Stitching and Sewing

I've been busy stitching gifts for World of Charity Stitching and Love Quilts USA.  Stitching is one of my greatest pleasures and has saved my sanity more than once in my life.  Before I started stitching for charity, I would stitch for family and friends.  While I believe they did appreciate my gifts of love, there are only so many friends and family members a person can stitch for in a lifetime.  So, I found a wonderful outlet for my stitching gifts:  charity.    The groups I belong to create beautiful quilts for children and adults, walker or wheelchair bags for seniors in care facilities, bookmarks, tote bags, greeting cards, eyeglass cases, pillows, and other gifts.  I feel fortunate to be able to stitch and sew for charity.  I hope to be able create and share gifts of love for many years.

Stitching and Sewing for Charity

 I've been working these last few weeks on some new cross stitch projects and doing some sewing too.   The tote bags are easy and fairly quick to make.  World of Charity Stitching donates a lot of bags, quilts and other items to seniors and children.  The seniors really like the bags and one of our charities where we donate has asked for more totes.   




Another square for Love Quilts USA.

 (To be made into a tote or pillow.)

 Aren't these little Elephants so cute?  It was a free pattern I downloaded from one of the websites I like.

(To be made into a tote or pillow.)










Our group is working on a quilt theme for a boy which will have several road work machines. 

Summer Stitching

I've been working on some projects for World of Charity Stitching.
We have a "Sew Be It" quilt theme open and this is my contribution.  

I really enjoyed stitching this sewing motif square.  
 
I'll be making the Red Riding Hood square and the Whimsical Owl square into tote bags for girls to be donated during the holidays to the Favor House, a domestic violence shelter.

  

 This sleeping dragon was stitched for Love Quilts USA, for a boy who loves dragons.

New Stitched Pieces to Share

I have been working on some pieces for the World of Charity Stitching group.  The May piece is one that will be part of a months of the year quilt given to a senior citizen in a care facility.  Other members are stitching or have stitched the remaining months and these will be assembled and sent to one of our quilters to be finished. 

 We also have a Teddy Bear theme in the works.  This will be a cute quilt for a child and will be donated either to the Ronald McDonald House in Pensacola, FL or the Favor House, a domestic violence shelter.



This last piece, the Puzzle, will be part of a wall hanging we are making for one of the senior centers for their game room.  We hope to get more group members to sign up for additional squares to make a quilt too.

I am currently working on a Stegosaurus for Love Quilts.   I started it last night while watching t.v. and it looks like it will take a while to finish.  It has lots of subtle shading of browns and tans, not my favorite kind of stitching.  But it is for a good cause - a little boy who loves Dinosaurs.  Love Quilts is an organization that stitches squares for sick children to be created into beautiful quilts to help comfort them while they are in the hospital or at home. 

Yeah! I'm Able to Stitch Again!

This has been a very LONG three months.  I had major rotator cuff surgery the end of February and was in a heavy-duty sling for two months-couldn't even sleep in the bed!  I had to wear the sling 24 hours a day (except during showers) so I wasn't able to do any stitching whatsoever or much of anything else either.   Hubby was a trooper and helped in so many ways-I am so lucky to have him in my life.  Cross stitching is my major stress reliever; and even though Idon't really have a lot of stress in my life at the moment, I have missed stitching and sewing very much.

I started stitching again the end of April and have finished a few pieces for charity.   All of these squares stitched for World of Charity Stitching will be incorporated in quilts that will be donated to a senior citizen in a care facility or a child in a domestic violence shelter.

I also stitched a piece for Love Quilts, an Alphabet heart stitched in variegated purple. I enjoyed stitching this piece, even though it was a bit more challenging than my usual smallish squares.

"Smalls" Stitching

These are some of my recent small projects for World of Charity Stitching.  Most of them will be used for tote bags for seniors and children.  I do quite a bit of stitching in the evenings and during my granddaughter's  volleyball tournaments. 

I've recently had rotator cuff and torn tendon surgery in my right shoulder and am unable to stitch or sew until I'm able to remove the sling (6 to 8 weeks).  I miss stitching so much but know I have to be patient (easier said than done).  

Love Quilt Squares from 2013

 Here are a few more squares I finished for Love Quilts USA last year that I forgot to post on my blog.  

I haven't stitched any LQ squares this year as none of the themes has caught my eye.  I hope to be able to stitch some in the coming months, as I enjoy stitching for this group too.

Some New Stitching

Even though I haven't posted in a while, I have been busy stitching and also making quilt tops for my group, World of Charity Stitching.  

Right now, we are stitching lots of Tulips for one or two Tulip Quilts to be made this year.
We also have a Months of the Year theme open and this cute little bunny is my contribution.

This is one of the bags I made for a senior citizen in a care facility, which was donated this past holiday. 

This is a square for Love  Quilts USA for a boy who loves football-what else!

Harry Potter

These last two are squares for the theme, What Are Little Boys Made Of? 

Ballerina Quilt for Carolyn

This is the Ballerina I stitched for the Ballerina Quilt for my Yahoo group, World of Charity Stitching.  This chart was a free chart from the DMC Club.  It had some small ballerinas also, so I stitched a small one for a card.  

This quilt is a special request quilt made by one of our members, for a little girl, Carolyn, age 4, who has cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy.

This is the quilt top I put together for Carolyn's Ballerina Quilt. The quilt and matching pillow was delivered by one of our members, Mary.  Carolyn's mom, Kathryn, said, "Carolyn loves this quilt and pillow.  Both are on her bed.  Thank you so much for the kind gift."