Archive | service RSS feed for this section

Book Review: A Year of Biblical Womanhood

29 Aug

Love this!

This book has sat on my shelf for years.  This morning it captured my attention and held my attention all day.  Smart, witty, insightful, creative, knowledgable, curious, honest…

Rachel’s year of Biblical Womanhood was naturally organized with monthly themes based upon scripture.  Each month Rachel had a TO DO list for herself based upon scripture (sometimes the list included cooking, sewing, sleeping in a tent).  Occasionally, photos and her husband’s journal entries are included.  Raised evangelical, Rachel explored this subject with correspondence exchange with a Jewish woman, 3 day retreat at a monastery, Amish and Quaker experiences, extensive internet research, short stories of women of the Bible….and an extraordinary curiosity.

Fantastic resource!

Another review:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/23/a-year-of-biblical-womanhood_n_2006184.html

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Go and Sew

27 Jul

Upstairs set up…great in the winter

Brother CS6000

Downstairs set up…great in the summer

Downstairs

Amazon “Deal of the Day” for my new Brother CS6000i gave me the opportunity to set up a sewing station at my home away from home to sew more reversible, tri-fold, top-stitched flannel pads for Days for Girls International…and whatever Mom may come up with 😉

For more information on the extraordinary work of Days for Girls International:

https://www.daysforgirls.org

Tags: , , , , ,

Friday Photos: IChing No. 15 Humble

16 Jun
Paul Hayes USMC WWII, tank driver, Purple Heart recipient

Paul Hayes USMC WWII,
tank driver, Purple Heart recipient with his wife Ruth (2012)

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

2017 Return of Shower Caddies

2 May

This is year three for our adhoc group of friends to provide homemade shower caddies to the women of Wheeler Mission Shelter for Women and Children @ Christmas.  Photos below are the first 25 of 72 caddies.  We gather in November to fill the shower caddies with personal care items.

The caddies are made of outdoor fabric which is water and mildew resistant.  I take the opportunity to maximize the colors and patterns of with each fabric order.  Having placed 10 orders in 3 years, I am VERY satisfied with ordering online, delivery, quality and value from fabricguru.com.

This design features four outer pockets, plus three buttonhole slits in the bottom for drainage.

Tags: , , , , , ,

Support of hospice care with prayer shawls

18 Apr

The season of Lent concluded Easter Sunday as did this project offering prayer shawls for hospice care ministry.

The challenge using this bulky acrylic/nylon yard from my stash is that all the edges rolled!  I am grateful for the knitters who have posted instructions for “blocking” on the web.  This solution required some trial and error.  These small shawls got straightened out.  I will avoid buying bulky yarn in the future.

 

 

 

 

One more thing!  I had this nice “satchel” style bag…marketing material from an exposition.  Well…It occurred to me that a large appliqué (from my shower caddie project stash) would cover the advertising.  It is just the right size to hold seven folded “blocked” shawls.

Well…I meant two/three more things.

Last month, I was introduced to the pattern for these caps.  Two of them now belong to long time friends who are undergoing chemotherapy.

May God bless everyone during these difficult times.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Prayer shawl for hospice care

7 Mar

 

Prayer shawl

I love the concept of knitted prayer shawls.  Knitting is a meditative endeavor that naturally pairs with prayer.  During this year’s season of Lent, I will make three prayer shawls as requested for hospice care.    The yarn I have in my stash is Lion Brand Wool-ease which is a Lamb’s Wool blend with acrylic.  This scripture came to mind:

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”  John 1:29

This color #232 is named “Wood”…hummm…wooden cross.  The pattern repeats the number ‘three’ for the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The symbolism I just wrote about is lost on Eve, office assistant.  She thinks this project is just her ‘size’.

Eve

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Priority: Days for Girls International

10 Jan

eve_priority_img_20170106_085617770-copy

Yes, dear Eve (office assistant) we are ready to ship liners and pads to the Days for Girls International Chapter in Iowa…but the box is not BIG enough.

FYI Elfcroft’s 2016 contributions were included in kits assembled in Iowa then distributed to communities in Uganda, Ghana, Haiti and Swaziland.

Our first 2017 shipment has 320 tri-fold, reversible, top stitched flannel pads….

Featuring bold, bright, varied color and patterns

Featuring bold, bright, varied color and patterns

dfgi_2017_pads_img_20170106_134944242_hdr-copy

Liners stacked 10 high. Polyurethane laminate or PUL middle. Pockets to insert pad. Wings will have snap installed at assembly location.

Plus Liners (stacked 10 high) with polyurethane laminate or PUL middle and pockets to insert folded pad. Wings will have a snap installed at assembly location.

These components are put in draw string bags with (2) pairs of panties, wash cloth, soap, and (2) ziplock gallon size freezer bags to help washing.  The design intention is for each kit to be reused over a three-year time frame.

http://www.daysforgirls.org

Just one of many reasons Days for Girls International is so important…

http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/lens/2017/01/05/in-nepal-monthly-exile-for-women/?_r=0&referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

 

Tags: , , , , , ,

Encore! 2016 Shower Caddie gift bags good to GO!

22 Nov

Santa’s elves had a busy afternoon filling shower caddies gift bags for the residents of Wheeler Mission for Women.

Stuffing?

Stuffing?

Sweet treats

Sweet treats

Elves?

Elves?

 

 

 

Our Leader

Our Leader

Our service project started in April.  25 yards of outdoor fabric was sewn into 72 homemade shower caddies featured in two blog posts (progress reports).  These gift bags will be delivered to Wheeler Mission for Women for Christmas.

Bold graphics

Bold graphics

Stripes and graphics

Stripes and graphics

Our wish is that these gifts will remind the ladies they are loved all year long.

Tags: , , , , ,

Friday Photos: Heartfelt Veteran’s Day Ceremony

11 Nov
Charles Frazee, USMC, WW2, Pacific Theater

Charles Frazee, USMC, WW2, Pacific Theater

Over 100 veterans representing all branches of service

Over 100 veterans representing all branches of service

4th graders

4th graders

Kindergarden-3rd graders

Kindergarden-3rd graders

 

 

 

 

 

These beautiful students sang, recognized each veteran by name with a pin and card, and applauded.  A slide show featured larger than life photos of each veteran.  (Charles Frazee had five photos :).  Each grade sang the song for the Army, Navy, AirForce, Marine Corp and Coast Guard.  The first graders sang the Marine Corp Hymn.  The fourth graders finished with “Anchors Away”.  “Taps” was played to honor those who died in service.

 

Very proud day to be an American!  God bless the USA.

 

 

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

International Day of the Girl Child (United Nations)

11 Oct

October 11, 2016:  International Day of the Girl Child

Let girls be girls!  United Nations Women’s website identifies child marriage as a global problem thrwarting women’s development mentally (education is suspended), physically (bear children too early) and spiritually (vulnerable to violence).

http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/girl-child

Every day is a day for girl power @ Days for Girls International.

http://www.daysforgirls.org/day-of-the-girl

Days for Girls International developed reusable feminine hygiene kits (in bright colors and bold patterns) produced and delivered via crowdsourcing.  Check out DfGI 2015’s annual report…the photos are amazing:

days-for-girls-annual-report-2015

Elfcroft has shipped components supporting 195 kits since 2014.  Plus, we have a head start on a 2017 shipment.  Check out a sample of the work:

My favorite color/pattern combos
30 more liners
30 liners
Reversible, tri-fold flannel pads. Enough for 8 pads to go into 24 kits.
Selection of reversible, tri-fold flannel pads
The deck of reversible tri-fold pads

Tags: , , , , , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →