One of my nephews, Charles, is a volunteer wildlife rescuer and he spends a lot of his spare time in the Blue Mountains bush rescuing native animals. We all know our precious native wildlife has been decimated in the ongoing bush fires and injured and scared animals are now coming into local properties and homes looking for water and food. In the coming days, these are the animals Charles will be helping. When the NSW RFS give the all-clear for people to return to the burnt bushland, Charles will set off looking for injured animals. These animals will be carefully handled and taken to either a vet for diagnosis and treatment or a wildlife carer for longer term care. To do this work, Charles supplies his own equipment but there is a chance that he won't have enough wraps and pouches to transport the animals he finds.
I suggested to him that we - you, me and the rest of the gang here - could help him by quickly making a selection of what he needs. I wonder if you'll join in with this. The main need is for bat wraps and he needs 60 of them, he also needs some hanging joey pouches. Bat wraps and pouches are vital to help calm animals during transportation. Both these items are essential to Charles' work.
We're happy to accept whatever you can send - one, two, six or 20. They will help in a significant number of rescues. So who is up for this? The patterns are simple straight sewing and the links are below for you to click on and look at. Please be guided by the suggested fabrics - most are cotton, cotton flannelette, calico or wool. No buttons or Velcro are used. All the finished wraps and pouches need to be sent to Charles in the Blue Mountains, please contact me by email:
rhondahetzel@gmail.com and I'll give you his postal address.
I wonder if there is a vet who reads my blog. I'd like to introduce you to Charles so he can speak to someone about rehydrating animals and general burns first aid. At the moment, he needs some burns cream, syringes and Vet Wraps. If you can email me, I'll give you Charles' phone number so you can talk to him directly. Thank you.
I'll be making this part of our Instagram Sewing Bee so when you finish your sewing, please send me a photo of what you made, along with your IG name, so we can link to you from the Bee.
Thank you all. I know we'll get this started quickly so we can help Charles in his important work.
Hello sewers. I've started a sewing bee involving recycling old fabric. You can recycle unused old fabric from your stash, an old dress, sheets, towels, coats or whatever you have enough of to make something you'll use. I'm making pillow cases from an old white cotton bed skirt. Would you like to join in? There are no fees and no pressure; we'll all have a bit of fun and learn more about sewing and recycling. I'm hoping new sewers join in as well as our intermediates and experienced sewers. Everyone is welcome. You can join either here or on Instagram - #downtoearthsewingbee.
This is the old bed skirt I'm using to make pillow cases. What will you use?
The item should be finished by Thursday 21 November (or close to it) and when you finish, I'd like you to take a photo and send it to me so I can add it to my Instagram sewing bee gallery. I'm always interested in what other people sew so I'm looking forward to seeing what you create. Start now, let me know what you're sewing and when you finish send a photo of your finished project to downtoearthsewingbee@gmail.com so it can be added to the photo gallery.
I want to get a better idea of what everyone is making for the Do Whatever You Want Bee. The bee started 4 June and will end on Tuesday 2 July. Everyone is welcome to join in - from all corners of the world. Instead of being confined to one craft or item, you can do what ever you like, using the technique you prefer, as long as it's for your home. So tea cosies, tablecloths, dishcloths, napkins, nappies/diapers, cushions, curtains, jug covers, crocheted edging on pillow slips, whatever. Some ladies are doing a summer blouse and dog coats.
In early April we had a sewing bee to make aprons with the information and comments here on my blog. When the aprons were finished, I made a gallery of apron photos on Instagram. It was very popular, I think it encouraged those new to sewing to take a chance on making something they would use and since then, I've had quite a few emails asking about the next sewing bee. So here it is.
Last week - adding a divided pocket to my apron.
It's been a busy week. Shane, Alex and Eve slept here last night. Jamie is here now, Shane is at work and soon they'll go over to Kerry and Sunny's to have a sleepover with Jamie. He even cleaned his room for the big event! It's surprising how much you forget about normal life at various points in time. It's only when we have the grandkids here that I remember looking after my own sons and the feeding, drinks, colouring in, playing, arguments, broken sleep, walking on small pieces of Lego 🙄 and the pure joy of looking after little people. And just how relentless it is.
Starting work on the rabbit while I watched Gardeners World.
In the couple of days before the gang arrived, I worked on the ballerina rabbit birthday present for Eve who turns four on Sunday. I struggled for a while with the shoes and then realised the answer was to hand-stitch them and then cut the felt slightly outside the stitch lines. Eureka! By the time Eve arrived, I'd sewn and re-sewn the shoes, and for days had thought about what to make for her top. I finally settled on a knitted shawl, tied at the back the way I've seen some ballerinas wear their shawls. She liked it but I think she preferred playing with the Peppa Pig car and passengers. Oh well, she might be next week's favourite.
Today I've been working on another felt rabbit, this time for my granddaughter Eve's fourth birthday next Sunday. Eve told me last week she wants to be a ballerina. 🙂 This rabbit is a ballerina and at the moment I'm sewing prototypes of ballet shoes. It's hard going because each shoe is only 20cm. 😳 I'm hoping to finish her tomorrow but I still have some knitting to do after the shoes.
I wanted to hold this world-wide sewing bee so that we could work collectively on aprons that we use everyday. It's economical to make aprons rather than buy them, you'll build your sewing skills at the same time, so it's worth the time and effort you put into this. So what is a sewing bee? This is the meaning taken from dictionary.com: Bee is derived from the Old English meaning “a prayer, a favour.” By the late eighteenth century, bee had become commonly associated with the British dialect form, been or bean, referring to the joining of neighbours to work on a single activity to help a neighbour in need: sewing bee, quilting bee, etc.