Around this time of year, many of us start to think about giving, and how to give. I know that I am. And something that is close to my heart are the children who are stuck in difficult situations, who are living in difficult or even dangerous environments, and who are not being protected and nurtured by the people who should be doing that.

Recently I was reading one of my favorite crafting talents, Jodie at Ric-Rac, and how she is contributing a softie to Mirabel, an Australian organization that benefits children who are victimized by substance abuse. I was completely moved by this.

I was about to sign up, but I really wanted to find an organization that would benefit children in the U.S., and/or my local area within the U.S.. I started searching and learned that police officers, firefighters and other emergency aid agencies use teddy bears and similar soft toys to help give a child something to hold onto when their world is otherwise falling apart. This is even more heartwrenching when you know that in some situations, specifically cases of domestic violence, the officer or other person can't do anything else to help the child otherwise or to help get the child to a healthier environment. In these cases, more than ever, the gift of a small, soft friend to hold onto, so the child can have at least one source of comfort, is immeasureable.

I looked all over the Internet to find a sort of "central" clearinghouse for these efforts, somewhere that I could send stuffed, handmade bears or animals, somehow that I could help. There is no such agency. There are a couple of agencies that purchase new bears and donate those, when and where they can. And there is one agency that give you guidelines on how to donate on your own to homeless shelters. But no agencies that will take donations of handmade or like-new stuffed bears or animals directly that can be used in this way.

I don't have the bandwidth to start nationwide, but I have to start somewhere. So I am accepting donations for new or like-new stuffed bears, dolls or animals that have a loving, sweet demeanor and would be a comfort to a child who is dealing with a traumatic situation. If you are inspired to make things by hand, I would love that, but they don't have to be handmade, they just have to be new or like new, clean and ready to give to a child who needs a friend. A stuffed friend you would feel good about giving your own child. They also need to have no buttons or other parts that could be detached and swallowed, so they are safe for children of all ages.

I'll collect them up and make sure they get donated. I'll start by donating them to agencies locally, and then I'll expand as I can. I'll post all the details of what I find and what the agencies say as I have it.

If you'd like to contribute a comfort friend to my drive, to benefit children in the U.S., leave a comment here, or e-mail me.

If you'd like to contribute to the Softie for Mirabel program, to benefit children in Australia, please click here.

Blessings to you all, and thank you for your support.

I value handmade gifts. And I love beautiful yarns and knitting. The problem is that I don't know how to knit. I've tried to learn, but I learned to crochet when I was 5 so the knitting never seems to stick. My solution? Using a fun and easy knitting loom to make simple handmade gifts, like this knitted scarf.

The way a knitting loom works is that you wind the yarn around the pegs twice around the loom, and then you use a little hook to pick up the lower loops and pull them up over the peg, creating a stitch. I bought mine, but you could make one yourself with a little ingenuity. This particular loom was made by Knifty Knitter and came with a set of four looms that you can use to make scarves, hats, flowers and more. I got it at Jo-Ann fabrics for $14.

To make the scarf, I picked up two skeins of yard, one in a super soft twisted natural color, and one in a black eyelash yarn with tan and brown kernels. I started with the eyelash yarn, did 20 or so rows of that, then switched to the tan yarn and just knitted away until the scarf seemed long enough (I like a good, long scarf), and then did another 20 or so rows of the eyelash yarn. Then I used a crochet hook to finish the end and get the work off the loom. Easy, peasy! It only took a couple of evenings workign while I watched TV, and now I have a great handmade gift for someone on my list.

When I was done, I had enough left of each to do a hat, but not another scarf. The yarn was about $10. So it's not cheaper, but it's handmade by you, and that's what counts. And it was fun! I am already planning another scarf, maybe experimenting with other yarns, stripes or other fun variations. I'll post them as I do them.

Have any of you ever used a knitting loom? Do you have any brilliant ideas or projects to do? Let me know!

Get ready for the biggest revelation of my quilting career. Drum roll, please.... I have I have invented a new and thrilling way of building your stash, particularly when said stash is supposedly not being built due to non-fabric-appreciating members of your household having issues with cost. (Cost! The nerve!). The above delictable array of pink, turquoise and chocolate quilting fabrics are a testimony to both it's surprising delight and sheer effectiveness. I call it, "Teach A Friend To Quilt." It's very simple, and you can do this in nine easy steps:

1) Find a friend who has expressed a desire to learn to quilt.

2) Offer to teach them, using your generous spirit and a selection of handy beginner level patterns such as you might find here on Cottage Magpie (more on that soon).

3) While assisting them in their pattern and color choices, show them your own pretty, color-coordinated fabric stash and explain to them (in a loving, gentle way), that the best quilts are filled with a myriad of fabrics; a sheer celebration of colors and patterns, a joyful cacophony of fabric love. Tell them (with restrained disapproval) that quilts with only one or two fabrics are just *so* early 90's, and they really just don't want to go there.

Note: If your friend is gravitating towards antique reproductions that call for blue & white or red & white or some other totally-awesome-yet-requiring-only-two-fabrics color scheme, explain that while these quilts are absolutely gorgeous that these patterns are just too difficult for the novice quilter. It helps to say this with conviction.

4) Explain to them that while you are absolutely positive that they are going to love quilting as much as you do, that you'd hate to see them makie a huge investment in fabric when they've not yet tried it and can't be one-hundred-and-fifty-percent certain that they'll want to stick with it. Offer to buy their fabric if they let you have all the leftovers for your stash. They will likely say yes.

(Another) Note: Another option would be to have them buy the fabric and give you the leftovers in return for helping them make their first quilt. I wasn't quite ballsy enough to try that one.

5) Before the starting-a-new-quilt buzz wears off, whisk friend to local quilt shop to select a cornucopia of fabulous fabrics. With your friend gathering bolts and you guarding the selection at the cutting table, enjoy the mildly euphoric ecstasy as the gorgeous colors and patterns pile up on the cutting table. Humming to yourself and swaying slowly, wind the breathtaking swaths around you. Sink into the folds of the many bolts of goodness as you...

Oh. Sorry.

Ahem.

6) Once the fabrics are back to your place (make sure they come back to your place), assure your friend that you will help them measure and cut all the pieces after you have washed and pressed and lovingly folded them (using Monica's expert tutorial), preparing them for their inclusion in their masterpeice. Especially since they do not yet have their own cutting mat, rotary cutter and other quilting paraphernalia, they will need to come cut with you at your house.

7) When spouse, partner or other non-fabric-lover in your household complains about this addition to your supposedly "frozen" fabric collection, explain haughtily that you didn't buy it for yourself, but instead are doing a community service by helping poor Sally-who-doesn't-have-two-dimes-to-rub-together learn to quilt. The poor dear. Sigh and shake your head with long-suffering patience at their lack of humble generosity. The fact that poor Sally has a yard service and a Mercedes is not necessarily an important thing to share at this exact moment.

8) If your friend should be sufficiently motivated to actually cut her fabrics, help her to do so, making sure that extra yardage (you *did* buy extra, of course, against shrinkage) returns to your grateful stash.

9) In between giving your friend good advice on how to actually piece and quilt their new project, find another friend, or barring that an acquaintence, babysitter or random vagrant and repeat.

(Yet Another) Note: I am NOT suggesting that you actually keep your friend from using their fabrics, of course. That would be unquilterly. Just that there's no point in them being stored in the back of their bureau if they never get around to using them. Not when they could be stored in the back of your bureau! Or even better, with your stash.

I can't tell you the excruciating temptation I am feeling right now. As most of you know, I'm moving. Somehow this is taking a very long time, but it is happening. And just last week I finally gave up and packed up my sewing machine, figuring it's better to just get it over with than have it sitting here gathering dust while I work on the house.

But then, the completely and utterly fabulous Holly sent me a package. After seeing my post on using recycled shirtings in quilts, she decided to send me some blue and white shirts she had laying around to be recycled. Wasn't that super awesomely nice?

Well, here's the best part: she included some samples from her brand-new line! Oh, the deliciousness of it all. They're springy and adorable and I really really really want to sew up something with them right now.

But I can't.

So they're packed.

Now I'm just focused on getting moved so I can unpack it!

Speaking of, I should let you all know that I am going to be offline for about a week. We're officially in the final push to move next weekend, so I am not going to be able to post or comment or anything. But I promise I'll be back in a snap to torture you all!

So, a few weeks ago I had a pscyhobilly freakout about this Thimbleberries Challenge Quilt I was working on. You may remember the drama. You may also remember the June 1st due date. You may also recognize the above pile of fabric as being from the current line of Thimbleberries fabrics. The implications of this, I assume, will not go unnoticed by the astute reader.

Does it seem like an unusually large pile of fabric? It is. Not only do I have all the fabric from the Thimbleberries Block-of-the-Month quilt that I'm also working on, (but using other fabric for), but I also signed up for a fabric-included Thimbleberries weekend quilt camp (but couldn't go). Plus I might have bought a little more fabric. I mean, every time I change my mind about the way I want to make the challenge quilt I have to go buy more fabric, right? Have to.

Anyway. Here's the thing. They've extended the deadline to July 1st. I have known this since, oh, about June 2nd. I have not yet worked on the challenge quilt. Given the fact that I am, oh, you know, moving in the next two weeks, this may seem like a bad time to be thinking about the Challenge Quilt.

"Let it go!" I hear you all say. "We forgive you! You can use the fabric for something else! YWe don't mind. You could give it away. Bless another quiltmaker! Really, we're sure you should just give it away. You don't need the pressure and guilt hanging over your head, do you? No, you don't! And how much yardage is there exactly in total? Uh huh. And on the pink? What about the floral trellis...? Oh yes, that would work perfectly...uh...I mean, you should definitely give it away."

Hah!

Seriously, I don't know what to do. Thanks to all of your incredible help last time I had a neurotic episode over this quilt, I actually have some ideas. Not one, not two, but three. Three distinct and separate ideas of how to do this challenge quilt. Now my problem, aside from a severe lack of time, is that I honestly can't decide which one to make! I should just make all three, I guess. That's a good idea. Except for that IT'S DUE THIS FREAKING WEEKEND.

Why do I do this to myself?