A disgusting misuse of crafters' big hearts for volunteering.

I was browsing a website I'd seen in a magazine that describes the activities and products of crafter organizations--people who knit, sew or craft materials that can benefit the less fortunate. I was shocked to see that one group was "helping" out the local Planned Parenthood agency--with heating pads for cramping from a chemical abortion. Wow. They just destroyed a human life so let's donate heating pads. Also little bags for personal items (probably need a lot of sanitary napkins for bleeding) and free birth control pills to take home for 14 year olds. It's the worst imitation of what churches and pregnancy centers do to help teen girls and young women get through some tough times, which includes counseling, clothing, household articles and presenting the gospel in a safe environment. 

The devil in drag pretending to be something else.

Finding fun together as a family

 Our niece Joan lives in Indianapolis.  I often see on Facebook places she's taken her class (she's a teacher) or her grandchildren, or her friends for a day of adventure, fun or crafts. Sometimes it's a farm, or a park with forest and a fishing hole, a historic site, or a craft assembly.  Here's a photo of Joan, her sister, her two daughters-in-law, and her son's girlfriend.  They all made items out of wood and painted them.  Bonding and fun! We probably have businesses like this in Columbus, but I don't know where they are.

Should Sewing Be Taught to Children? Guest blogger Sally Perkins

I learned to sew in 4-H in the 1950s (my teacher /group leader was Mrs. Bechtold and of course, Mom helped), and my children learned the basics in a required home economics class in middle school in the early 1980s.  And now?  Let's have Sally, my guest blogger, tell us.

https://www.stitchandsew.net/category/blog/

The teaching of sewing was absolutely essential for previous generations who were clothed by their own handiwork. But in today’s consumer society, where clothes are throw-away items, the art of sewing has dropped off the ‘life skills’ list. However, the last few years has seen the image of sewing transformed in the US. No longer the domain of apron-clad grandmothers, the revived craft is being taken up by younger women seeking a form of creative self-expression. And as adults are taking up the hobby, so are their children, resulting in a surge in sewing classes and boom in sewing machine sales.

What are the benefits of learning to sew?

Sewing is an expensive hobby, considering the outlay on fabric and equipment. So is it really worth it? There are obvious practical benefits of teaching a child to sew. The life-long skill will save them from costly clothing repairs and alterations in the future if they are able to hem a new pair of pants and darn a favorite sweater. But there are many more developmental benefits to be gained:

• Help improve physical dexterity - Introducing hand sewing at an early age will help develop and mature finger dexterity and fine motor skills.
• Teach discipline and patience - Learning to sew demands listening and following instructions. And once the basics are taught, a child will need to follow through a project in a careful and disciplined manner. Threading a machine, reading a pattern and cutting out fabric are all tasks that demand precision, order and patience.
• Enhance math skills - The tasks of measuring, together with the addition and subtraction skills required when piecing fabric together, all help with the development of math skills.
• Encourage creative expression - Once a child has mastered the basics, sewing offers a valuable creative outlet. Your child can select their own fabric and thread, and create their own designs be it clothing, accessories or toys. This may be of particular value to children who find it difficult to express themselves through writing and speech.
• Build self-confidence and promote self-esteem - The satisfaction of completing a sewing project from start to finish will boost your child’s self-confidence and morale.

How do you teach your child to sew?

If you are a stitcher, share your skills with your child. Start with hand-sewing using non-fray fabric such as felt, then let them explore cottons and other materials. Introduce a sewing machine when you and they are ready and eager. Consider investing in a sewing machine with child-friendly features including large dials, good speed control and automatic needle threading. You’ll also find useful books on the market outlining simple first projects.

If you aren't a stitcher, don’t despair as many craft stores offer sewing classes for children. Usually lasting an hour a week, they should provide enough direction for your child to engage in a craft that will grow their self-confidence, inspire their creativity and, at the same time, give them a practical skill for life.

So, should sewing be taught to children? The answer is a resounding ‘yes’!

Cute crafts from a very busy Mom

Lora is a book club friend, an OSU professor of music and mother of two lively boys who need some special help. At her blog she writes, "At the end of the day at our house, if no one has been to the emergency room, Children's Services has not called, my sweater wasn't on inside out at work, and we have eaten something other than poptarts and donuts for at least one meal, I call it good!" I hadn't checked her blog for awhile and see she's taken up the craft of felting--mittens, Christmas stockings, caps, birds, and really fun monsters! Link here.

Too much time or too much wine

I was browsing a Christmas craft site today. I always admire these things, like ripping pockets off jeans and making a quilt out of them (I wear my old jeans), or the present we got in 1960, a piece of art made from glued macaroni pieces from my husband's aunt. This one, looked like a lot of work and a lot of drinking.

My silk scarf project

I went back to the Rhein Center today to pick up my scarf, the one mentioned here. The pretty lady showing it off is our instructor, Sue Wills, a former youth pastor who now leads tours for young people with WorldStride's Christian Discovery at historical sites primarily in the East like DC and Philadelphia. She was very bubbly and encouraging--I'm sure the kids love her.



There was an opening in tomorrow's class so I took it and hope to make a much more stunning effort. This one is pretty, but has many mistakes on it. The white pipe frame is what we attached the scarf to in order to do the painting.

Blue, blue, my trash is blue

When we bought our summer cottage in 1988, it was an opportunity to redo a house with a color scheme (and someone else's furniture), so I chose blue, pink (mauve), and cream--certainly not a cutesy look I would have at home. The house is pink (mauve) and the outside trim matches the inside trim. I chose a coordinated wall paper border for each room with stylized sea birds, light houses, ducks, and flowers. It was fun. But that was 20 years ago, and a few things are showing some wear. The kitchen wastebasket, for instance. It's narrow enough to stand between the 20" electric stove and doorway, and tall enough to hold 2-3 days of trash, but last summer someone stuffed it a bit full and a small crack appeared, then another and another and another. I've reinforced the inside with large bands of sealing tape, but still the cracks appear. It has also gradually faded to gray from the afternoon sun, which is not part of the color scheme.

Blue plastic household items were all the rage in the 1980s and 1990s (I have coordinated laundry basket, dish drainer, dish pan, cooking tools, bowls, lamps, etc.), but they are scarce as hen's teeth today. Yesterday I prowled the Port Clinton Wal-Mart and Bassett's. Bassett's came close and I almost bought a white one for the size. They had the blue lids but were out of whatever container matched them.



I think I need to find an old timey hardware store or general store where the stock is infrequently updated, or kept forever until it sells.

I've seen some creative uses for old plastic, however, especially bags. I don't know what these artists will do when the environmentalists get all the women barefoot and pregnant again shopping with canvas bags and growing the family's food in our backyard gardens, eating by candlelight. Here's a very clever 1950s style dress done by a Kent State student, Cathy Kasdan of Cleveland, OH, for her thesis. Isn't it wonderful?

The artist writes, "The dress is all hand knit from grocery bags that were the result of actual trips to the grocery store. As soon as I told people I could use their old bags for a project they brought them in by the bag full, I received thousands! The plastic grocery bag came about in the 1950's along with futuristic optimisim about America, so I made a "typical" 1950's ensemble complete with pillbox hat and purse, not pictured. I am going to have my pieces in an art show on recycled art at the School of Art Gallery in downtown Kent along with a group of other people beginning April 19th." Seen at Craftzine.com

I could be wrong, but I really doubt that my trash container, dish drainer and laundry basket will ever be sought after for a museum of plastic. But you just never know. I have a blue-green glass electric wire insulator displayed on the book shelf that we dug up in the yard.

Three Word Wednesday

Bone has posted for 3WW

Punch
T-shirt
Unravel

for us to play with this week. Before I checked the clues, I was sorting laundry, and again thinking about how I could turn the old t-shirts from VBS, traveling, library conferences and organizations into a quilt. My mom used to cut t-shirts into strips and crochet the fabric into rugs, but quilting them saves the event or organization, and thus your memories. I've got San Antonio, Seattle and Shedd's Museum. I've got a "I heart my library," and Walk with Majors. I've got a Lakeside Ohio tour of my husband's projects. I've got dogs, horses and kitties. So here's my little poem. The photo is from Goose tracks and she will quilt t-shirts supplied by you for a fee, if you're not crafty or don't have the time.

Punch up the memories,
unravel the past,
cut up those t-shirts,
the first and the last

Arrange the design
and a contrasting thread,
make a new coverlet
to place on the bed.

204 Handicrafts some of us didn't do

We had such a good time in writing class today at the Public Library "Writing family memories." The instructor asked each of us to bring in something that either we had made or something crafted by a family member.

Some of the women had knitted, crocheted, decoupaged, painted ceramics, embroidered, cross stitched, and sewn for themselves and their children. One woman's great grandfather had been a tailor and his wife was a seamstress. She brought in a maroon velvet suit he'd made for her great uncle, and she had a photo of him wearing it when he was 10.

Another member of the class had written about her project of decoupaging wedding invitations for about 25 years, and brought along her box of supplies, including the stained gloves. After not knitting in years, another has taken it up recently and is loving it and showed us a lovely wrap she is working on. She told of sewing her children's clothes in a bandana fabric that matched her maternity top and then taking them on adventures to get them out of the house. "I never lost them," she said. The youngest member of the group--the only one who still has children at home--showed us a lovely fabric hand bag she had just finished when her husband took the children for an outing.

I was never very crafty--don't like to measure or do detail, and that seems to be essential. But like a lot of women my age I did learn to sew, learning both from my mother and from 4-H projects. A month before I got married, I bought a sewing machine for $50 and I still have it--it goes forwards and backwards, but nothing else and I probably haven't used it in 15 years.

So I brought along and passed around a selection of my old Simplicity and McCalls patterns--my 1960 wedding going away dress (blue silk), a ruffled red wool for a New Year's Eve party in 1964, the dress I made of flocked white organdy to match my daughter's baptismal dress in 1968, bell bottom pants and tunic I made in bright lime green in 1969. a midi in brown wool tweed and vest made in 1970, a school dress for my daughter made in 1973, and a denim wrap around jumper made in the early 80s.

Next week we have to write a story about the items we brought in.