My Thanksgiving Guilt Trip

Happy Thanksgiving to all my crafty friends! Wow, do I have so much for which to give thanks! Retirement, opportunity to travel, good health, a warm and cozy home (complete with a craft studio with more craft supplies than I will ever use,) totally awesome friends, a wonderful family that loves me (even if they don't understand me) and of course HR (whatever would I do without Handy Randy?) 

I don't know about you, but I sort of feel guilty to be so fortunate. While I leisurely drink my coffee each morning, reading the news, blogs and emails, there are women struggling to find food to feed their family. Many cannot read because they live in a culture that does not embrace a woman's right to be educated. When I go to my studio in my free afternoons, I often "struggle" to decide just what project in which to become immersed. Many mothers and grandmothers in the world do not have "free time" and if they did they would not have the resources to create for fun. When we go off in The Wanderer to explore our great nation, I am reminded of refuges camping in tents to survive oppression. I ask myself, do I ignore the plight of grandmothers, mothers and young girls not as fortunate or do I find a way to use my passion to craft to help ease the struggles (and my guilty conscience.) This is an issue that has taken a great bit of real estate in my mind of late and is leading me to search for a resolution.

So, do y'all know of organizations that would like to have donations of craft items? Sewing, knitting, crocheting, paper; if it is not a craft in my skill set, perhaps I can pass the info through The Underground to other crafters. Or maybe you have other ideas on using the craft passion obsession to serve others? Please share your knowledge and ideas in the comments below.

Now that I have that off my mind, I am leaving you with the instructions on making this really easy centerpiece for your Thanksgiving table.

All you need is a pumpkin, moss, succulents and a glue gun.

First put some moss on the top of the pumpkin using a glue gun (or you could use spray adhesive.) Do not cut the top off the pumpkin.

Take succulent cuttings and glue to the moss. That is it!

Note, this arrangement will last for several weeks. When you no longer want it or the pumpkin starts to decay, slice the top off the pumpkin, leaving the succulents attached; plant the pumpkin top in an appropriate size pot with potting soil and water rarely. The succulents will continue to grow.

BTW, I was at the Farm Patch in College Station over the weekend, they still have pumpkins and a nice selection of succulents.

Blessing Baskets in Paducah

Inspired to shop locally and avoid the mall and big box store crowds, I stopped in at the farmers market at Baptist Health Paducah on a Thursday morning to see what Crystal Troutt of Troutts Garden Soups & Such was selling. I have known Crystal for a long time and knew she would have the perfect food gifts. What I didn’t know was that she is selling Blessing Baskets.

In fact, I had not heard of the Blessing Baskets Project. As she explained the project, I was quite intrigued and asked if I could post some photos and share the link. She enthusiastically (that is Crystal!) said yes.

If you, like me, are not aware of the project, the baskets are made and bought directly from artisans (leaving out the middle person’s profit) throughout the world. It is a 501(c) organization whose mission is to help folks pull themselves out of poverty. I encourage you to go to their website, www.blessingbasket.org, and learn more about this amazing project.

The baskets are beautiful! However, I did not buy any as the ones she had with her had “sold” marked on them and she had already promised her next shipment.

I did buy hot drink mix gifts (and a few things for myself.)

When I got home, I realized I did not have the correct size gift bags. So, did I get in the car and drive to the mall area to buy bags. Nope, I had plenty of wrapping paper; using a tutorial on the Beautiful Mess blog, I whipped up four in probably less time than making a shopping trip.

I used Tombow Xtreme instead of the regular adhesive runner to prevent the seams from coming loose. Don’t ask me how I know about breaks in seams and candy falling out.

In the spring, Crystal and her husband will be opening the Troutt Old Time General Store and Market in Lowertown. They will be carrying the Blessing Baskets as well as other unique, wholesome products. (Think Mrs. Meyers cleaning products.) In the meantime, like her on Facebook and know when and where she is setting up her market.

What's with the Tiny Little Hats?

I came up from the “Underground” yesterday evening to join a group of knitters knitting tiny little hats. I am not a knitter but have done an amount of crocheting. Knowing this, my friend Stephanie (an obsessed knitter and ring leader for this project) sent me a crochet pattern for a tiny little hat along with a message that said “join us for this project, we will be serving wine.” This came about a week ago. This afternoon I dug through my stash of yarn and unfinished projects, found the correct size crochet hook, some red yarn and started crocheting a little hat. When I left to join up with the group, I had crocheted maybe an inch;

 

but no worries I would work on it while sipping wine and every little hat counts, right?

So, what is the project? This is the interesting part. When I entered the room I was greeted by the clicking of knitting needles and over 200 tiny little hats in the middle of a table, contributed by knitters all over town.

 

 

Also there was a stack of tags to be attached to the hats. The tag gives information on the Seamen Church Institute ministry.

 

The hats will be distributed around Paducah and elsewhere; some shops have agreed to let them sit on wine bottles,

 

 

some will be left in vacant seats in public places, some will be attached to trees , just wherever they can be seen. Hopefully when folks see the hats and read the tags they will be motivated to donate to (or knit for) the Seamen Church Institute.

So, you might ask, what does the Seaman Church Institute do?  Affiliated with the Episcopal Church, it serves the North American and international maritime workers by providing pastoral care, education and legal services. The hat project is part of the SCI’s Christmas at Sea, that has provided knitted and crocheted items consistently since 1898 and are distributed to the mariners during the winter months, especially during Christmas. Since we live in a river city this is a project our community embraced. After all, it is our families and neighbors working on the river for 30 days at a time in all kinds of weather, including sub-freezing temperatures.

If you knit or crochet and would like to participate, visit the Seamen Church Institute’s web site. You will find patterns for hats, scarves, vests, etc., information on appropriate yarn, embellishments, etc. and the address to send the finished items. You will also learn more about the ministry.

If you see one of the little hats, please post a comment of where it was seen. Since this project is nationwide, it would be interesting to see just where these little hats turn up. If you are a twitter, you can tweet #watchthiscap and report the location.

I don’t think I will get serious about needlework again anytime soon, but I will finish my little hat and help with the distribution.

Change Purse

While not really a craft opportunity, Change Purse could be. Stay-at-home moms use their love for purses to raise money to bring awareness to and rescue victims of sex trafficking. They collect new and gently used purses which they resell on the Change Purse website, with proceeds going to organizations that rescue potential and victims of sex trafficking.  I can see fabric artist making unique, fun purses and donating them to the cause. Check out their website and store at www.changepurse.org.