Pads for Africa

Been wondering if I've got lost in blogger cyberspace!?

Well, not quite but close! The last few months have been totally crazy and not entirely expected! Since I last posted we have got busy with a project called Pads for Africa which had a goal of creating 100 hygiene kits for women in Malawi! Do you know how long it takes two people to sew 1,500 washable pads?!?! Crazy stuff! We have had lots of help cutting thankfully, and a good $3,000 worth of donations at a rough guess! These kits are now (today!) headed off in boxes to Malawi on a container with a bunch of other stuff. Once they arrive they will be distributed to women coming in to give birth in hospital and also to school girls who miss a lot of time each month because they have to stay home. We have also sent two new sewing machines, materials, towelling, haby, snap machines so that the women can continue to make the kits themselves. Anything you do seems like a drop in the ocean in the third world but as someone said to me to today... if we all put a drop in the ocean...

 Some of the many lovely women who helped out with this project! There were many more who cut and cut and cut fabric and towelling!

 We went to buy towelling for sending. I know its going to be inside the pads but surely they'll get more joy with these bright colours!!!

 Ripstop to help prevent leakage...

 What an exciting sight... I never thought we'd get to this day... all 100 kits made up!

 Can you tell I'm excited sewing the last ever pad!?!? Thanks to http://www.lunawolf.co.uk/shop/ for letting us use her pad pattern and send it over to Malawi. We made large and small pads and have it down to a fine art after sewing 1,500!!!!

 All the kits stacked up and ready for boxing!

 I'd love to go to Africa to help out... I was trying to sneak my way into a box!!! (sneaking isn't really my forte though as you can see!) Huge thanks to http://pwmu.org.au/ for donating $1,000 to this cause so we could send materials for the African women to keep making pads! Thanks also to the many people from http://www.donvale.org/ who donated money, material, towels, undies, and time to this cause! Special mention to Jill who sewed and sewed and sewed 12km of thread!!! I hope when I retire I have the zest and go that she has! We're hoping to find a small village to name after her so if you see one please let me know!

 My trusty snapper putting the last ever snap in! A massive shout out to http://www.snapsaustralia.com.au/ for donating a snap machine (now headed for Malawi) and 4,000 snap sets! Such a massive help!

So finally... what's in the kit... a pretty holdall.... 5 small pads... 10 large pads... 3 pairs undies... one PUL washbag (thanks to Amanda Polzin for donating the PUL)... and a laminated gift tag with care instructions on the back!

So... now can you excuse me for not updating my blog for a while!?!? I promise to try to do better... after a little sleep! ;-)) Thanks to hookedonyarn81.blogspot.com.au for the blog award... I feel the love and it's heading right back to her... she's one of the few people who can get deliriously excited with me over yarn and colour!!!

Back to school!

Well, school went back today! Always a mixed feeling about that! The house gets quieter... the mess gets less... the routine kicks in... we really miss them when they're gone for the day!

Miss 2 and I pottered around the house this morning feeling a little morose, did some chores, then headed to Sewing Bee to do some more work on our Pads for Africa project. This is a huge job... bring on quilts any day!!! Jill has been a wonder sewing away getting pads finished. To this point I've done a lot of co-ordinating and overlocked what seems like a gazillion insides made of wadding or towelling overlocked together. If you know someone who can sew and would like to help please let me know... these hygiene kits can make a huge difference to young African women. What we plan to do is keep sewing until the container leaves sometime early next year and then send the kits along with a sewing machine, instructions, and materials. That way the project can continue if the girls are keen... no matter how many kits we sew there will never be enough so this feels like a nice compromise.

Tonight I was absolutely wrecked so I had a rare evening in front of the TV and did some more knitting on the red dress! It's almost ready for neckline and sleeves so hopefully it will be off the UFO list pretty soon!

While we're on the subject of red things...  mum and dad just got back from Singapore... thought I'd share a couple of the things they brought back... Just love this red dish...

Cannot believe that dad managed to hunt down and find a CAMEL in Singapore of all places!!! He is gorgeous and fits beautifully into my rather extensive camel collection! 

More beautiful things from Singapore to share another day! 

And last... just for fun... found these rather groovy tissue boxes at the Reject Shop recently! Just to make me smile!! Also made my friend hooked-on-yarn a little happier to sneeze too! It's the fun things that make a life well... more fun!!!

Blogger Uber-Quilt-Fest progress...

I've been really enjoying doing these blocks... sometimes being on the other side of the world is torturous... waiting until the time zones catch up with a new block! So far I'm pretty happy with progress... especially since I don't intend to buy a single piece of fabric to complete the quilt... oh, hang on a sec... I did purchase a couple of new black and white pieces that were too delicious to pass up the other day!!! Oops! That wasn't supposed to happen... but I didn't buy them FOR the quilt... so does that mean I get let off the hook?!

Anyway, here are my new blocks...

Block 6

Block 7

Block 8

Half way there! Thinking I will piece them all together with black sashing and a black inner border then a black and white striped border, then black binding... thought I might piece the first two rows together but I cannot believe I have run out of  black homespun!!! How is this possible?!?

An hour later... I scrounged and scrounged and found a bit of black... and a strip from another quilts... so... voila...

I am so loving this quilt so far! Thinking black on all the inside borders and sashing and then black and white stripe on the outside border... what do you think?!

Making Chewy...

Well... it's not something I thought I'd ever find myself doing... making chewy... but life is full of surprises!

Actually, it was easier than I thought... done in an evening... and although it's a bit off in bits I'm generally pretty happy with it! Not that I think it's edible... far from it... but I think the kids will like it... especially my 2 year old! We'll have to wait until the morning for a full report!

So how did I come to be making chewy!? Well... I was blog browsing... as one does... and I saw the recipe... and knew I just had to make it! I rummaged around in my boxes of material and found just the ingredients I needed and a couple of hours later... it was done!

I really must commend draw!pilgrim on her most excellent instructions!  They were super simple and clear! Sorry for the wonky bits... they are mine... not hers... ! Also I didn't have any cord in my stash so I used some fur I had been debating about sending to another home... and I stitched my felt face on instead of putting it under... Felt and duct tape stitched on for the ammo belt and he is done! Seriously that face is a bit wonky isn't it... but hey... you gonna tell a wookie that to his face?!!

Whadya think Princess Leia would say!?

Postscript:

2 Star Wars tragics love him... as does the 2 year old!!! :-)

Bloggers' Quilt-Uber-Fest

 Well, I have been having a lovely time since I joined the Bloggers' Quilt-Uber-Fest... a new block every day for 16 days! It's almost like instant gratification... except sometimes 24 hours seems like a long time!!! Anyways, it's holidays, and I've had a sick toddler so a little diversion has been nice! I decided on black and white with a splash of colour look! I have a big drawer full of black and white fabrics and a bunch of coloured scraps crying out to be used up! Okay, so I admit it's a bit of a favourite of mine! Strangely because I find black and white on their own pretty dull but they certainly do make the colours stand out and I'm always up for that!!

Here are my blocks so far...

Block 1

 Block 2

 Block 3

 

Block 4

  Block 5

5 down, 11 to go! Stay tuned!

A few more recent makes...

Funny thing was that this last week of school holidays I churned out a few clothes and made dolly things in between to keep everyone happy! Windcheaters are so quick and easy to make... about 1/2 hour these days! It's always very satisfying and they are so warm and cuddly!


I bought this bright stripey material a while back for only a couple of dollars a metre! I knew my eldest would like it! She wanted a hoodie instead of a windcheater which was fine! Actually a really great pattern... quick and easy even with the pockets... definitely be using that one again! I had to go buy it because I suddenly realised that she's wearing size 10 now and all my patterns were only up to 9!!! How does this happen?!!!!
I still have a pile of things cut out ready to sew but it's much quicker when you get to that stage!!!
My eldest was given this doll from an elderly lady who made clothes for dolls. It had a dislocated shoulder and she had got past making clothes so she gave her to us! We had her arm fixed and she's been played with for a long time! She's actually probably quite valuable... not designed as a toy... but we think she looks a bit freaky (Chucky?!!!). It was time she had a new wardrobe so now she has a halter-top and skirt!

Today the big kids went back to school... it's always a little sad when that happens and the house is quieter again... no endless Star Wars talk. They've had a really nice holiday even though it's been 3 1/2 weeks... no real fights or boredom. Little Miss S really misses having them to play with so we made sure we did a few fun things today... 2 baby chinos for a start!!!!

We've had a very busy holidays this time round. The last week of school we headed up to Brisbane which I have to say is a delightful city! The river snaking through is beautiful, the people were friendly and polite, the views were lovely, the traffic was fine, and it was all very clean, perhaps thanks to a recent "wash"?!!!! Actually we were quite astounded not to see any evidence anywhere of the recent floods. I would certainly go back again if I had the opportunity... not with Tiger Airways however...


While in Brisbane I worked on two dresses for Little Miss. Loving them both.


Second week of the holidays we had Sunrock Rainforest Holiday Club at our church every morning which was loads of fun. The kids pretty much look forward to it all year. This year I was helping out with craft so it was busy but rewarding. I tie-dyed t-shirts for all the leaders in rainforest green...

The whole family helped out painting boxes for rainforest dioramas...


I made a few different craft samples... the boys really liked the bats...


We had about 80 kids all up this year... last year I sewed back packs for all the kids (great way to use your stash!!!) and this year we had bags donated so I stencilled frogs on the bags and glued on google eyes!


The last week of the holidays was also pretty relaxing. We pottered around most days, had some friends over, watched movies... I decided to get some polar fleece cut and sewn! It takes up so much space and some of it I've had for years! This particular pale fairy fleece has been around since my eldest (now 9) was little but it "disappeared"... then turned up one day in a long forgotten box from a move which had somehow ended up in my parents' garage. It is now 2 jumpers in two sizes...


... but I had a little left over and it seemed silly to waste it... so I made a dressing gown for a dolly...
...but there was still some over... so I made a silly little cat with a remnant of some chenille fabric for patches! It is now being carried all over the house by Little Miss!

Well, that's all for now... more updates and photos to come!