December 22, 2009 Charitable Sewing
Whew, finally finished with all the Creative Kindness workshops that I have been doing for the Smoky Mountain Women's Retreat and also for Senior Saints in the Smokies.
(Edited and updated 12/22/09)
At the Women's Retreat (2006) we had 379 ladies representing 10 different states and 91 different churches! What a group! For the four weeks of Senior Saints (2006) we had a total of 1350+ retired folk around here. I don't know how many states (or countries) and churches were represented there...I don't know if they keep track of those stats.
I ended up doing 11 workshops on Creative Kindness and I had 99 ladies total that I got to share what all I've learned about sewing blessings to mend the wounds of others. I thought I'd post my outline here that might help some of you to find a great charitable sewing project for your group to do to help give a 'cup of cold water in Jesus' name' to someone in need. God Bless your efforts!
Sharing ours hearts and hands with those in need
Creative Kindness: www.amazon.com
This book is dedicated to the generous volunteers who practice Creative Kindness every day. There are 18 projects and the real people who do them in this book. The web site also links to many other charitable sewing projects.
To honor their sharing and caring, and to help support their many diverse, worthwhile efforts, a portion of the royalties from this book will be donated to charities, on a revolving basis. Read my review of the Creative Kindness book here. To order the Creative Kindness book (#CKB5) or the Creative Kindness Continues DVD (#SN1923D) see www.nancysnotions.com
Sewing.org Charitable projects: http://www.sewing.org/html/charitysew.php
These step-by-step projects are not only fun to make, but they are also deeply appreciated by those who receive your special gift of comfort. Thread your needle for those in need.
Cancer Caps:
There are so many children and adults in need of a bright colored cap to wear when they lose their hair to chemotherapy. At a time when their lives are in enough turmoil, perhaps having a cap someone has made just for them, will bring some renewed hope into their life. Be sure to use soft material and/or soft yarns for these projects. Patients without hair are also self-conscious of their neck, so many would appreciate a coordinating scarf as well.
www.bevscountrycottage.com/cancercaps.html www.yarncat.com/3_Way_Cap.html
www.chemohatpatterns.com
Knit for Kids: http://www.knitforkids.org/
Knit for Kids is a volunteer effort that connects individuals from all over the world through Guideposts. Knit for Kids creates a caring bond between people from many walks of life who send us beautifully knitted or crocheted sweaters and the thousands of children in need who receive their gifts.
Knit or Crochet slippers, boots, socks, mittens, scarves: for homeless, low income, convalescent, your local school in a poor district.
http://www.thedietdiary.com/knittingfiend/slipper/HKSlipperBoots.html
http://www.knitting-crochet.com/crochet/crosoc.html
http://www.knitting-crochet.com/mithat.html
Knit or Crochet Baby Booties
Making booties to give to your local Women’s Care Center or Crises Pregnancy Center so the mother may have something tangible in her hands to help her realize that her baby is REAL. Fleece blankets are easy to make and good to give also.
http://www.bevscountrycottage.com/abctree.html#easy-bootie
http://www.bevscountrycottage.com/shell-booties.html
http://www.bevscountrycottage.com/bevsbooties2.html
CareWear Volunteers http://www.carewear.org/
Care Wear is a nationwide group of volunteers who knit, crochet, and/or sew, providing handmade baby items to hospitals. All Care Wear items are given free to infants, children and their parents. This site has numerous patterns available for all types of projects. Sign up for their free newsletter.
More preemie sleepers and gowns http://www.threadsoflove.org/
One Dress at a Time www.onedress.org
Making dresses for needy individuals with all the trimmings…and extras!
Sew Much Comfort www.sewmuchcomfort.org
Sewing our support for the Troops! Altering outfits for veterans with special needs.
Diapers http://synodresourcecenter.org/
Helping children in need by making diapers out of your old t-shirts!
Benjamin Smiles Pillow http://www.friendsandco.net/benjamin/benamin-smiles.html
Small pillow cases for Ronald McDonald House or a pediatric hospital with an oncology department.
Project Linus www.projectlinus.org
Project Linus is a 100% volunteer non-profit organization. Their mission is to provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need through the gifts of new, handmade blankets and afghans, lovingly created by volunteers.
Rag dolls 2 love www.ragdolls2love.org
In war, children suffer. They are the "collateral damage" politicians refer to when they dismiss civilian deaths in armed conflicts. Rag Dolls 2 Love, Inc was started to put a soft cloth doll in the hands of children in countries ravaged by war.
Sewing Charity: http://www.fibreartsonline.com/community/nonprofit.htm
Link to charitable sewing organizations arranged alphabetically. A must to bookmark!
A few more ideas for charitable projects:
- tote bags for the homeless to carry their things
- aprons, scrubbies, dishrags for soup kitchens (scrubbies link)(dishcloths link)
- pillow cases or cot sheets for a mission or shelter
- baby bibs for shelters with children or needy families
- altering clothing: weight reduction institutions, low income housing areas, colleges
- socks, mittens, hats, slippers for Head Start program or low-income pre-schools
- “Jammies for Jesus” making pj’s for orphanages/missionaries around the world.
A few ideas on how to find out about needs in your area:
- Contact your local hospital and ask for the volunteer coordinator.
- Look in the Yellow Pages under "Social Services Organizations" or "Crisis Intervention Services". Call and ask how you can help.
- Contact a local nursing home, hospice, or shelter
- Ask friends, coworkers, ministers if they know of an organization that can use handmade items.
- Ask at the local school if they know of organizations that provide assistance to families in need.
- Ask your local police or sheriff's department or city hall.
‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine,
you did for me.’ Matthew 25:40
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October 15, 2009 They're home!
Our llamas have arrived home. They arrived all neat and cleaned up for show. Here they are in their transport:
Red Baron (the auburn one) is 16 months old. Sweet Dreams (the white one) is 5 months old. They stand about 4 feet tall at their heads. We think Red is almost fully grown, but we anticipate that Sweet Dreams will grow up to 6 feet tall at the head.
They arrived on a beautiful day and adjusted easily to their new surroundings. Then the torrential rains hit East Tennessee and these sweet, clean llamas LOVE to frolic in the rain and then roll in the dirt and hay. So much for their clean show coats.
Red Baron all wet and dirty.
Sweet Dreams showing that he can get just as wet and muddy as his bigger brother.
It doesn't bother them in the least to be wet and dirty. It only bothers us humans. *sigh*
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September 23, 2009 Sweetie's first hair cut
Our youngest llama, Sweet Dreams, had his first shearing. Here he is in all his skinnyness.
 Sweet Dreams
We've got the pasture and fencing ready. The barn stalls have been cleaned out. We still need to fix a couple wet places near the barn entrances to keep the little guys' feet from getting too muddy.
The llamas are scheduled to be delivered to our farm, Starburst Acres, in early October as soon as Sweet Dreams is weaned. YAY llamas.
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Like we don't have enough to clean up after around here. Anyway, here are pictures of our two newest members of the family. Well, they will be here once the youngest is weaned from his mama in another 6 weeks.
Sweet Dreams (spring cria - male)
Red Baron (yearling - male)
These two boys are coming from Walnut Ridge Llama Farm near Greeneville, Tennessee. Fun stuff in store for us all!
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Wow, the chickens have come of age. They are now 18 weeks old and one of our Leghorns (the white ones) has given us our first ever egg from our flock.
 The ladies at 18 weeks (taken today!)
 The first egg (photo taken last night.)
It's really big for a first egg. About a size medium.
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June 10, 2009 update on chickens
Whoa, sorry, but I don't remember that I have this blog very often until someone comments. Thanks, Letitia, for remembering that I'm here!
The chickens are growing up. They're 4 months old now. Just one more month until they are old enough to start laying. Here is a picture of them at 8 weeks. I need to take some newer pictures!
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In this stumbling economy, we have decided to try our hand at raising our own chickens. We got a coop and fencing from a neighbor who moved and couldn't take his chickens. We disassembled that on his property and moved that to ours.
And we got some 3 week old chickens from another local chicken farmer yesterday. Here they are:
Right now they are in the kitchen keeping warm. This week we plan on putting the coop and fencing back together and helping the new hens to relocate to the outside environment. What an adventure!
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February 7, 2009 Where am I?
Goodness! I thought for sure I made a December entry! Now I feel neglectful. Sorry folks! Yes, I'm still here. Christmas was great. Our oldest came down from Indiana for a couple of days to spend some wonderful moments with us. That was priceless.
January was a blessing too. I got another year older, but we don't need to talk about that. I guess that's just more experience under my belt, huh? My boys are growing up. Charlie is as tall as his dad now (6-feet) and only 14 years old.
Harold has decided he didn't like the name Harold for on-line, so we are now going to refer to him as Rosco on-line. He's growing up too, but at least he's still shorter than his Mama.
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November 27, 2008 Happy Thanksgiving! November 13, 2008 Auto Shop
As our middle son started high school this year, we've had to 'settle' on a career path track. At least this seems to be what Charlie is heading for. He's interested in Automotive Engineering. That means lots of time doing 'auto shop'. In fact most days this is where you can find Charlie....that would be when he's not on his motorcycle.
 Here he is changing the plugs and plug wires on our Ranger. This truck is the guinea pig of our auto shop. It's getting all the repairs done to it that is required by our curriculum. Actually it's a bit of a costly program in the long run! But Charlie loves it and is learning (we all are) a lot.
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October 31, 2008 Recipe Binder
Okay, so I'm not one to make "handy, helpful hints" on my blog (hey, I'm not even one to update my blog regularly) but I just thought of something that I do at home that might help someone with their recipes' storage.
I use a thin 3-ring binder with the clear pockets on the front and back covers where I put my most used recipes. I also use clear sheet protectors for the recipes that I pull out from magazines. For the ones I get/find on the Internet, I simply print off and three hole punch to go in the binder.
This way you can easily make dividers to fit your own specific needs. It's so easy to re-arrange the recipes, re-mark them (when you've changed one to better suit your family), and add too or take away from the mother-lode. I just keep the binder on the shelf with the other cookbooks.
:end helpful hint of the day.
~Betsy
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I love autumn! Today is my Mom and step-Dad's 30th wedding anniversary. Such a beautiful memory for us all. I called them today and they are doing well. They live about 300 miles from me.
 Mom and Dave, October 1, 1978
Did you know that my header pictures are always my own personal photos? I have four that I change out per season, and right now what you see is my late summer/autumn header that I took a couple years ago looking out from our back yard.
And this picture is one I've posted before, of our front field being mowed and baled late one summer.
I just love the smell of the hay being brought in.
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August 25, 2008 Pictures and things
Boy, you don't know how much you rely on the Internet until it's gone. Our server here at the college was in the process of being 'updated' when everything went wrong. What was supposed to be a weekend job for our IT department is now into it's second week of struggles.
Our home Internet was off for just over a week, while my hosting site for pictures was gone for a bit longer than that. Web pages / blogs don't look very good without images! At least mine don't because I'm one of those people who likes posting pictures!
How wonderful it has been to find the Internet was back on Saturday night and to find all my images back this morning! Kudos to our IT department who must have worked on the weekend to try and get everything up and running for the students who return to campus today.
And a great week to you all too!
~Betsy
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July 8, 2008 Charlie's Birthday
Charlie turned 14 last week. His birthday is surrounded by our country's birthday, so is always a fun time.
We took him to Music Road Hotel in Pigeon Forge for the day before his birthday, and NASCAR Speedpark for his birthday (where else?) We had a great time!
 And now we're back to school for year 14. As usual, we start back the first full week of July so that we can finish by April. So technically we have 'spring break' and not 'summer break'.
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April 30, 2008 Done for the year!
We finished up our lessons on Friday and I got my documentation finished up and sent out today! Year 13 down and in the books!
and just because I like to post pictures, here are the boys learning the mechanics of their bikes. Education in progress!
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