Stitches for Presents

Latest Charity Update and Appeal

2009-08-18T13:05:00.003+01:00

Some wonderful news from Yvonne who's running the "Care Cloth Project" for us now: Yvonne was able to take 28 care cloth kits to St Martins in Norwich last week along with 20 large bars of soap; these were very well received and much appreciated. Here is the thank you email she received from St Martin's:
"...on behalf of our Trustees and our service users thank-you so much for your donation of toiletries.
I understand thanks must also go to the congregation of St. Marys Church Attleborough (who have been generous to us in the past) and to the Stitches for Presents Charity Group.
You may be assured that the packs will be distributed to those in need – this includes people who our rough sleepers team come into contact with. We are sure they will be much appreciated.
We do think it rather a clever idea and we wish you well with your charitable endeavours."

However, Yvonne is now very low on "ingredients" for making up the next batch of care cloths which she intends to deliver in November. She especially needs combs, razors and toothbrushes, as well as sewn-up flannels. So if you have the opportunity to pop round your local Pound-Shop for some cheap supplies, or you have brought some more of the mini toiletries from your recent summer holidays, please mail them to her as soon as possible!

And finally, while we are on the note of appeals, please don't forget that Christmas card sale will have to start in October, so please make sure you get your cards to me and finished artwork for mounting to Sandra Martin in good time!

Many thanks to all of you for your continued support!

A Welcome and an Appeal - how to recycle cards and our preferred card sizes

2009-02-23T20:07:00.007Z

Welcome to our new Distributor/Stash Organiser

Some good news today: we have a new Distributor/Stash Organiser - a big heartfelt welcome to Karen Burton!!! Thanks, Karen, for offering to take up this post, and I hope you will enjoy it.

Meanwhile, any members who get kits or materials sent from our Distributor: if you are about to run out of work to do please send off quickly to Sarah, so that she can send you some more goodies before starting to pack up, as it might take a little while for Karen to get set up... After that, please watch out for Karen's address in the next newsletter for your future reference.

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Collecting and sending cards for recycling

We have also had some news from our Finisher and Recycler, Sandra, who would like to let you all know that she now has more than enough Christmas cards to work on this year. So if you have collected Christmas cards and not yet sent them to her, hold your horses and save the money -- and why not give it a go yourself instead? Making recycle cards is really good fun and you can be totally creative with it!

However, she has also mentioned the fact that she really could do with more cards/calendar pictures etc suitable for making recycle birthday/occasions cards. So if you have any birthday, wedding, anniversary, new baby etc cards hanging around that you do not wish to keep, please send them to Sandra. You could also ask around your friends, family, church, clubs etc and see if you can gather some there.

To save you money, cut off the back half of the card - we can only use the front with the picture on; you might also want to think about whether the design on the card lends itself to recycling. Generally, cards with jokes and those who need text that spreads over more than the card front don't work very well, and neither do very big designs.

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Our preferred card formats

And finally a little appeal from myself as the person getting things ready for sales: PLEASE, all of you who finish your own projects off into cards, could you please stick with standard sizes! We do very much appreciate all your great work, and I always have good fun looking at the fantastic designs when I'm packing and pricing. However, I have recently been getting a lot of cards with odd measurements and for those I cannot find suitable envelopes. All I can do is use the next larger size envelope and it just does not look right in the package - and as a result, it is my experience, they mostly do not sell and get left behind. I do understand that you are all trying to use up your offcuts (I do that, too, of course) but it would be much better for us if you could cut them down to the next smaller standard size and work to that format.

Standard sizes are:
A6 = 10 x 15 cm (or to fit envelope size 11.5 x 16.25cm)
A5 = 15 x 21 cm (or to fit envelope size 16.5 x 23 cm)
DL = 10 x 21 cm (or to fit envelope size 11 x 22 cm)
These are the envelopes that can be bought easily and cheaply from local shops.
We also have some craft envelopes which are
9.5 x 12 cm (small, like for the aperture cards that sometimes come with cross stitch mags) and
15 cm square. These we need to order - they are more expensive, plus the postage. Same goes for the polybags to present them in.

So please if you could, stick mainly with the standard sizes, and perhaps the craft envelope sizes, but try to refrain from making cards in totally odd measurements. If of course you complete your own cards ready to sell, i.e. with matching envelopes and each in a suitable bag, then just ignore all this waffle and do anything you like !!

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING!!!

Featured Project: Christmas Wreath

2009-02-12T17:46:00.003Z

This lovely Knitted Christmas Wreath was made by Helen Dickman in Scotland for SfP Christmas sales, and I liked it so much because it is so different and beautiful, so I've asked Helen to share the instructions with us - see below.

Materials required:
- 25 gr ball dark green double knit yarn
- 5 metres of knitting lace (Helen has used white/gold here but says green looks even better!)
- 4.00 mm knitting needles
- toy stuffing
- beads to sew into the lace
- ribbon and any suitable decoration for the top

Measurement: approx. 18 cm (7")

Cast on 68 sts and knit 3 rows.
Next row: work in lace. **
Work these 4 rows until 5 rows of lace have been completed.
Knit 3 rows.
Cast off.

Sew up seam; filling the wreath with stuffing as you go, then join up into a circle.
Sew on trimmings.

**When knitting with slotted lace, work as follows:
on wrong-side row, place lace at back of work, insert needle through next stitch on left-hand needle and through next hole in centre of lace and complete the stitch. Continue working each stitch and eyelet of lace in this way to end of row, then cut off lace.

We hope that all you knitters in the group will have a go at this - for your own decorations, and maybe for SfP, too... Have fun!!!

Welcome to our new Care Cloths Coordinator, and a new charity

2008-12-09T14:40:00.002Z

I would like to send out a REALLY BIG Thank You to Yvonne, who has agreed to take on the Care Cloths. She has found a charity in her area (Norwich) which would love to be the recipient of the care cloths, and we’re all set up to begin stitching them again. The charity, which will be benefitting from our work, is a night shelter in Norwich, called St Martin’s. The website, for those who would like to check it out, is www.stmartinshousing.org.uk

On that note, please can we begin collecting toiletries again? The call goes out for any small toiletries, such as you get in hotels, and on airplanes. Soap, shampoo, hand/body lotion, toothpaste, toothbrushes, combs, safety razors, etc… are all needed, as well as the actual cloths themselves (face flannels). We probably all remember how to make these up, but if you don’t, or didn’t try last time but would like to this time, please have a look at the instructions on this blog (find the "Previous Posts" header in the column at the right and there you will find a post called "Care Cloth Instructions"). Please note that you are NOT required to fill the care cloths if you can’t. Obviously that would be great, but if it’s not possible, then simply making them up is perfectly fine.

We already have a number of face flannels that simply need sewing up properly, so if anybody would like some sending, please contact either Petra or Karen, and we’ll send some out to you after Christmas (when the Post Office isn’t so busy!). The care cloths are REALLY simple to do, and the homeless people that receive them always do so gratefully, so please think about giving it a go. Even making up just a few a month makes a big difference. And all and any donations of toiletries are a very big help too, so anything you can find (or acquire!) will be wonderful. It is also a good idea to spread the appeal to your family and friends, maybe some clubs you know, the church you go to etc… A lot of people have whole collections of the mini toiletries from holidays and never use them but don’t want to throw them away (and can’t resist bringing home more every time…).

News from SfP

2008-11-20T17:43:00.002Z

Sorry for the long silence here - something to do with my health and changing lifestyle etc. Anybody who wants to have the full story on that please visit my private blog and page down to the entry of July 31st, 2008 which explains it all at length... (There is a link on the right side of this page: look under "Other Links" and choose the 2nd link there.) Finally, I'm back getting stuck into SfP business again after laying low for so long! And here are two bits of important news straight away:

Christmas Cards Needed Urgently
We are awfully short of Christmas cards this years, and the ones we have are almost all recycled ones. Has nobody made 3D, stitching cards etc this year? If you did and have forgotten to send them, it's still time to do so if you hurry. Please send them straight to me at the Woodlands address. Thanks a bunch!!!

New Distributor/Stash Keeper Needed
After several years of faithfully doing our kit distributions for us, Sarah wants to step down owing to the workload of her new job/training. Big thanks to Sarah for all the great work and support over the many years she's been with us. Sarah will still be a member of the group but just a lot more in the background...
So, we desperately need another person who has room for a couple of boxes full of goodies and some time to put together little kits for our regular members. Most of our members have gone independent by now, using their own materials, but some are still relying on being sent kits - which is absolutely fine, except we need somebody to do it! Apart from keeping the stash and preparing and sending the little kits it also entails keeping in touch with Karen and Sandra to help update the database of what's floating about with our members or in the postal system... Not as big a job as it used to be some years ago but still a very important one! So if it is something you could do, please come forward!!! Again, thanks a lot.

Wishing you all a pleasant and peaceful advent season!
Happy stitching and crafting,
Petra

Finally: My "Shop" is open

2007-08-14T12:13:00.000+01:00

Good news today. After a lot of work and long struggling with the technical side of things, I've finally got my little "shop" on line. No, I'm not going into business - this is just a larger version of the few albums of sales stuff I used to feature on my Picturetrail, and it features only things I'm selling off out of my stash - mainly craft materials and some other bits and bobs like my collection of cross pendants, some other collector's items, a few books etc.,

And the important part for SfP: I'm also using it to sell some Needlecrafts materials - kits as well as fabric, threads and other bits - and handcrafted items on behalf of SfP for our kitty/donations.

You are all very welcome to pop round for a look, and more importantly, please think of this site when you need to buy some materials. I might just have on there what you are looking for!

I have to admit that I'm using a free webshop programme and it's not fantastic - for example it doesn't have a tare weight feature, which means you need to add the packaging material yourself - and please don't forget it because orders without packaging will have wrong shipping added! So, there is a welcome and introduction on the homepage - please read it, which asks you to read the Terms&Conditions - so please read them, too, before shopping. Then you can go shopping like in any other webshop: put stuff in your basket, sign in/register, pay and wait for your goodies... (You can pay via Paypal, personal cheque or UK Postal Order; overseas via Paypal only).

I hope this will be a great improvement for me to sell the lots of goodies I have accummulated and don't really use, and as well as for your "shopping experience" with me. Everything has a photo and a description, so you'll know better what you are getting.

I'm still in the process of adding more things, and will probably from time to time go through my stash to clear out things that haven't been used, so do come again once in a while.

And here, after all my babble, is the link: phcrafts.plus.com (just click on it or enter into your addy line without www. at the front!). I'll also add this link to the link bar at the right of this blog in case you wish to find the site again in the future...

I hope to see some of you as my "customers" in the shop soon...

Love, Petra

Some new requests and some reminders

2007-07-23T12:58:00.000+01:00

1. Who does what at the moment - sending goodies to right people:
Everybody please remember to send things to the right people! Also, it would help to keep our cost down enormously if people who send a variety of things (i.e. finished items, artwork for finishing, loose materials etc) could separate them and send the bits to the respective people. I know it's a bit more work for you but it really would help us - we've been spending a lot in postage recently. Here's a list:
Send to Sarah McKinnon:
all stitching materials (aida, evenweave, cottons, tapestry wools, canvas, plastic canvas, kits, patterns, beads etc) including leftovers and patterns of the kits she's sent you for stitching
Send to Sandra Martin:
all items for finishings (completed artwork to be made into cards etc; card blanks, cardstock, papers, ribbons, stickers or any other items useful for making up cards etc);
also card fronts for recycling cards, and fronts of handmade cards you've received for making into new cards (if you don't want to do that yourself)
Send to Petra Hudson:
all finished items for sales or gifts to charities (using Woodlands address);
also cheques for items you've sold yourself for the benefit of SfP (using Treffelin address);
also at the moment still all goodies for the FARA Christmas Parcels (= all knitted goodies plus any stitched items particularly suitable for children of all ages) - please note deadline for goodies arriving here (Woodlands address!) for this year's parcel is the 15th of September; after that please watch out for potential new address.
also at the moment still all goodies for, as well as finished, Care Cloths (Woodlands address, but watch out for potential new address in the future).

2. Message to all crafters of 3D decoupage cards:
Since the introduction of the new posting scheme in Britain by size and thickness, I found that the very thick 3D cards have drastically dropped in popularity. Could all 3D crafters please adjust the thickness of their work to only 3 layers (if using sticky pads) or 4 layers (if using silicon). This still looks lovely and cards then fit through the slit for standard letters. Thank you.

3. How you could help us further to keep down both cost and time:
It is a wonderful improvement that a lot of you have chosen to try and finish off their own stitched or 3D work into cards, as well as donating cards they made in other techniques - this has greatly improved our variety, too! If you would like to further help SfP become more efficient and be able to give more to our different charities, would you please consider to get them ready for sale (i.e. put each in a plastic pocket together with an envelope of a suitable size). A few people have already been doing that and it makes a lot of difference! This is NOT a MUST but it would help... Thank you.

4. Farming out more of the jobs that need doing around SfP - IMPORTANT:
Ideally, we are looking for two more helpers for quite specific tasks: a FARA Christmas Parcel Coordinator and a Care Cloth Coordinator. The reasons for wanting to farm these out are explained below, along with the requirements for the two helpers. Neither is very much work but both require a bit of storage and the relevant charity to be reasonably near you. If you find that you would be able to do one or the other, we would be most grateful!!!
Reasons and Requirements FCPC:
Unfortunately, my husband's business is taking up more and more room in our house and SfP has to make way. Currently, I have 2 big boxes sitting in the passageway upstairs because the cupboard where I used to collect these things is now full of laptop parts... These two boxes will be given to FARA in September, so not too long to go. However, next year's collection I would rather not have in our house again as it really is causing a problem.
The FCPC does not have a lot of work to do but needs room to collect items for at least 2 big boxes over a year. We now have a lot of knitters within SfP and their work was very well received by the FARA children and the families they look after outside St Nicolas as well. This includes scarves, hats and gloves for children of all ages; baby garments and cot blankets; and lots of lovely soft toys - it is a bit voluminous... These items are being sent by the knitters as they get them finished or in small batches and need to be collected and stored safely until September each year. The FCPC would have to acknowledge receipt with a little thank you by email or occasionally by postcard (2 knitters don't have email) and inform Karen and myself regularly about who's been in touch. That's all except for once a year finishing off the parcels and delivering them to the nearest FARA shop (which means it is essential that you have a FARA shop somewhere not too far away, as postage would be way too high for us!).
This change would be effective from about mid-September when I need to finish off this year's boxes for FARA and any new goodies would then have to be send to the new helper.
Reasons and Requirements CCC:
With the move of the former THP Chairman Barbara Mudd away from this area, our contacts with THP have sadly dried up. I have not had any acknowledgement for our last donation of several bags full of Care Cloths despite pressing more than once (I know they've got them but we have nothing in writing), and have not heard back on my question whether there is interest for further cooperation, which I therefore take to be no. I'm sure there are other similar places for homeless people near here as well as elsewhere - it seems a good point in time to consider moving this part of SfP to another area, too (particularly seeing that we already give goody donations to 3 other charities in my area here).
The CCC would need to have room for the equivalent of one big box full of goodies (although it's easier to keep the different parts in small boxes or bags); some time to regularly assemble and deliver Care Cloths; and a homeless place near enough to do that without hassle. This place should be willing to acknowledge receipt with a short letter or email, and respond to contact.
We have a whole lot of SfP members who regularly contribute to the Care Cloth project by sending either finished Care Cloth bundles; sewn-up Care Cloth flannels; or goodies for filling. These need to be stored and made into Care Cloths reasonably regularly. Again, the CCC would have to acknowledge receipt of each package with a little thank you (this is almost always by email) and keep Karen and myself informed about who's been in touch, as well as about any donations made to the charity.

5. Urgent Material Appeal:
Sarah has informed me that we have totally run out of white aida, so if anybody has white aida of any size (from smallish leftovers to proper sheets) that they could spare, please send them to Sarah McKinnon.
Sandra, who is now our Finisher, could do with card blanks of all sizes, colours, styles... Again, if you have any you are unlikely to use yourself, why not consider donating them to SfP. Please send directly to Sandra.

6. Additional Sales Stations:
I was also wondering if anybody other than myself would be able to help with the sales of mainly cards,and occasionally a few other goodies such a bookmarks. I found that there are three methods that work:
- regular stalls run by yourself (mine is at church but other regular meetings, i.e. Clubs, might also be suitable)
- card parties (at your home or a friend's home, inviting a group of friends for chat, a drink and browsing the cards - ask them to bring a list of upcoming birthdays...)
- if you have connections to a "friendly little shop", hairdressers or similar they might agree to put up a small box of cards on their counter and keep the money to one side for you
If anybody would like to research possibilities in their area and give this a try, I would be able to supply a copy of the price list, table top sign or even part of our portfolio if required, as well as a guideline for pricing the cards.

7. Recent Donations:
Just a quick update on our recent givings:
- A big box of fabrics has gone to The White Lodge following their wanted ad on the local Freecycle list. These were fabrics collected by SfP from donations over a long time as well as more recently and they will now be used in craft work with the disabled people at the Lodge. We felt that this was still a way of making use of them in the sense that was intended and never happened within SfP due to the lack of a "soft finisher". The White Lodge have responded with a little email thanking us for the continued support.
- A biggish box of cards and goodies is ready for the Hearing Dogs for the Deaf, who always sell our things with great success through their local fair stalls. This is awaiting pickup.
- A smaller box is also waiting to be delivered to The Anaphylaxis Campaign, the next time I get to Farnborough. TAC sell our cards via a stand in their office where they are a hit with staff, people calling, and also people from other offices in the building/neighbourhood who've heard of them! We give them a box about once a year and they are always thrilled with it (I usually use this box to sort out cards that have been hanging in our sales stock for a long time...).
- The next financial donation will be to the Dorset + Somerset Air Ambulance but I've had to put this on hold for the moment due to low funds because of increased spending on postage and lower sales activities on my side (sorry - having a very busy year).

Interesting Charity Link

2007-04-18T18:25:00.000+01:00

Here's an interesting charity link that was brought to our attention by our member Margaret R. and I think this is a really good idea! Have a look, ladies, and keep it in mind (I'll put a link in the sidebar here for later reference!).
http://www.breasttalk.co.uk/bra%2Dappeal/

Books for Sale for SfP

2007-02-28T14:50:00.000Z

The donation also contained two books:

Making Gifts in Counted Cross Stitch: Project Ideas and over 100 Charted Designs; by Jana Hauschild Lindberg
Your Home in Cross Stitch, by Barbara Thomson and Anne Green (unusual indoor and outdoor designs)

£2 each plus actual postage.
Contact me if you are interested!

Magazines to sell for SfP

2007-02-28T14:30:00.000Z

I've had another donation of magazines and thought I'd first publish them here: they are all selling for SfP funds, at 50p a piece plus actual postage. They are all in top condition (except one dog ear I made - apologies...).

Please note that there are some really interesting ones that I'd never seen before - they are from Australia and have a lot of unsual designs in them, like flora, fauna and scenery of Australia, along with some more standard designs. So if you are fed up with ever the same themes in similar versions - here's something refreshingly different! Also, they are thinner than the regular magazines because they contain only the patterns with pictures and instructions, but no advertisements, puzzles, articles etc - therefore postage will be a lot cheaper on those, than for regular mags... I would really recommend them (couldn't resist buying some for myself, too!). There are 17 different ones left but I'm happy to sell them singly or in lots, or the whole pack. If you need details of issue numbers to check against previous collections, let me know...

There are also:
Needlecrafts summer 2002 Issue 141
Needlecrafts March 2001 Issue 123
Celebrations April 1996
Cross Stitch Burda Special Vol 2 No 3 12/94
Cross Stitch Magic No1

Cross stitcher
June 2002 issue 122
February 2002 issue 118
October 2002 issue 126
September 2002 issue 125
April 2002 issue 120
August 2002 issue 124
July 2001 issue 110

Cross Stitch Collection
February 2002 issue 75
June 2002
September 2002
May 2002
April 2002

Care Cloth Instructions

2007-01-19T16:40:00.000Z

This idea was brought to us about two years ago by our member Helen in Scotland, who found it in a book called “Creative Kindness” and over this time we've been able to make about 200 of them already, all of which have gone to and been much appreciated by the people benefiting from THP (the Thames Homeless Project in Walton-on-Thames).
Very simply, a Care Cloth is a “plain washcloth… folded to form a pouch that… can be filled with sample toiletries like soap, toothpaste, shampoo and razors”. These are extremely simple to make, and they take very little time indeed. A sewing machine would be useful when making the Care Cloths, but is not really a necessity, if you are a neat stitcher! In addition to being easy to make, they are also very cheap – one face cloth (which come in packets in most “Pound Shops”), and a length of ribbon. Oh, and a few toiletries, if you can – but even just empty sewn Care Cloths are welcome and we will fill them up…. And here's how to make them:

Materials:
- One standard Washcloth
- 20” (51 cm) length of ¼” (0.6 cm) washable satin ribbon (colour-coordinated with cloth)
- Matching all purpose thread
- Basic personal hygiene items (toothbrush & paste, soap, comb, shampoo…)
- Basic equipment (needle, pins, scissors, fabric pen, sewing machine if possible…)

Step 1:
- Carefully remove manufacturer’s tag from the washcloth
- Turn up lower edge of the washcloth 4” (10 cm) and finger-press
- Pin along both sides, and the top edge, to prevent pocket from shifting

Step 2:
- Fold ribbon in half, insert and pin fold in right side seam 3 ½” (9cm) from lower edge, sandwiching ribbon between washcloth layers
- Using fabric pen, mark three pocket stitching lines from lower edge to fold

Step 3:
- Set up sewing machine for straight stitches (10-12 stitches per inch)
- Stitch sides, catching ribbon in right side seam. For durability, back-stitch at both ends of all lines of stitching
- Stitch along the three marked lines, to form 4 pockets
- Remove the pins

Step 4:
- Fill the pockets with basic personal hygiene items
- Roll or fold caddy from left to right, wrap the ribbon around, and tie.

Please send your finished Care Cloths, filled or unfilled, to Petra.

Christmas Greetings from Domnica and a Happy New Year from Me

2007-01-14T16:50:00.000Z

I have to apologise for the long silence which wasn't at all how things were supposed to work out with this blog, but with the preparations for Christmas and Sophie's visit (you can read about who Sophie is on my other blog) and then first me and then my computer being "ill", I just didn't get around to sending greetings any earlier. They are still heart-felt and so I'm wishing you all a very happy and blessed 2007!!!

I would also like to thank all our members who send me Christmas cards - there were very many this year and they really cheered me up (I hope you'll understand that I cannot send Christmas cards to everybody in the group...) - so, a BIG THANK YOU to you all.

There was also one card that I would like to share with you all because really it wasn't so much for me as for the whole group: from Domnica, our sponsor child in Romania. She made it all herself and the inside reads "Thank You and Merry Christmas, with love, Domnica".

URGENT – SfP is looking for Finishers

2006-11-08T14:29:00.000Z

Due to other commitments our present “Finisher” Jean is stepping down from her post. She has been doing a wonderful job for us for quite a few years now, and we will be very sorry to see her go. Jean will be staying with the group, but no longer be able to do the finishing job.

On this occasion, we have decided to restructure the Finisher’s post to better suit our needs, which have evolved over the last years, too. We are now looking for TWO to THREE people to share the different parts of this job.

1. Mounting
This will be the bulk of the finishing for stitched projects. The majority of pieces will have to be made into cards, with the odd piece of mounting into frames, coasters, fridge magnets etc. Due to the fact that we very rarely get donations of three-panel cards that simply require sticking the stitched piece inside and closing, the card finishing needs to be a bit on the creative side. Cards will have to be cut and folded from card stock; stitching fringed to be mounted as a topper on or amongst layers/items of decoration. A considerable stash of cardstock, glue tape, backing papers, ribbons, stickers, sequins, jewels and other items will have to be held by the Mounting Finisher, and she will have to use her creative sense and a bit of extra time to make pleasing interesting cards from the stitched pieces. A sheet of examples can be made available.

2. Hand Sewing
There are certain things that need hand-sewing to finish, particularly bookmarks (of which we would like to see more) and lavender sachets, and occasionally other items such as stuffed Christmas tree decorations. There is a limited but steady supply of all these things. A reasonably big box of finishing items such as felt and other materials, padding, ribbons and laces will have to be held by the hand sewing finisher.

3. Machine Sewing
We could really do with a third person to handle our needs for larger sewing pieces. This includes regularly sewing Care Cloths (instructions provided); finishing off our one or two round robins per year, which are usually cushion pads or wall hangings; and if possible occasionally sewing a variety of items such as drawstring bags, spectacle cases, toiletry bags etc, to be sent to the hand sewing finisher for adding stitched patches and borders onto them. A box of fabrics will be provided and flannels for the care cloths will come in occasionally (these should be attended to fairly quickly). A sewing machine can possibly be provided to somebody with machine sewing experience (if the logistics can be solved).

IMPORTANT

All Finishers commit to using the stash provided exclusively for SfP items and to handle the incoming projects in a timely manner, especially where seasonal occasions are concerned (Christmas items should largely be with Petra by October, all other occasions preferably 6 weeks beforehand to facilitate sales).

If you feel that you could take on one or more of these jobs for a reasonably long period of time, please contact me via comments or on my email and we can discuss the ins and outs.

SfP Ongoing Appeals

2006-11-08T14:27:00.000Z

IF YOU HAVE ANY OF THESE TO DONATE TO SFP WE WOULD BE MOST APPRECIATIVE

1. Care Cloths for the Thames Homeless Project
We need a constant supply of good-sized flannels to make the covers, and of all sorts of fillings.
Flannels: if you choose to buy flannels for us, would you consider sewing them, too? It is easy sewing (straight lines only), although best done with a sewing machine to save time. Apart from the flannel and thread you need approx 25” of ribbon or elastic per cloth. You can ask for instructions from Karen.
Fillings: each care cloth should contain – a toothbrush and toothpaste (preferably small tubes); a plastic comb; a small packet of shampoo; a small cake of soap; plus a razor for men and some body lotion or hand cream for women. Other items such as small packets of conditioner, shower gel, after-shave etc are welcome, too, as extras. Please make sure that all bottles are closed properly when sending!
Please send all Care Cloth items to Petra.

2. Recycling Cards
Sandra has been doing a wonderful job in making lots of recycling cards for us, which we can sell as a cheaper option alongside the more expensive stitched and elaborately crafted cards. While she is donating all the card stock, glue and extra items used, she needs a constant supply of old greeting cards to cut toppers from. These can be for any occasion from Christmas and birthday to weddings, sympathy, christening etc… Remember that she only needs the front with the picture, so to save on postage, do cut off the part with the writing. Also please remember that for Christmas, we only have an audience for religious and traditional type motifs.
Please send your recycling cards to Sandra.

3. Framing and Crafts Materials for Finishing
Any bits and bobs from cards and envelopes to haberdashery items, stickers etc and framing items like coasters, small frames, fridge magnets etc that you won’t use up yourself can find a happy home and good use with SfP.
Please send finishing and decorative items to the Finisher.

4. Needlecrafts Materials
If you have leftover or unwanted needlecrafts items, please do share them with SfP – we can use kits, threads and materials for every kind of needlecraft. Bigger project kits that have not been started can be sold complete for the benefit of our charities; started projects that you are fed up with can be finished; and leftover materials and threads can be used up by our regular members in small projects.
Please send stash items to Sarah and sales items to Petra.

5. Finished Items
Please read the “Rules & Regs” post if you are unsure what topics or particular designs to choose for your crafts. Note that following our recent findings of what sells and doesn’t sell we have decided to stay with small items – that is card-size. Cards of any type of craft do by far constitute the largest part of our needs! If you are finishing stitching yourself, consider making them into cards, preferably with a greeting and a little embellishment aside the stitching. Bookmarks, fridge magnets and Christmas tree ornaments also do well.
Please send your finished items to Petra; stitched items that need finishing to the Finisher.

6. Knitting and Crochet
We also collect throughout the year for a big parcel to Romania (via FARA) and a smaller one to Martin House with Christmas presents. Ages catered for are baby to grown-up teenager! Shawls, hats, gloves, socks and sweaters in all sizes; baby wear and cot blankets; as well as stuffed toys and finger puppets are very welcome (or anything else suitable for presents to the a.m. age group).
Please send these items to Petra.

Some Rules & Regs

2006-11-08T14:25:00.000Z

SOME RULES AND REGS REGARDING YOUR DONATIONS AND STITCHED WORK – ALWAYS WORTH REMEMBERING!!!

The Post…
Please, please, please, take your parcels to the Post Office to make sure you put the correct postage on. And most definitely put a return address on the outside of the parcel, and get a certificate of posting!!! Here is a little example from Karen, our secretary, on why this is so important: “Over the last month, the office where I work has been getting mail returned “address incomplete”, “address not known” etc in abundance. The addresses have been checked with Royal Mail itself, and we have been advised that there is nothing wrong with the addresses.” So if there was no return address… Bye-bye to all of your lovely hard work, as undeliverable mail gets incinerated!!! At least, if you have a Certificate of Posting we can claim for compensation, which then benefits our charities… So, please be VERY careful and apply these rules diligently!!!

For Regular members
Please return the CHARTS TOGETHER with the PICTURE so that we can use them again!

For Independent members
It’s great that you use your own materials, but we have LOTS of charts… Feel free to ask Sarah for some, then you can be certain that you are stitching what we need without having to look around…

Seasonal Crafts

Please remember that Christmas sales start in October, and that sales for other seasonal occasions need to begin about 6 weeks beforehand. If you are not finishing yourself, consider the extra time needed for the double mailing (to the Finisher, then to Petra) and for the fact that the Finisher may not be able to attend to incoming pieces on the spot…

Super Quick Review of designs and projects needed

Things that sell:
1) at least 2x2" size with enough detail to make them easily recognisable
2) whole scenes rather than bits and bobs i.e. a whole cricketer rather than just a "bat and ball"
3) eye-catching designs use metallic threads, beads, wiggle eyes, sequins, buttons etc within the stitching or when finishing the cards
4) cards with writing - greetings stitched beside the motif or sayings, poems etc as main feature
5) cards for more unusual occasions - Sympathy, Christening, New Home, round birthdays, anniversaries etc, as well as the usual special occasions like wedding and new baby.
6) bookmarks of any description, but particularly with religious context; also “cross in a pocket” items.

Things that don’t sell:
1) motifs that are hard to distinguish what they are, usually whole stitch designs, often without backstitch
2) mini motifs, depending on the above
3) dressed up animals and teddies of general description (special critters like Disney, Peter Rabbit etc are okay)

Some people are not happy with doing more complex stitches than whole cross stitches, and so may be a little put off by our request for less of those types. If that is the case, have you tried simple geometric patters, which can be used for bookmarks, or blackwork, which isn’t as boring and colourless as it may sound? If you’d like to try things like that, but don’t have any patterns, please get in touch – we can always find a few for you to try!

Welcome to the SfP blog!!!

2006-11-04T12:58:00.000Z

I hope you'll enjoy our little forum here and that it will work better than the Yahoo group. Do feel free to look around a bit and try out all the links on the right side. You can get to the "official SfP website" (although I have to admit that it hasn't been updated for a long time) and to my personal blog (which is just as new as this one - in fact it had it's first entry today, too...). You can also get to the websites or newsletters of all the charities we are currently working with except the Oliver Tarry Trust which is so small and local that they don't even have a website. So, these links will give you a very good idea of what happens to the goodies and donations you send in, or the money we make selling them...

I shall try and post here as often as I can - our little news and greetings and whatever, to give us a more regular contact than the big newsletters which take a long time to produce. However, over the next days I'll simply post some general matters about how we work - the bits that you can usually find in the newsletters, too. They will eventually be moved into the archive section (the blogspot server does that automatically every month), so they will always be available for you under "November" (see link on the right) - so if ever you need to look anything up, feel free to go there (this is with exception of the full names and addresses of our team - you'll need to keep them somewhere safe for yourself...).

After this "basic work" the entries will get more interesting and I hope that you'll come back often to have a look at the messages and feel free to use the comments feature to leave your own thoughts and reactions on any of them (just click the link underneath the message and type away). I would also much appreciate if anybody reading this first message could comment on it, either here on the blog or via the usual email and let me know what you think about it and what you hope/expect to see on here in the future.

Thanks for your continued support!!!
Petra

2006-11-03T23:38:00.000Z