What an awesome Open House! I apologize for the lack of chairs. I have already emailed Karl and told him we needed more chairs. I will try very hard to have more chairs in May.
Everyone is loving our website! Many thanks to Mike for keeping it updated and easier to use. Please send us a comment so we know you are looking it.
So many beautiful clothes were shared. I especially loved the new designs on the t-shirts. Everyone had done an awesome job giving love to our purchased t-shirts. If you were not able to attend today, take a look at our Facebook page as many were shared there. Wait, you are not on our Facebook page? Then send me your Facebook email address and I will add you. Please remember you can only post items/comments directly related to Stitches of Love, as any other posts will be deleted. Our Facebook page is very clean with no spam.
Thank you for all your positive comments regarding cigarette smoke. As I stated, it is very important to have our items odor free as cigarette smoke can be very dangerous to our volunteers and kids attending distribution.
Julie issued a challenge for our May 12 Open House to create something special for the kids using fabric from Joyce Williams’ stash. We thought this would be an excellent way to remember her. When turning in your items in May, please make sure you let us know that the items are for the challenge so we can put them aside to share with everyone. You will receive a ticket for a special drawing. MMM, I wonder what special prize Julie will have??
Inventory, what do we need?? CLOTHES!! Right now we have about 1,300 outfits for the girls as we will have about 2,500 girls attending. For the accessories, our focus is pillowcases and boy hats. Almost 200 pillowcases left today! If you have any at home, please finish them and bring them in at the May Open House. With the number of pillowcases on the March inventory and adding the inventory sheets turned in during the month, I feel we should be at about 1,300, so we need 1,200 more. Hopefully we had lots turned in today. We will have more kits ready for you in May. Please remember if you use a sewing machine, the cuff seam will need to be inside (burrito roll method) and the seams need to be completed with the French seam. With a serger you can create a pillowcase in 10 minutes! Are you afraid of your serger or don’t have one? Come to our Sew Day at 35th Ave Sew and Vac on Sunday, April 22 and we will show you how to use it or buy one at 35th Ave. I promise they will give you a great deal! Once you use your serger, you will wonder how you every got along without it. With the decrease of the school kids and addition of the foster/shelter kids, I feel we will need to have our goals met as the attendance goals should be more accurate. While some of the other accessory items may seem low, trust me I have someone working on it!!
Distribution starts July 23! This year 3,000 school kids will be invited to attend from 8:00-4:00 Monday-Thursday with an additional 2,000 kids from foster care and shelters in the evenings from 5:00-7:00. Thursday will no longer be a half day with packing up in the afternoon! We will set up on Sunday, July 22 from 9:00-1:00 and packing up on Friday from 9:00-1:00 or until we are done! Sign up schedules are ready, so please email me what day/shift you want to work. Shifts are 7:30 -12:30, 11:30-4:30 and 4:30-8:00. Also please tell me what area you want to work in, shopping with boys or girls, entrance door or exit door and which accessory you would like to sit at, girls – purses, hats, scarves, hair accessories or jewelry. For boys – wallets, hats, key chains, hats or pillowcases. Did you notice I didn’t mention bookmarks? We decided to move them upstairs to the book department and have the volunteers there give out the bookmarks with the books. We will continue to create the bookmarks every year, but we felt it was a better idea to have them with the books. If you don’t care where you work, please let me know if you need to sit down so I can place you at an accessory item. I need about 32 people for each shift, so please sign up!!
Upcoming events:
- Yarn it Forward, Monday, April 16 10:00-2:00. If no one is there by 1:00 we will probably leave so don’t come at 1:30! This is a great time to receive one on one with Cindy and my plans are to learn how to use a straight knitting loom as I missed her demo on Saturday.
- Thursday Terror Sew Day, (terror because we like to talk, have fun and hopefully not get into too much trouble!) Thursday, April 19, and May 3 10:00-2:00. Our plan is to create pillowcases and even if you don’t sew, we need someone to iron!
- 35th Ave Sew and Vac Sunday April 22 10:00-3:00 bring your own items that you are working on.
A few things I forgot at the meeting today, I would like to share our favorite sewing, yarn or organizing tips (I can sure use that!) at our May 12 meeting. Several years ago, Lynne Warren suggested purchasing a large poster board (not a foam board) and cut strips of various widths and use one when ironing a hem before sewing. I have several sizes and still use it every time I make a hem. To help me out, write down your tips and I will put them together and hand out to everyone at our final Open House on June 9.
We will have scissor sharpening at our June Open House. Will charges $2.00 for small knives/scissors, $4.00 for regular size knives/scissors/gardening tools. Please bring your items in a zip lock bag with your name/cell number and he will sharpen them during our meeting.
What do you all think of our reference library? Are you using it? I don’t think I have seen many items checked out. Do you think we should keep it, change it or close it and donate the books?
Don’t forget about the Legacy community library. They can use any type of reading books, babies, kids or adults.
Cindy showed us tons of knitting loom ideas and how to use them and Gloria showed us how to use a ruffler (what a weird looking contraption) and a gathering foot. I intended to show how to use a twin needle but we all got too excited with Gloria. Gloria also shared some good websites-Heirloom Creations or Sewing Parts Online.
To recap a twin needle, I prefer to use a size 4, both threads are threaded the same way and if you don’t have 2 spool holders on your machine, load up another bobbin and place one bobbin under your spool of thread. Remember you sew on the right side of the fabric (ask me how I know that, not pleasant to ‘unsew’).
Ok enough words, I am tired typing and I bet you are tired of reading. I need to go and sew! Thank you to everyone who attended and had fun with us! Please keep sewing, knitting or crafting for the kids. We ‘sew’ appreciate all you do
Sandy