What a great meeting we had to kick off our 2018 Distribution. We went over many things!
We helped a grand total of 4,342 kids were helped this summer! Many thanks to all who volunteered at GCU, Childrens First Academy and Sequoia Charter School.
Emails–all year I have been asking everyone to sign in at all events we have. We have 113 active volunteers who created 38,139 items! I have emailed those who have not attended any events and asked if they wanted to remain on our event emails or added to just the distribution emails. For those who did not respond, I have deleted them from our email lists. This will allow me to email everyone at one time! Believe me that is so much better than taking 4 days to email everyone. We ended up with 210 people who wanted to stay on our emails and 62 people who wanted to receive only distribution emails. If you have a friend who tells you that they are not receiving our emails, then they did not respond to my email. Please have them email me at stitchesoflove@btscd.com and I will add them back.
Attached at the bottom of the email is a recap of what the kids likes and didn’t like. A very special thank you to all who made little boy’s dress shirts. We had about 700 shirts and had only 2 size 4 left! The guys loved those and I am so thrilled with everyone who made this possible. And yes, I will continue to make your buttonholes and add buttons. Please have the shirts finished with hemming and do not add to your inventory. When the shirts are turned in they will be added to the inventory. I have a few volunteers to help with the buttonholes/buttons and I appreciate that!! We still have a need for the larger sizes girls 14-18. I have placed a note on the likes/dislikes of conversions from Misses sizes. Please remember that we service kids from k-6th grade so we need to keep our fabric and styles in mind for this age group.
We are looking for someone to give us ideas and volunteer to lead a workshop starting in February.
October– Will’s Sharpening will be here to sharpen your scissors ($4), knives ($2), garden tools ($4), whatever you need. Please have your items in a zip lock bag with your name and cell phone number and he will sharpen them while we have our meeting. He has asked for a limit of 5 items each so he can help everyone. We will work on making Christmas ornaments for the tree we will be donating to Family Promise in honor of Jerry Wissink. You can make or purchase an ornament for the tree. We will have kits and supplies to make ornaments at the October Open House and will need the ornaments returned at the November 11 Open House. Everyone who donates an ornament will receive a raffle ticket for an AWESOME sewing table donated by Julie Zimmerman. This table has a value of $169 (according to Nancy’s Notions). So let’s fill that tree!
November– we will have a workshop on changing a simple t-shirt to a beautiful girl’s top. Our goal is to create clothing that a little girl will be proud to wear to school. We will be adapting the neckline, sleeve hem and shirt hem and adding appliques using the techniques we learned at this meeting. I don’t want to overload the attachments on this email, so if you would like our applique handout, let me know and I will email it to you.
December–we have decided to take the month off! No Thursday sew days, no work day, no Open House and no 35th Ave sew day. Please do not drop off any items at 35th Ave. Enjoy the month and make something for you or loved ones!
January–our annual appreciation luncheon from BHHS Legacy. Details to follow……
WE ARE NOT COLLECTING SCRAPS, but it was noted that if you have girl scraps please cut them into 6 inch squares and we can use these to applique the t-shirts. If you would like to safety pin them to the top of hanger when turning in a skirt, we will match a t-shirt and do the appliqueing. We will have appliques for you to take home if you would like, just ask! For boy scraps, we need a minimum of 3 inches by 8 inches to make a wallet. We have a drawer for Walt’s wallets.
We have decided to have Thursday Terrors sewing on the first and third Thursday of the month at our BTSCD center. Our first one is this Thursday 9:30-2:30.
Come for anytime you want and we do have sewing machines and sergers for you to use. We are going to work on t-shirts this week.
Have you wondered who puts away our inventory and cuts and prepares our fabric shelves? Come on the Thursday before Open House from 10-1 and help us get ready for Saturday. A special reminder email is sent so if you want to be included on the email, let me know.
Thank each one of you so much for all you do to make kids happy and ready for school!
Sandy