Smalls for Cards

 

Recently, one of the members of my Yahoo group, World of Charity Stitching, (Bonnie who creates a lot of the quilts) came across a stamp that reads:  "Those who sleep under a quilt, sleep under a blanket of love."
  
She plans to use this stamp to make cards that we are giving with our quilts to the elderly in two of the care facilities to which our group donates.  Our group donates many quilts to the elderly and to children. 

Always Stitching

It seems like I am always stitching something new.  I enjoy working on small projects that can be finished in a few days or a week.   I have a huge stash of charts in books, magazines or downloaded from the internet, which I enjoy looking through to find new items to stitch.  I usually don't stitch the same one twice, but I have a few times. 

This cute little stitching girl is a free chart from Stitching the Night Away, by Loretta Oliver.  My Yahoo group, World of Charity Stitching, is stitching the complete alphabet to be made into a quilt for a senior citizen in a care facility.  You can see more of the alphabet squares by clicking on the World of Charity Stitching link above.

Breast Cancer Bookmark

Since October is Breast Cancer Month, I decided to stitch a small bookmark to be donated for a raffle at my local bowling alley, where I bowl on Tuesdays in a ladies' league.  Every year the bowling alley allows one of the ladies to hold a raffle to raise money for breast cancer research.  I wanted to do a small part to help in this great cause.

My mother had breast cancer and had a radical mastectomy, so I know first-hand what breast cancer can do to a family.  I have friends who have been diagnosed and treated and have been cancer free for several years.  The daughter of one of my good friends died from breast cancer when she was in her 30's, after having been cancer free for eight years.  So, early detection is the key.  I get a yearly mammogram and ultrasound (due to dense breast tissue).  I urge everyone to have a yearly mammogram and to check your breasts monthly for any changes.




 

Charity Stitching

 

In 2006, I retired from my State of Florida clerical job and began looking for a way to help others.   One of the ways I found was to stitch for charity.  

I was surfing the net one day and came across an article about stitching for charity.    Since I had been stitching for such a long time, family and friends had received so many stitched gifts.   I know they were tired of getting them,   so I decided to enter the cyber-world of stitching by joining two Yahoo groups, World of Charity Stitching and Love Quilts USA.  

Cross Stitching has always been one of my favorite hobbies.  I stitch almost every day, having taught myself to stitch in about 1983.   Most of the time, while I am stitching, I "watch/listen"  to television and I almost always take my stitching with me when I have doctor appointments or any kind of period of waiting.   I even stitch while riding in the car on trips with my husband, at my granddaughters volleyball tournaments, in bowling leagues.

I started bogging about stitching for charity in 2008 and in the first year of record-keeping, I was able to stitch 12 charity squares; year two ended with 33 squares for charity.  (On my blog there is a list of how many squares I've stitched for these groups). 

In 2008, I became the co-owner of World of Charity Stitching.   This has been a challenging part of my life and I've enjoyed it very much.    Our membership of stitchers has varied over the years, but right now we have 285 members.  Not all of the members stitch on a regular basis: most have families that take up a lot of time, some work outside of the home,  and some  stitch when a special theme sparks their interest.  Our group does not put pressure on the members-they can stitch as often as they like.  If they find they don't have time to stitch, they might take a break and then sign up for the next round of quilt themes or they might stitch odd pieces at their leisure.  

Rachel (the other co-owner) and I collaborate on what quilt themes the group will be stitching, but members can make suggestions on quilt themes.   We donate to several different venues, but mainly to elderly care facilities and to a domestic violence shelter.  We also create special quilts for those with debilitating diseases, such as cancer.   We recently donated 3 quilts and one pillow to the Baptist Cancer Institute in Pensacola, Florida, to ladies who are cancer survivors.

If anyone is interested in joining our Yahoo group, World of Charity Stitchers, they can join by clicking here.  If you love to cross stitch, sew, quilt, crochet, tat, or knit, we welcome anyone who wishes to bring their talents to help others.

I am so thankful to have found an outlet for my stitching and sewing.  

Here are a few of my recent finishes:

Its Time For Thursday Favorite Things! Thursday favorite things is where you can link your favorite post or write a post about your favorite things and share it with old and new followers. You gain visibility for your blog ( it posts on three blogs) and you make bloggy friends too!Please share the hop with your readers and let Katherine know if you would like to co-host. 

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Some Summer Stitching for Charity

These are some of the pieces I've been working on this summer for charity.

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Stitching for Charity

These are some of my finishes for this year.

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Quilt Tops for World of Charity Stitching

I've been working on some new projects this year.  I've been sewing some of the quilt tops for my group, World of Charity Stitching.   Bonnie C., our quilter, designed and cut out all the fabrics.  I am helping her by sewing the tops together.  After they are finished, I give them back to Bonnie for her to finish the quilting process.

When Bonnie approached me about helping out, I wasn't too sure about taking on this task, but I confess that I have enjoyed seeing the quilt tops come together.  She has given me detailed instructions on what to do to make the quilts, as I have never made a quilt before. 

I'm currently working on a Loony Tunes quilt top, which is quite a bit more challenging, as it is made of triangles. 

The Quilting Gallery is having a quilt contest next week and I plan on entering our Flower Quilt top.  
 

Recent Finishes for WOCS and Love Quilts

This square was stitched for World of Charity Stitching for a Ladybug Quilt Theme.  When I saw this chart, I knew this would be perfect for this quilt.  There are many members of our group stitching all kinds of ladybugs/ ladybirds.  I finished it this weekend while sitting around watching and waiting at a Club Volleyball Tournament in Orlando for our granddaughter.  Unfortunately, we didn't have time to visit Disney or any of the attractions in the area, except for Ripley's Believe It or Not, which was actually pretty interesting and very bizarre.

Another square finished for Love Quilts.  This is for a five-year-old boy named Caleb, whose favorite color is blue.  The original chart was for a green train, so I changed the color combinations to blue. 

This was stitched for Love Quilts also, for Kylee, who loves pink colors.  Her family requested some type of saying with the word "Hope", so I found this Emily Dickinson poem and stitched it with the pretty rose.

Snowflake Design

My group, World of Charity Stitching, is creating a quilt made of these beautiful Snowflakes.  This chart was created by Brooke Nolan of Brooke's Books, another group where I am a member.  

The members chose what colors to use in the blue, lavender, or gray families.  The white floss was B5200, the bright white color.   

This took quite a while to finish, but I kept on stitchin' and finally completed it.  It has over 5,000 stitches, which is the most I've stitched on one project in a long, long time.  

We  have about 25 signups for this theme already, which is a really good start.  Our quilter will create two quilts from this theme and possibly be able to make a couple of pillows to go along with them.  

The quilts will be donated to a senior care facility when they are finished.

 

 

Stitching and Sewing for Charity in 2012

Loretta at Stitching the Night Away is hosting a blog hop for readers to write about their accomplishments in 2012.

I cross stitch and sew for a Yahoo group called World of Charity Stitching.  I'm also one of the co-owners.  This has been a great year for stitching , sewing, and giving.  I finished 25 cross stitched pieces for WOCS.   I also stitch for Love Quilts USA and finished 10 cross stitched squares that have been or are going to be made into quilts for very sick children.  Since I retired in 2006, stitching and sewing for charity have been my main craft focus.  

This past year I sewed and donated to charity the following items:

29 tote bags
21 pillows
6 eyeglass cases
4 walker bags
1 Kindle Cover

My stitching and sewing is just a small part of some of the items the members of my group quilted, cross stitched, sewed and donated to charity.    The squares the members stitch are made into tote bags, pillows, walker or wheelchair bags and also lap quilts.

At World of Charity Stitching we currently have 244 members from all over the world, with many members from the United States, and members from Canada, the UK, Australia, the Netherlands, Indonesia, Italy, Germany, Japan, Egypt, to name a few.

These are a few of the bags, pillows, and walker bags I finished for WOCS this past year:

Stitched and Finished by Peggy

Stitched by Judith in Germany and Finished by Peggy

Stitched by Sharon T. and Finished by Peggy

Stitched by Judith in Germany and Finished by Peggy

"Orphan Square" - bag finished by Peggy

"Orphan Square" - bag finished by Peggy

Stitched and Finished by Peggy

Stitched and Finished by Peggy

Stitched and Finished by Peggy

Stitched and Finished by Peggy