Craft Hope: Project 17 (Pt 1)

(I mentioned this over on my shop blog, but I think it bears mentioning here, too...please bear with me if you happen to have seen the other posts.)

Craft Hope has announced their next project, Project 17: Aprons for Haiti.  Reading through the note that was posted by Rebecca of Haiti By Hand, who will be delivering the aprons and other collected items, I really felt called to take part.  The last time I felt capable of completing something was way back at Project 12 (mentioned here and here), last summer.

We're swimming in fabric over here, but I wanted something special, so whipped out my JoAnn coupons and picked up a couple of fat quarter bundles specifically for these aprons.

I've made aprons in the past and there are a lot of awesome apron tutorials out there but, to be completely honest, I'm kind of winging it here.  Rather than assembly-line the aprons, I've been playing with the fabrics and letting each one take on it's own personality.  It takes a bit longer, but I'm really happy with the results thus far.

So far, two aprons are done, and I have two more to stitch up tomorrow, children willing.  Still playing with fabric options on the others.

Large lined pockets and a lined apron front.  Sturdy!

Longer apron skirt and *super* long ties.

Over on the Craft Hope facebook page, they've asked people to post pictures of their aprons as they finish them.  There are some neat aprons going up, and links to some great tutorials and blog posts, too.  I was really surprised (and really flattered!) to find out that one of my aprons had been featured on the Craft Gossip blog post about the donation.

I'm really excited to get more of the aprons done and see what personalities they take on as they come together.  My goal is to fill a medium sized Priority Mail box with aprons, and possibly some of the other requested donation items, by the May 31 deadline.  (That's the Craft Hope deadline, but Haiti by Hand will be accepting donations of items through June.  They also keep an up-to-date list of needed items on their home page.)

Fire Relief

Just a quick post to introduce an idea...

Texas has caught on fire, which is alarming.  And it's been a helpless feeling to catch little bits of news and see photos of places that I knew enveloped in smoke and fire.  As yet, no one I know personally has lost their home, but friends and family of friends have lost everything.

A friend put me in touch with a woman helping with relief efforts near Bastrop and I've gone to work.  (And it looks like there's some help coming from a post on one of my flickr groups - <3!)





Picked some fabric and started making necessities bags.



The idea is to stuff them with things like toothbrushes, soap, etc.  I know it won't be much in the long run, but maybe a bag of needed items, crafted with love, might brighten someone's day just a little bit.

Craft Hope Bracelets

So, we did make some bracelets for the Craft Hope project back over Memorial Day weekend.  Given that we were working with three fairly little kids, it actually went really well.

The five year old made one bracelet to keep for himself, and then decided that he'd rather do other things.  The two three year olds were all over making bracelets, though.  My niece made quite a few, all with certain friends in mind, so ended up taking all of hers home.  Bug decided that he wanted to make a few for specific people, one for himself, for me and his uncle, and the rest went into pile to mail.  So, mostly my sister and I made bracelets for Craft Hope.  The kids did seem to think it was a really neat idea though.  They asked lots of questions about "the kids who don't have stuff" and Bug wants to know who - exactly - will be getting the bracelets that he made.

We ended up with 24 to put into the mail.



We all worked on the big pony bead bracelets.



It was fun watching the little kids pick out their favorite colors and color combinations.  And trying to make nice looking bracelets with combinations of colors that the little ones weren't picking for themselves.



These smiley face beads were fun, but the holes were too little to work with the big not-sharp needles that the three year olds were using, so I ended up putting these two together after bedtime.



And I love these.  I may have to go back and make myself one or two like this with the beads that I have left.



I'm looking forward to seeing the recap at Craft Hope.  It sounds like a LOT of people have been sending in a LOT of bracelets.

Putting the Kids to Work: Craft Hope, Project #12: Orphan Outreach

Thanks to Deb over at Works In Progress, I discovered Craft Hope.

I've been looking for an organization like Craft Hope.  There are many days that I'm reminded that, as little as it feels like we have some times, as tight as our budget might be, we are SO SO SO very lucky to have the lives that we have here.  And I like the idea of being able to share...something...with someone else who might need it.  I can't donate large funds, but I can make stuff with my hands and my heart.

Enter Craft Hope.

For their Project #12, they're sending bracelets to Russian orphans.  I can make bracelets.  Bug can make bracelets.  My niece and nephew can make bracelets.

So I picked up a big bin of beads and some elastic cord (which I had, but not much of) on my way over to hang out at Mom's today.  Bug and I gave them a trial run and I think that we have a stunning Memorial Day craft. :)