#SewToShare - Personal Progress: June 2015

Well, I'm trying to chip away at my summer goals list.....slowly, but surely!

Cook more, especially with my children.

Sew curtains for my youngest daughter's room. (FINALLY!!!)

Fresh paint for several rooms in our home. In Progress....and more added!

New skirts for my girls.

Sew "Busy Bags" & Totes for the foster closet. In Progress, A BUNCH!!!

Read some chapter books aloud to my kiddos.

Gifts for our local Animal Shelter.

Participate in library events.
Sort my patterns. ALL of them! 

Visit the zoo.

Help my youngest daughter, now 5, sew her first "something".

Create a pattern/tutorial for a special medical comfort item.

Sew some adult sized bibs for my grandfather.

Make new oven mitts, potholders and such for our kitchen.

Go on a picnic.

And, take a few naps! ;) Never Enough!

Hmmmm. 

Seems I've added waaaaay more than I've finished! ;) Oh well!

Update my 10 year old's scrapbook.

Rip the carpet from my stairs, sand and paint them. 

Take of the giant mending pile. 

I'm sure it will continue to grow....

Here's a few pics to share with you of my cutting progress. Since I tend to do my donation sewing in "batches", I've done a BUNCH of cutting!!!! These are the piles prepped and waiting for me to stitch...

A few remaining ballerina dolls I found under some other items.

A bunch of bibs.

I got carried away cutting "Busy Bags" for the foster care closet and these are the ones all set to start sewing. 

The below stack still needs a bit of fusible fleece interfacing....I just ran out. TWICE! lol!

A nice stack of security "blankies" that I'll get to at some point to maybe go with the bibs. 

 And more Teeny Tears diaper gifts than I can count! I think I may end up doubling my original goal of filling 1 bushel sized basket! :)

A bit more family sewing is on the list for the day. Prepping some PJs for my girls headed to camp, and some super hero pillowcases & valances for my boy's newly painted and decorated super hero bedroom. The fun never stops! ;)

How's your summer sewing going? 

Any "Sew To Share" goodies to tell us about?

LQS Support - MidSouth Sewing & Fabric

I had the pleasure of meeting some of the sweetest women this week!

I visited a "new to me" local quilt shop called, MidSouth Sewing & Fabric. I've been looking for a shop I will fill comfortable with servicing one of my beloved machines and this shop had been highly recommended to me by several trusted seamstress friends. I had a bit of time without the kiddos, and took advantage of it by stopping in. Boy am I glad I did too!!!!

The shop is adorably decorated and fully stocked with gorgeous, high quality, designer fabrics. I could truly spend hours looking at & stroking every print! They even have a "Yard Sale" section with fabrics priced as low as $5 a yard!

 Additionally, they are Authorized Dealers of a variety of high-end machines, including Juki and Brother. Yes, I spotted a couple to add to my wishlist very easily! ;)

They also provide a variety of embroidery services and regular classes, and if this picture doesn't make you want to join the fun, then I don't know what would! :) I can't wait to get to know this crew better! And maybe I'll slowly begin to overcome my intimidation with quilting as well!

 Well, if getting to spend my morning getting to know these sweet ladies and stroll through their lovely shop at a complete leisurely pace wasn't enough, there are those HUGE boxes that they are standing by. Yep. They sent those home with me FULL of beautiful, embroidered gifts for children in foster care! Take a peek at what was inside.....

21 of these absolutely squishy & adorable "Nap Time Buddy" pups!

Another 21 of these sweet bears with jackets embroidered with the perfect little quote, "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff"!

 20 heart embroidered ball caps...

21 T-shirts.... 

AND, 21 beautiful, plush stockings that I will be stuffing full for donation near Christmas!!!

 The T-shirts and ball caps are being dropped off with my friend Becky who coordinates donations for our foster care closet as our local TFI:The Forgotten Initiative advocate. The stuffed friends have been added too (and piled high!!!) my donation boxes for the FLUFF Project and will join the other donations that will find their way to a special child in foster care with our next delivery!

I am so very excited and thankful to have made this local connection within the sewing/quilting community and so very grateful for their generous gifts! I know each will be well received and appreciated....and those animals will get lots of love I'm sure!

If you are in the greater Knoxville area, I definitely recommend taking the time to drop by this lovely shop! They participate in a variety of activities and shop hops, so there's always something fun to join in on. You can find them in "The Gallery" Shopping Center on Kingston Pike, near West Town Mall. You can also find them online HERE!

June. Off to a great start + summer goals!

We have had a great start to June & our summer break so far!

Monday, we had the privilege of delivering 166 stuffed friends to our Juvenile Court to be gifted to children in foster care. I've already received warm and encouraging messages about how well received our FLUFF Project donations are too! 

 That's right, to date, we have delivered 1,189 stuffed friends for children in foster care! 

Sooooo exciting! And I can't wait to make more! 

I have several stuffed friend patterns on my "To Sew" list for the summer! It's always hard to narrow down which one to sew next, I love them all! 

That's just one of the many things on my goals list for the summer though...in no particular order, here are some of the (maybe a bit lofty) things I hope to accomplish over the next few months.

Cook more, especially with my children.

Sew curtains for my youngest daughter's room. (FINALLY!!!)

Fresh paint for several rooms in our home.

New skirts for my girls.

Sew "Busy Bags" & Totes for the foster closet.

Read some chapter books aloud to my kiddos.

Gifts for our local Animal Shelter.

Participate in library events.
Sort my patterns. ALL of them! 

Visit the zoo.

Help my youngest daughter, now 5, sew her first "something".

Create a pattern/tutorial for a special medical comfort item.

Sew some adult sized bibs for my grandfather.

Make new oven mitts, potholders and such for our kitchen.

Go on a picnic.

And, take a few naps! ;)

Whew!!! I'm already tired just planning it! :)

We shall see just how much I'm able to get done.....I always tend to over estimate. 

How about you? Any great summer plans?

Any new patterns or recipes you hope to try?

Would love to hear, so feel free to share in the comments, and hope you have a GREAT summer whatever you choose to do with your time!

Beautiful Ballerina Dolls! Pattern by Blue Whimsy

 These lovely girls have been in the works for quite a while!

I tend to sew in "batches" when I'm working on items to donate, and sometimes....well, sometimes, I end up on a roll while I'm cutting and lose count on how much I'm going to have to sew. That kinda happened with these girls, so it has taken a bit of time to finish them, but I am tickled with how they've turned out!  

Each one has it's very own style and personality!

This is the Nora Ballerina pattern from Blue Whimsy.

I entered a giveaway that she had going on, knowing that these sweet girls would be perfect for our FLUFF Project. Before the giveaway was even over, she contacted me and told me that after reading about the FLUFF Project, she would like to offer me any pattern of my choice from her shop! Her kindness and generosity really touched me and I was so excited to get to sew this sweet pattern!

These are the ones that will be donated....

 And these I will be offering for sale to help off set the cost of time & materials...

You can find the ones available for purchase HERE!

The pattern also includes sweet little felt ballet slippers, but I chose not to add those due to the likelihood of them getting lost while in the donation shuffle.

The tutus are absolutely my favorite part!!!! They fluff up so darling!

This was a really fun pattern to sew! I loved watching them come to life through the process.

I made a simple change to the final assembly of the doll to make turning easier for me. The original opening for turning is on the dolls back, as you'll be able to see in one of the below pictures. However, I think I made my openings too small, and I struggled to get my first doll turned. And since I sew each step in an assembly line fashion when batch sewing, that meant they were all like this. So, here's what I did as an alternate way to finish....in case you find yourself in the same predicament! ;)

Adjusting the needle to the side, stitch 01 in the image, allows for an easier and more precise stitch along the edge. I used this stitch for much of my dolls assembly.

I attached the arms, and then sandwiched them inside the 2 body pieces, sewing from one bottom edge to the other, leaving the bottom open and legs unattached. 

 After trimming and turning the body, I turned under and ironed the bottom edge and pinned the legs in place. 

After sewing in place, I was then able to stuff the doll from the original opening in the back.  

This is a lovely pattern, one I definitely will sew again! The dolls are already drawing quite a bit of attention from all my friends and family who have seen them! 

You can find Blue Whimsy in all your favorite places....

Blue Whimsy website/blog

Blue Whimsy facebook page

Blue Whimsy on Instagram

Blue Whimsy Etsy shop

Oh....and if you'd like to try one of her patterns for FREE, she has a darling little mermaid pattern HERE so you can! :)

Be sure to tell her you saw her sweet pattern here when you drop by to check out all her other sewing sweetness, so she knows just how much I appreciate her generosity! 

2014 - 3rd Quarter Project Announcement

2014 is truly flying by! 

Don't know if it's our new quarterly schedule or what, but WOW!

Here we are with the kick off of the 3rd Quarter Project!!!

This is going to be another fun and simple to sew project that I hope many can and will participate in! With summer and back to school times falling during the 3rd Quarter, I wanted to be sure that sewing to share would be an easy thing to fit in, and I think we've found the perfect project!

If you know much about me from this blog or otherwise, you know that sewing for children is something very special to me. Using my love of sewing to help support and encourage a family, even more! 

Our family really appreciates living in a community that provides a Crisis Pregnancy Center to help struggling or surprised mothers and fathers prepare for their unexpected bundle. Being a large family, we understand the excitement paired with stresses, uncertainties and general feelings of being overwhelmed that planning for a new baby can bring....and we understand those feeling are all magnified when a pregnancy wasn't planned at the time. We also know full well the blessing a baby is to a family, and if we can be any part of the support and encouragement that shines light and hope on that, well, what a beautiful and encouraging opportunity for us as well! This is part of what makes us so very grateful for the active work and support of the Crisis Pregnancy Center.

Some of the incredible services provided by our local Center include free pregnancy tests, educational classes and training, a 24 hour  helpline, as well as, a care closet that helps provide everything from maternity clothing, baby/toddler clothing, diapers, formula, baby gear and more! All things that can help relieve some of the stress and financial pressure of an unplanned pregnancy.

For the 3rd Quarter Project, we will be making bibs, burpcloths and blankies to donate to our Crisis Pregnancy Center to be provided to the families they serve. I would like to encourage you to look within your own communities for a similar organization to directly support with your sewing this quarter, but will be more than happy to include any donations you'd like to send to go along with ours too. :) As always, if you don't sew and would like to send along store bought items, those are always welcome. Additionally, our family will be participating in the annual Walk For Life and any monetary donations received this month will be donated as part of our sponsor collections for the Center.

For those shipping donation items to me, your donations can be sent here,

Kristy Smith

c/o Echelon Florist

1260 Rocky Hill Road

Knoxville TN 37919

So, I welcome you to jump in a participate with our 3rd Quarter Project any way you feel led! You can find an abundance of Baby Sewing ideas, inspiration, tutorials and patterns on my "Baby Sewing" Pinterest board here. While I have chosen to narrow the focus to bibs, burpcloths & blankets to help simplify, any baby items you'd like to contribute are completely welcome! If you'd like to share photos of your donations to inspire and encourage the rest of us as we consider how best to participate, feel free to do so in our 3rd Quarter Project Donation Album on Flickr here.

I'll also be sharing about a new baby related project that I am humbled and blessed to be a part of. Watch for a special detailed post about that to come soon!

Email me here with any questions.

Thank you all for your continued support and enthusiasm as we care for others through our sewing machines. 

Every Stitch Matters.

Supporters of FLUFF

I am very grateful to share that Fairfield World has sent us a 25lb. box of polyester fiber in support of our FLUFF Project!!!!

 This is actually the second time they have done so, with the first being sent in April last  year when we first kicked off our project to provide stuffed friends for children in foster care. This incredibly generous donation will go a LONG way in helping us to continue to provide more!!!!

I have purchased and used Fairfield's quality products for years, but now whenever I am personally in need of batting, pillow forms, fiber stuffing and the like, their's is even more the label I look for! I am so incredible appreciative of their support and generosity!

Learn more about the products they offer on their website, Fairfieldworld.com .

 If you have a minute, I sure would appreciate you dropping by their facebook page HERE and giving them a virtual "high five" by saying THANKS for supporting the FLUFF Project at Hopeful Threads! 

THANK YOU Fairfield!!!!

When I shared about our April project with the folks over at Fairfield, I received a quick reply that they would be glad to send me some fiber. I was delighted! 

So, you can surely imagine my surprise when I pulled into my driveway to see this HUMONGOUS box waiting....

25 POUNDS of fabulous, fluffy polyester fiber stuffing!!!!

The longer the top of the box is open the more it grows! My kids have had a blast checking each day to see how much taller it has gotten. :)

Fairfield Supreme...

...and Fairfield Crafter's Choice are the fibers I usually use and are readily available at my local shop.

Needless to say, all the stuffed toys I'll be making for our April project will be happily stuffed with Fairfield polyester fiber! :) 

****Thanks to the idea of one of my fabulous international friends, if you are outside the US and want to participate in this month's project, feel free to mail your items un-stuffed to help save on shipping, and I'll be more than happy to stuff them up when they arrive!*** 

Fairfield did not ask me to promote their product. They simply took the time and read about our project and then said "Sure. We can help.", so I think it's the least I can do to share about their generosity with all of you! I'm still blown away and so very grateful! Help they did, in a BIG way!

THANK YOU FAIRFIELD!

FairfieldWorld.com

Fairfield World on Facebook here.

Find them on Twitter here.

And also on Pinterest, with lot of great ideas, here.

If you haven't read about our sewing project for April yet, you're gonna want to...it's all kinds of squishy fun!

Project Details Here

Sewin' & Stuffin' & Fluffin'