Organization and Crocheting

 Hey Everybody,

Back again with more to chat about. 

Well, we got snow today, about 6 inches. The weather made it sound like we were going to get a blizzard of snow. All of the schools and city, county and state offices are closed tomorrow. Even the trash pick up is cancelled.  I look out my window and see the plow go by every now and then so it doesn't look bad to me out there.  However, I've stayed put inside so I don't know what it's really like out there on the roads.  Our governor has declared a level 2 emergency. We're not supposed to go our unless we absolutely have to.

I'm happy to sit inside and make cards, crochet, read a book or watch a football game. How about you?

Speaking of card making, I donate cards to three places. One is Southwest General Hospital, one is Broadview Multi-Care Facility and one is Hillcrest Hospital Cancer Floor.

These are my Card Ministries.  All of the ministries were begun by friends and I help to supply them with cards for their ministries. I truly enjoy doing this. Many of the cards I make for the Splitcoaststampers challenges end up in one of these ministries.

Each ministry has certain requests and requirements. For instance, Southwest Hospital asked if we could make fewer Get Well cards because not everyone will get well that is in the hospital. A thinking of you card, or Sending a big hug card works well for those patients. So I've collected some different kinds of sentiments and some fun images for these ministries.

Many times you're in pain so a cute card might at least bring a smile. 

Here you can see a refrigerator bin in a drawer where I store my stamps. This area is labeled Card Ministry. I have put the stamps on acetate so they are easy to pull out and use. Then they are placed into a clear envelope. I have a cardstock piece with a tab that tells the type of stamps that are behind the cardstock.

So, when I need sets for Hugs  or praying for you, I can go to the section and pull them out. These sections have lots of different sized sentiments so I can find the right fit for cards I make.  Many times when I make the cards I don't stamp them right away. I wait until they are needed, then stamp them with the sentiments that are needed.

Here is an example of what the envelope looks like. I have photopolymer and red rubber stamps together. They are on the acetate so I can easily read them.

On this image you can see the acetate which is on top of the stamps. I pull the acetate sheet and the cardstock backing both out of the envelope when I use these. You can see I have lots of different sizes for Happy Birthday.

You can also see in the picture above, that this is labeled, Happy Birthday Outside.  Most times when I make a birthday card I stamp Happy Birthday on the outside then a greeting on the inside. 

So, I have my stamps divided like that as well. It makes it a lot easier to find what I want especially if I make a bunch of cards with just the outside greeting.

When I watch TV I like to be busy so I crochet lap blankets for Broadview Multi-Care Facility. I make masculine and feminine blankets. A lot of times I get a skein of multicolored yarn and two others that go with it that are plain. For this blanket, I had three colors that went together well.

This blanket was done with the Moss Stitch and a crochet hook.

The next blanket has 3 of the 4 colors from above. It is done in a ripple stitch and a double crochet stitch. It's fun to see how different they are once they are made. They look so different just by using different stitches.

My grandmother taught me how to crochet.  I've done afghans, hats, scarves, mittens, baby blankets and lap blankets.  I wait until Hobby Lobby has their yarn 30% off and shop then.  It goes on sale every three weeks or so. I just check the weekly ads and wait to buy my yarn when it's on sale. 

Well, it's late and I'm tired. I got a lot done today.  It's a great feeling when you get things checked off your to-do list.

Thanks for stopping by.

Blessings,

Sue