Stocking Up

Somewhere along the line in my cruising of the interwebs I found Craft Hope, a site where crafters can share handmade crafts with those who need them.  I started with Project 9 making pillow cases for ConKerr Cancer, an organization that provides cheerful pillowcases to sick children in hospitals across the country.  I jumped back in this year with Project 14: Christmas in Dixie.  It is for an organization in Alabama collecting Christmas stockings and decorations to those who lost everything in tornadoes last fall.  In both cases I donated directly rather than as part of Craft Hope since they have their own collection deadlines (that I missed).  But whether you craft along with the Craft Hope timelines or refer to their charities list for ideas that suit your crafty talents, it's a great way to connect and contribute. 

Since I had a lot of green felt left over from a previous project, I just found a simple stocking shape pattern and decorated as I went.  I originally intended to sew the stocking seams on my machine but I ended up doing all the edges by hand.  I used both glue and sewing to attach the embellishments even though gluing makes me feel like I'm cheating somehow.  :-)

The next project (#15) is Sock Monkeys for Texas - they will go to children who lost their homes in Texas wildfires.  The deadline is November 24th so I need to get moving!  If you are interested in joining in, all the details are here.