WHEELCHAIR CADDIES

A friend and I started a sewing ministry at our church about a year ago. We made up some walker caddies and took them to a few local nursing homes. While at one of the nursing homes, the Activities Director told us that what they needed even more was caddies for wheelchairs. She gave me an old, poorly made, ratty-looking one and I played around with that and made a pattern.

The original caddy had no lining and no interfacing so it developed holes easily and wore out very quickly. My version is lined and can use interfacing, but doesn't unless the fabric is really flimsy. (Since I buy plenty of remnants from JoAnn's, flimsy fabric happens!) This caddy is also designed to the specifications of this particular nursing home...different homes may want something different...and is also designed to tie on the back handles so the person pushing the chair can help put things in the bag. I'm working on a pattern to work with armrests on wheelchairs which will be more convenient for the person actually sitting in the chair. (My sewing group friend has a pattern which she wrote up, but I have lots of changes to make to hers...it will be coming in the next few weeks because my brain has gone into creative over-drive.)

Here are the bags I completed yesterday.

Burgundy Floral Wheelchair Caddy

Fish Wheelchair Caddy 

In the near future I will be posting the pattern/tutorial I wrote up for these and, if I can figure out how to do it, there will be a link for a pdf version. In the meantime, if your're interested, just leave a comment and I'll get in touch with you.

Do you have a nursing home near you that might need something like this?

Finally! A return to sewing!

March was filled with visitors! We had my husband's nephew, his wife, and mother-in-law come by for a weekend as they traveled to San Antonio. A few short days later, my daughter and two granddaughters arrived for ten days of fun and chaos...all over the Easter holiday. Of course, after every such visit, I have to clean house and this was no exception. Very little sewing was accomplished.

But...

I did manage to get a couple of purses done for the girls, at their request, right after they left. (Pictures will be added later because I can't seem to access them right now.)

And then...sickness struck. I came down with some crazy cough that kept me up for hours on end. That morphed into nasal congestion and...let's just say I wasn't comfortable one bit. The past few days have seen a vast improvement; although I'm not near 100% yet, going over the 50% mark can be considered "vast."

Improvement meant I could finally spend some time behind my sewing machine and so I have. 
I've been making purses for SewPowerful.org (I'll be writing much more about SewPowerful in the next few days, but I don't want to try to do too much too soon.) I love these little purses! I now have the pattern pretty well ingrained in my brain so I don't have to look at the tutorial too much. 

This black and orange purse was the first I've made in quite a while. There were a few glitches along the way, but it still turned out looking really good.

I am totally besotted by these two. They came together much more easily than the black/orange one, and the colors and button embellishments make me happy.

Two more purses are eagerly awaiting their construction. I got the interfacing fused yesterday and have all of the pieces waiting on a little table near my sewing machine. So....tear myself away from writing about sewing and actually get some done!

First Post! New Blog!

This initial post will be brief. I'm still trying to figure out how to use this blog site. There's a lot to absorb in one sitting. 

I'm calling this blog "Sew Kindness" for two reasons. First, I love to sew. Second, kindness seems to be rapidly evaporating from our society. I believe that kindness to others reflects more about us than about another person. Many people would call the type of sewing I do to be "charity" work. For some reason, that strikes me as condescending. Most of the projects you see on this page will be made by me to give to another person (or persons). The projects are at no cost to the recipient; there is no questioning whether a person or group deserves the creation. It's all about giving. 

I do hope that what I create will inspire you to create and give, too. Spread the kindness! 

Here's to a better world!