justly with our resources and money. As we begin to go through the night of the economic disaster that many believe is immanent, we know that you are not ignorant of our plight.

Shed your Light upon unfair dealings, and unscrupulous leaders who have our future in their hands. Only your loving Light can change the course of events to come, and we ask that you guide us to know how to provide for our families, and have enough left over to continue being our brother’s keepers.

From the extended cold and wet season the mountain states are dealing with, to the torrential rains, floods, and tornadoes the prairie states are slogging through, to the east and west coast shorelines fighting unpredictable weather and fires, we ask that your Light shine down on us and deliver us from evil.

God, Bless America. This is our home. It’s sweet to be able to worship wherever and whenever we want to. Thank you for that freedom. God, bless our homeland so that our children and grandchildren can lead a quiet and peaceable life, in godliness and honesty. Thank you for hearing our prayers. Amen. (I Timothy 2:1, 2)

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

WOW! Amazing Totals for 2008!!!

April 2008: Morning Star: 20 bibs, 2 lap pads, 3 toddler pj's, 2 boy’s tops, 1 small nightie, 1 duffle bag. Salvation Army: 11 denim tote bags, 57 children’s aprons 43 adults/children’s smocks, 20 personal care tote bags, 49 disaster/relief tote bags, 4 duffle bags, 1 adult apron, 1 tablecloth, 7 pillow cases, 1 infant care bag with 2 wash clothes, 2 powders, 1 lotion, 1 pair ready made curtains, 4 fleece blankets, 13 baby blankets, 1 pair child’s slippers 2 bibs, 1 infant gown, 2 play clothes sets, 4 dresses, 48 baby wash clothes, 4 place mats, 1 kitchen hand towel with crocheted top, 24 dishtowels, 1 lap pad, 6 crocheted dish cloths 17 personal care bags made and filled by CAIU classes at Cedar Run. Hershey Medical Center Pediatric Bereavement Program, 26 drawstring bags. Total items donated: 367. Total to Date: 2074

Friday, April 4, 2008

April Fabric Donations Keeping Pace with Sewing Requests

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!!