Homeless

There is a particular soft spot in my heart for babies.  I, also, like the idea of making smaller items because they get done quicker.  But, there are others in desperate need, too.  A co-worker of mine is very dedicated to her church.  The church after Sunday services make up approximately 100 lunches which consist of a sandwich, fruit, dessert and water.  They go into center city Trenton and hand them out to the homeless.  I have always admired Darleen for this and even giving monetary donations to her for food supplies.  A couple of weeks ago she asked a few close associates of hers at work for coats for the homeless.  Since my immediate commitment to Cooper is done for a little bit, I promised Darleen that I would start making hats and mittens for the homeless.  It is getting very cold outside and you would be surprised at the number of homeless.  Isn't there someone you could make something for?  I am sure there is.......  I remember when my children were in school and the school use to have a drive for hats and mittens for the needy children who went to the school.

Is There A Sewing Machine Heaven

I think my old reliable Kenmore bit the dust.  Last week, I was having a problem with it and took it all apart, cleaned it and oiled it.  During Saturday's sewing class, it was fine.  Yesterday afternoon I was finishing up some burp cloths and it froze up in the middle of a stitch and I can't free it up.  It's clean and all lubed up.  So now I am wondering if it is time for a new machine.  I love that machine.

The Christmas Delivery is Done

It always makes me feel good when we make the delivery to Cooper Hospital.

Our next official delivery to Cooper will be for Easter for Spring.  I will send a box in for Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day.  It is cute to have holiday hats, bibs, burb cloths and isolette blankets.  If the group wants to send items in, I will make a trip over.

Now, I am making hats, scarfs and mittens for the homeless.  Christmas is less than a week left and I should be wrapping gifts but there is always tomorrow.  LOL LOL

Cooper Delivery on Friday

This week is turning into such a busy week.  It has gotten cold, cold and colder  Burrrrrr!!!!  This Friday I will be making the "Caring For Cooper" Christmas Delivery to Cooper Hospital's NICU unit.  This is by far the largest delivery of the year. In this delivery, we donate 36 stockings for babies born on Christmas.  There will be gifts for all the nurses which is about 80 and all the winter items we have for the preemies and newborns.  This time I even some hug pillows for the "C" section patients (more on this later).  Last weekend and through this week, I am getting packages, packing, marking and finishing up last minute things.  Last night I finished up 3 burb cloths and 5 bibs with Christmas patterns.  This morning before I left for work at 6am I was installing snaps onto the bibs.  But, at least, they are all done. 

When I was working on the bibs last night, my machine was hesitating or stopping while doing the fancy borders.  This made me nervous because my machine just goes on forever.  My sewing teacher keeps telling me to clean and oil my machine.  I do a lot of flannel so my machine is caked on with lint and hasn't been oiled for about two years.  My teacher tells me that I should be doing TLC every couple of weeks.  In fact, she felt so bad for my machine that one Saturday she got the vacuum and tried to get as much lint off as possible.  LOL LOL LOL  Now I feel bad.  My machine has been so good to me.  So the moral of the story is that tonight I am going to give my machine a lot of TLC.   I am going to take my machine apart and clean every nook and cranny and give it a lot of oil.  I hope this machine doesn't seize up because of all the cleaning. LOL LOL LOL  That would be my luck.

Leg Warmers

Again, I have decided to make something outside of my charity knitting.  LOL  My granddaughter wanted leg warmers like her little friend.  So, Grammy had to make leg warmers for Maddy.  While I was at it, I made a pair for my potential Step Granddaughter.  Here is the pattern for Maddy's:  http://umajoy.blogspot.com/2008/03/legwarmers-pattern.html

And Autumn's:  this pattern is on Bernat's website (http://www.bernat.com/)  Pattern #263.  I would post the pattern but if you are not signed up on their website, you will not be able to access it.  Bernat is a no charge membership.

Five Hour Sweater #3

I am off from work today and it will be a catch up day.  The Christmas delivery to Cooper Hospital is our biggest delivery.  On top of the normal delivery of baby items, this delivery includes 36 Christmas stockings filled with goodies (clothes, hats, burb cloths, blanket, etc.) and nurses gifts (scarfs, gloves, etc.).  In this posting is the final version of the Five Hour Sweater.  There is a santa hat with this sweater.

 This sweater is knitted like the version two with the tighter yoke but has buttons.  On this particular sweater instead of buttons, I sewed on jingle bells.

 This sweater set will be for a baby at  Cooper born on Christmas. The link for the sweater is http://www.innerchildcrochet.com/patterns/concentric_stripes_cardigan.php and the hat is

 http://www.carewear.org/patterns/knit/knit.cfm?pid=_p13_seamless_santa.cfm

Please take note that these patterns are copyrighted and only shared for charity purposes.  Do the right thing.

Sew Baby

It has been a few days since I posted but with the holidays and visitors things have been busy.  I made a pair of legwarmers for my granddaughter and am currently working on a twin pair for my son's girlfriend's daughter. 

I am posting a link that is offering a baby bunting pattern that would be perfect for a baby that would be otherwise cold this winter.  I order a lot of fabric from Sew Baby and, in particular, like their bolt ends.  Here is the link and good luck:  http://sewbabynews.blogspot.com/2010/12/zippy-bunting-sample-and-pattern.html