Kid's Company Charity Bike Ride

Please scroll down for my more recent posts but please read this first and consider helping us.

This post will stay at the top of my blog until the Charity bike ride is completed on 20th August. Thanks so much.
Sue
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I don’t know if you’re aware of the work that Kids Company do, but their focus is on helping vulnerable children who can find themselves in all sorts of horrible situations through no fault of their own.
The Kid’s Company website explains what they do far better than I ever could so please pop along and read about all the good work they do for these children but naturally their work costs money and they are always looking for way to raise the 9 million pounds their website says they need this year.

As part of the fundraising, two fab guys, Dom Wright and Dom O’Neill set out on Friday 29th July to undertake a mammoth cycle ride from Land’s End to John O’Groats and they are looking for sponsors.
If you feel you can help by adding your name to their list of sponsors your donation would be gratefully received and I thank you in advance for your support.
Check out their blog for all you need to know to sponsor them and read about their progress.

Thanks once again for your help………..
and rather you than me boys, my legs (and other bits) ache just thinking about what you’re doing!

Baby, It’s Cold Outside!

So what do you think to this weather we’re having?

I love the snow because it makes everything look pretty, but only when I don’t have to go out in it!

Actually, that’s not initially true because I love to walk in soft snow but I’m not the steadiest on my feet at the best of times so I try to avoid walking in it as much as possible.

BoJangles didn’t want to go out in it either this morning and is curled up in front of the radiator as I type. Mind you, that may have something to do with him feeling sorry for himself. He had to have an emergency trip to the vets last night because an abscess in his ear burst after having a ruck with another cat….the smell from his ear was disgusting.
They couldn’t do much because it was obviously very painful for him, so two injections, a tablet and a bill for £50 odd later we came back home armed with antibiotics to be given every night. He’s a bit better today but has to go back on Friday to have it cleaned up because he wouldn’t let them do it yesterday……..that should be fun!

Now then, it’s Wednesday so that means taking a photo of what’s on my desk at the moment.

It’s been so long since I’ve been able to stitch but over the last few weeks I’ve been working on a couple of panels for our Kid’s Company cushion project I stitch for. This morning I decided to get the iron out to run it over the finished panels before sending them out to Nicki to be made into fabulous cushions for the kids. I had second thoughts about getting the ironing board out though, just incase I was tempted into doing the rest of my ironing.

So on my craft table today you can see a big fluffy bath towel, the iron and the two panels.

Well, you’ve seen what I’ve been up to this morning, so why not take a picture of what’s on your work desk and pop over to Julie’s Blog and leave a message so we can all come and have a nosey.

While I’m talking about stitching I’ll show you a few other bits I finished earlier last year.

As soon as I saw the chart for this in one of the stitching magazines I knew I had to stitch it as a birthday present for Nicki, especially as she’s spent an awful lot of time in the sewing room making up the 235 cushions she’s put together for the project so far. I changed the colour of the background to match her walls and added the Daisy panel because she has one hanging down the side of one of her cupboards.

Here’s another project I knew I had to stitch as soon as I saw it, this time for my friend Sharon’s birthday. She has a love for Santorini, in Greece, so this was perfect for her.

Now onto a few of the other cushion panels for Kids Company that I've stitched recently.



Well, thanks for stopping by on this cold and snowy Wednesday afternoon.

Sue
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Thanks for your support Sew and So!

Well, my Kid’s Company update today has to begin with an enormous Thank You.

When I was placing an order recently with Sew and So, the on line needle craft store where I obtain most of my needlework materials, I cheekily dropped them an email asking if they might have any off cuts of fabric that they would consider donating to our project.

A reply came back from Dan Hall the Managing Director saying that he loved what we were doing and would be only too happy to sort out some fabric and threads for us, which was great.


So I eagerly awaited the parcel arriving on Monday.

Now bearing in mind that I had asked for off cuts, you can imagine my surprise when a Parcel Force lorry turned up with this enormous box.



Even the delivery guy was laughing as we both struggled to get it through my front door in into my narrow hallway.

On opening the box my eyes were greeted to the sight on more than 28 meters of various fabrics, some of them un-opened bales and in the region of 200 mixed skeins of DCM threads.
And then, as if that wasn’t enough Dan had also put in two amazing trolley bags which I’ve seen on a web site selling for more than £40 each, because he thought they would be useful to Nicki and I for moving are stuff around.
How how generous is that!
Needless to say I got straight on the phone and thanked his personally.

The support from Dan and his team has been unbelievable and I know that the children will greatly benefit from their kind generosity.

ENOURMOUS THANKS DAN
Can I also just say that if you’re into needlecraft in any way, shape or form please give Sew and So a visit.
They offer a wide range of stock with super fast delivery and a customer service that’s second to none!


Now on to my latest efforts, made to look beautiful by the fabulous Nicki and some more lovely feed back which is always nice to receive.

Dear Nicki,
I write this to you with my eyes full of tears of joy.

I soooooooooo LOVED your cushions, Nicki, they are just amazing. I could feel your deep care and love in every stitch.
I don't know how I will be able to give it to them without breaking down in tears....
and-as if your generosity wasn't enough- the little lavander pouch for me is just so sweet!!!!

I thank my life to have attracted people like you. My words cannot translate my feelings, so I leave it to you to imagine it, maybe in silent appreciation of your lovely, special Self.

Please send my heartfelt THANKS to Sue in Essex.

I will keep you in the loop with feedback on how we will give the cushions to the children and anything related to the wonder-full gifts...

With deep gratitude

More Cushions:-

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.

Gifts for the Kids

It’s some time since I’ve updated you on how the cushions for the Kid’s Company charity are going and the good new is that to date Nicki has put together a grand total of 25…..how amazing is that!

Things have slowed down a little now because we are waiting for the next batch of children’s names but that doesn’t mean that we’ve stopped stitching altogether because we are still working on the embroidered / cross stitched panels in redness.

Here’s a few of the panels that I’ve stitched and the little cards that go with them.

Mermaids

Aliens

Cats

These are just the ones that I’ve personally been involved with but you should really pop over to Nicki’s site and see all the other works of art she’s created.