Charity Stitching In Full Swing

I'm sorry that this is a very, very long post but I’m pleased to report that the charity stitching I’ve been doing recently is still going well and because I haven’t told you what we’ve been up to recently I wanted to give you a (not so) quick run down.

As you may remember I, along with Nicki and her friend Ilse have been stitching panels that Nicki makes into cushions and quilts for children living in deprived circumstances and who are being supported by the London based charity Kid’s Company

Mind you, there’s not only the three of us involved, we’ve also had stitching, material, buttons, felt shapes, zips and other bits and bobs donated by the wonderful ladies from the SOLAK stitching group and the girls who hang out at the Crafts By Carolyn forum.

I must say, Nicki does a fantastic job of coordinating the whole thing from her home in Switzerland…..no mean task if you ask me!

She tells me that to date she's sewn 132 Cushions and I'm not sure how many Quilts but you can see them all for yourself on her web site if you click on the links.

These are some of the last batch of panels that I stitched and sent to Nicki to be made up.

These two Flower fairy panels are a bit sentimental in a way because they were the first pieces of counted thread work that I ever stitched. The trouble was they were just sat in the drawer of my cabinet gathering dust for many years because I didn't really know what to do with them.

Now Nicki has made them into two beautiful quilts.

The two Bunny panels were a special request, made to go some quilts that Nicki had already stitched.

I really think it’s great being able to stitch for such a worth while project like this and we never expect to get anything back in return, so when we receive feed back such as I’m about to share with you it’s the icing on the cake.

Dear Nicki,I was also hugely moved when I gave your beautiful cushions to the children. Arif and Samira are thrilled with the matching cushions as is their mother. They have thank you cards and are writing them this weekend. I will then send them to you so you can give them to your team. Samiz was completely overwhelmed when I gave her the beautiful, bright cushion with her name on it and the lovely message. She just looked at it and then after a few moments threw her arms around me and hugged me as she didn't have any words. She then said thank you very much and I just felt so touched by her pleasure. Thanks very much to you and Ilse. I can't take a photograph because of confidentiality issues as she is a therapy client but you both have really helped to give her pleasure and make her life a bit brighter and easier....Words actually feel inadequate to express the depth of this....

***

Dear Nicki and Camilla

I wanted to write to say thank you for the wonderful gift of the ‘name’ cushions Nicki made for each of the children at ******** School. It was very thoughtful of Kids Company to put forward this unique project for our school. I was in the assembly when the cushions were presented to the children, and thought you should both know the surprise and delight on the children’s faces on receiving their cushion!
I am the school art therapist, so I have a particular interest in made things – I also do quite a bit of sewing in my own time, so I know it takes a lot thought and time to sew! Through my work here, I have noticed how children treasure things made for them, keeping them for years and making sure they have a safe place to keep them. I imagine the children will find it a lovely thing, that somebody who lives in another country could think about them and make something especially for them.
With warm wishes,

***

But the thing that really brought home to me just what this project is all about was this photo. It’s not very clear I’m afraid because this little boy was right at the back of the picture and I’ve cropped it so you can see.

Just look how he’s hugging that cushion………..

It’s made me realise just how much a simple cushion can mean to a child that has very little.

So, the cushion and quilt making goes on and I’ve even started on a Christmas project for one of the schools but it all involves vast amounts of materials to keep the projects going.

We’re always on the look out for anyone who may be able help by donating anything suitable for these projects such as shaped buttons, bows, ribbons and braids, zips, shapes for applique or even a donation of money to help with postage costs from Switzerland.

I was able to raise some money to buy cushion pads recently when I came across an advert in one of the cross stitch magazines from a lady called Joan Kitchener.

She was looking for a chart that had been published in the magazine some time ago but was unable to find it anywhere. I had actually stitched the geisha she was looking for a little while back but unfortunately I no longer had the chart.

Just like my Flower Fairies she was still sitting in the drawer feeling very unloved so I emailed Joan and asked if she would be interested in buying the completed panel from me.
I asked for £25, which didn't really cover the cost of the materials let alone the amount of time it took to stitch but she was happy with the amount I asked for so now we have the money to buy 25 pads for the next batch of cushions….how fab is that!

If you feel you could help us in any way please drop either Nicki a line to nicki@leconcierge.ch or email me at s.hyde7@ntlworld.com.

Any donation would be a great help and would be gratefully received.