Fire Relief Giveaway

A Stitch In Time

Friday, February 24, 2012 Eric Betts

A group of women who use the Internet to share their passion for needlework with one another have come together to make sure that like-minded hobbyists in the Bastrop area have access to supplies after the Labor Day wildfires.
The members of Stitchmap, an online group, have collected materials to be distributed today to fire victims, says co-owner Shari Jensen. The materials, and members, come from nearly every state and several foreign countries, all of whom found the group at its Yahoo home and identified with its motto, “Keeping Needlearts Alive by Sharing Stitches.”
“Women all over the world share a needle and thread,” Jensen said. Stitchmap helps them share ideas and experience. Lessons are sent to members who sign up, with photos and instructions to follow. They’re encouraged to take pictures and share them with their mentors, who can help them with troublesome spots or make sure the final product was completed correctly.
The group encompasses nearly 30 kinds of needlework, including embroidery, cross-stitching and both crazy and traditional quilting.
“Anything done with a needle that has an eye,” said Jensen.
They also had some firsthand experience with the devastation of the fires. Co-owner Lyn Gaskill lives in Bastrop, and the group has seven members throughout the county, some of whom lost their homes and their stash of needlework supplies in the fire. Originally, Stitchmap had planned to help just its members, but as the donations continued pouring in they realized they could do something more significant and help a lot more people.
After months of collecting materials, Jensen and her husband drove down from their home in Colorado with a truck and trailer full of donated materials – yarns, threads and needles, thousands of magazines and pattern books and what she estimates to be 500 to 600 pounds of fabric. Jensen says they’ve got something for everyone, an array of tools and materials that test the boundaries of the all-inclusive “fibercraft” term.
The highlight of the giveaways are the five sewing machines that will be allocated via a drawing, including both new and used models and one vintage one with its cabinet. Jensen said to enter the drawing, a person would have to provide a FEMA number proving they were affected by the fire. Other materials will be available to anyone who lost supplies in the fire, charitable groups making items to be donated and anyone who would like to learn about needlearts.
The giveaway will be held today at First United Methodist Church in Bastrop, 1201 Main Street, in the Fellowship Hall from noon to 4 p.m. The first 100 people through the door will receive a free small sewing kit. The drawings for the sewing machines will take place at 3 p.m., and winners must be present to receive their prize.
Volunteers will also be available to help teach needlework to anyone who wishes to learn. The group is asking for help unloading the trailer at 8:45 a.m. Saturday morning; anyone who volunteers will have first run at the materials.

That is the article that appeared in Bastrop's newspaper regarding the giveaway.

Shari would like to thank these people:

Lyn G.
Connie K.
Glenda S.
Michele P.
Renee G.
Debbie H.
Patricia H.
Josie T.
Dorothy M.
Claudina H.
Rocky Mountain Crazy Quilt Group
And all the ladies of the Lost Pines Quilt Group, In Stitches Group and the Ladies of Charity from Bastrop for all their help and encouragement.

The trailer was absolutely full as you can see from the photo above. We gave away 5 sewing machines and roughly 8 gift baskets. Everone was thrilled. There was a line waiting at the door to get in that morning. Over 14 volunteers were on the floor at all times to help people with their choices. Michele P. made a wonderful taco soup for the volunteers lunch. Renee G. helped finish organizing the books and magazines with great detail. Connie K. and Claudina H. manned the welcome table. They made sure everyone recieved a Basic Sewing Kit and their drawing tickets. We served over 75 families. The little bit that was remaining was donated to the Ladies of Charity of St. Vincent De Paul Society. They were chosen because the sale of the remaining stash supplies monies will go to the fire victims to help pay utilities and rent deposits.

Basic Sewing Kits Galore

What a busy day last Sunday was. Members of the Rocky Mountain Crazy Quilters showed up in force at the Holly Quilt Shop in Centennial, Colorado for what can best be described as a Sew-A-Thon. The purpose was to help make at least 100 drawstring bags for holding Basic Sewing Kit supplies that had been donated to the Texas Fire Relief Effort. We also needed to make additional needlebooks and prepare some of the items we planned on putting into the BSK's by dividing them into small containers that could easily be slipped into the bags when they are filled.

Connie K. (MAP moderator and mentor) and I spent the past few weeks sorting the donations and pulling out all the needles, pincushions, needle books, measuring tapes, marking tools, buttons, spools of thread, floss, seam rippers, scissors and other cutting tools, etc. Anything that could be used in a BSK. We had separated all the fabrics into cotton and fancy types, then sorted them by color. While we were at it we pulled out many pieces that were sized right for making the BSK drawstring bags. We cut velcro into strips, we gathered charms and packages of lace strips and many other items that could be put into the bags. We set it all aside to take to Centennial when the time came.

There were a dozen ladies and 2 gentlemen who showed up to help make the bags and fill them with the BSK supplies. Some brought sewing machines, one gal brought her serger. The guys brought their patience and ability to count endless numbers of buttons, charms and spools of thread. It was amazing that as much as we thought we had it all ready to go we soon found that there was much more to do.


Here Richard, facing the camera, and Louie, are counting buttons into film canisters.

Pins that were all mixed together had to be sorted into types: plain straight pins, those with beaded tops, and safety pins. Then equal numbers of each were put into over 100 pincushions by MAP member Sandy B. and her young friend Cheyenne. That's Liz standing at the end of the table. She was cutting felt for the needlebooks.


The safety pins were sorted again by the fellas, according to size, before being sealed into small plastic baggies.

This picture shows the table area where volunteers (Diana and Claudina) were setting up their sewing machines early on. The table was as busy as a beehive about 10 minutes later when everyone else arrived.


We had ladies ironing the fabric, others were cutting/trimming the fabric to size for bags and/or additional needlebooks, one was cutting cords for the drawstring, another cutting felt for the middle of the needlebooks, another sewing the felt into the books, another serging the edges of the needle books, one or two were turning the bags and a some were putting the cords through the casings. Henry Ford would have been proud of our assembly line.

Almost every lady who attended also brought a box or two of additional donations. Customers of the quilt shop stopped in every once in a while to find out if we were holding a class. We would explain our mission and cause...many offered to bring even more donations to the store and drop them off. A volunteer stepped forward, said she would pick them up on a certain date and bring them to me.

I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the effort that the ladies of RMCQ put into this project. It was so wonderful to see how much they really wanted to help and how hard they were willing to work to get the job done. At the end of the day we were still shy of our goal of 100 bags and there were still a bazillion needles to be sorted into sizes and then put into the needlebooks. Volunteers stepped forward to take the tasks on. Those ladies took the materials home and will deliver them to me at some point in time after the Thursday night stitching session that they have planned for tonorrow.

When it came time to clean up the room and pack the car with all that we had brought with us and the additional donations we had received, they did not shirk. Everyone carried boxes out to the car, helped my dear husband load it in (He had to drop 2 more seats in the Suburban to accommodate it all). Then they found the energy to come back to straighten up the room. I don't know how they managed the energy to go shopping in the store but they did! This day I was proud to be associated with such inspirational and giving women...and,of course, the two wonderful fellas.