Some sewing...

A number of the blogs that I follow describe sewing projects that are aimed at providing comforting items such as quilts, pillowcases and warm clothes to those who are in unfortunate circumstances. Jan from 'Oz Comfort quilts' and 'Sew Many Quilts-Too little time' is a human dynamo. Jan sews QAYG blocks into quilts. She has done this for the victims of the Victorian Bushfires in 2009, she has done that for the victims of the floods in 2011 and she is also starting to organise quilts to be sent to New Zealand for the people of Christchurch. People have sent blocks from all around Australia, NZ, UK, Europe and US to name some of the countries from where donations have 'flowed in'. Jan does have a job outside the home but she manages to sew together and bind an incredible number of quilts. Sometimes people donate quilt tops and Jan adds wadding and backing, then quilts and binds them. Just in the last day or so, Jan has sent 70 quilts to Emerald in Qld for distribution. An incredible effort!

Now I'll talk about my miniscule effort. The Sisters of Stitch group that I have started attending set a project last week for us. We were asked to decorate a Teatowel and these teatowels will be send to people affected by the floods and are meant as a 'we are thinking of you' type of gesture. My first thought was...'Teatowel???why would anyone want one of those? (lol) I mean you can't get too carried away with the decorating as aren't the teatowels still expected to be able to dry dishes???? I wasn't sure...I thought I might applique something on a plain teatowel...hearts? flowers'...or maybe embroider something...I even found my transfer pencil that I could use to transfer a design to embroider. Then I remembered I had some Maxine (the subversive senior citizen cartoon character) fabrics. So I ended up fussy cutting some motifs from this fabric, using appliquefix (which is fantastic) and then sewed buttonhole stitch around each motif.

I also had some fairy/cup/patty cake fabric in my stash. I also had found at the shops last weekend a pink teatowel with a woven design of cup/fairy/patty cakes...sweet! Cut a strip of the fabric and sew the strip on to the teatowel.



I cut a strip of the patterned fabric which I will sew to the bottom of the teatowel...nice and simple!

For the last 3 years, I've been preparing for retirement by adding to my stash of fabrics and yarns. Seems to have been a great help in this simple project. My gorgeous DH has just remarked quite favourably about my 'Maxine effort'. Hopefully it will bring a smile to the face of the recipient. In the next day I need to finish the other teatowel and organise to hand the teatowels over to a friend who can take them to the next meeting for me, as I'll be away in the US, sightseeing and generally helping the US economy! lol