CUDDLIES FOR FOSTER KIDS PROJECT FINISHED: WOW!

January 29, 2012 By

Just a few of the crafts for local foster children

We’ve got the final count!

Wow! Made with Love: Crafting for a Cause has gathered 200 stuffed toys and scarves to give to foster children! Specifically, we have 23 hats, 52 stuffed toys, and 125 scarves (split about 45/55 girls/boys). They are constructed of fleece, woven cotton, and yarn of all types (sock, eyelash, and bulky included). Decorations are of fleece, cotton, felt, embroidery, buttons, pockets, bows, fringe, tassels, and oh, so much more. What heart and creativity!  Many, many huge thank yous to all those wonderful individuals who contributed time and talent to this worthy cause. We sincerely hope that each handcrafted cuddly item eases a child’s difficult transition into foster care. 

This cat is ready to go

Secretly, we wanted to provide enough cuddlies to last a year, an ambitious goal for a first project. We are delighted to exceed that goal in cuddly cold weather gear. Even though the project is officially finished, we will continue accepting soft toys only (not scarves) for foster kids until further notice. So feel free to keep the softies coming.

Stay tuned for coming attractions

Meetings continue in February as we plan for our next project. Join us to work on your own crafts and listen to our progress in lining up our next worthwhile (and fun) craft-in. Or sign up for our RSS feed (“subscribe” at right) and we’ll let you know what opportunity comes up next.

Meanwhile, the blog will be filled up with crafty lessons learned. Tune in for a series on creative ways to make and adorn fleece scarves.

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WRAPPING UP CUDDLIES FOR FOSTER KIDS

January 18, 2012 By

We’re finishing up!

Just a quick note to say that our final two meetings for our Cuddlies for Foster Kids project will be Monday, January 23rd (7-9PM, no child care) and Wednesday, January 25th (4-6PM, child care; rescheduled from the 18th, which was canceled due to snow). Come one, come all: Join us in prettifying fleece scarves by adding trimming. No crafting skills required–if you can tie a knot, use scissors, or sew on a button, you are more than welcome.

Update on finishing up

Many thanks to those who showed up Monday to help trim scarves, and especially to Olivia (age 11) and Bergen (Age 9) for fabulous creative work!

And moving on to February…

By the way, if you’re wondering whether meetings continue after this project is finished, yes, they do. Feel free to join us at our February craft circle meetings as we plan our next project. See our meetings tab for February meeting dates.

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NEW YEARS’ MEETINGS; BEARS, BEARS, BEARS

January 2, 2012 By

January Craft Circle Meetings

After a few weeks’ hiatus for a lovely Christmas holiday, our craft circle meetings start up again Wednesday, January 4th, 4-6 PM (child care provided). Specific meeting dates are now listed monthly on our meetings page. Join us! We’re on our final month–our last push–for our Cuddlies for Foster Kids project.

Thank you, Bea, for the bears!

What a lovely bagful of bears we received from Bea! She has been industriously churning out fluffy fleece softies with crocheted scarves and hand-embroidered faces, using Salia’s care bear pattern (found on our free pattern links page for this project). We like to think about the twenty-seven foster children who will be warmed by the gift of these easy but charming toys.

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THANK YOU, SCARF LADY; FREE MONSTER SOFTIE PATTERNS

November 29, 2011 By

In this, the week after Thanksgiving, it seems appropriate to say thanks to those of you who have been working on scarves (knitted, crocheted, sewn, and tied) and small stuffed toys (yarn or fabric). And I can’t leave this topic without a special mention of our angel in Anacortes, Washington. A self-confessed yarn junkie, she dropped off a garbage bag full of scarves for our Cuddlies for Foster Kids project. Thank you, thank you! They’re beautiful. I understand she’s now moving on to make some charming stuffed bears for the foster children.

And so everybody knows:

We’re extending this project of providing foster children ages 4-17 with scarves and stuffed toys. It now goes  through January 2012. And also for your information, our last two craft circle meetings for 2011 are Wednesday, December 7th, 4-6 PM (with childcare) and Monday, December 12th, 7-9 PM (no childcare). Join us for our last two meetings before the holiday break. We will resume in January. Happy Crafting!

Free monster softie patterns

We’ve just compiled what may be the web’s most comprehensive list of free monster softie patterns and design/construction tutorials. Check it out! Available here and on our links page.

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