friends for the little feet

Betsy and Clementine have a new friend- a super hero friend!  He flew all the way here from Tennessee!  He is the original design and creation of the delightful and talented and Cally.  Thank you Cally- I know that the child who receives this will feel so loved!

If you are still working on your softie, take heart- we still have time to crank out more.  I am taking the first box down at the end of the month, but will have another box going down in September. Y'all just keep them coming and I will do my best to find a home for them!

ps- if you are wondering what the heck I am talking about, start {{{HERE}}}

softies for little feet

This weekend we made our first softie for the softie drive!

I am so excited about the response to this!  Not just because of all of the softies, but all of the prayer and love being bathed over these children.  It is beautiful and powerful.  Thank you!

I ran into a friend at the store last night that shared that the monkey tutorial looked really complicated.  Trust me- this owl softie is easy!  If you are a beginner or just time strapped, the owl takes very little time and is perfect for the involvement of little ones.

If the "end of July" time line doesn't work for you, I will be collecting throughout the fall.  I would like to have a box ready by the end of July, but later submissions are very much appreciated as well!  A friend contacted me to tell me that her women's group from church will be using this as their mission spotlight for their women's retreat in September!  They will be creating softies as a group.  If you have a women's retreat in the fall and would like to make this your project, please let me know.  The timeline was just me planning up to when the baby will be born.  But we can find a way to get softies down to Houston after he gets here too!

If you'd like more info about the softie drive, please {click here} for the original post and links to awesome softie patterns!

calling all sewists! {edited}

So here's the thing- waiting for a baby is hard.  Waiting for a baby that is not in your own tummy is really hard.  Waiting for a baby that may not end up coming into your home at all is terribly hard.   In the mean time, why don't we get our sew on in honor of this precious baby boy?

I am teaming up with our adoption agency/ homeless ministry to make softies for the children that they are rescuing out of traumatic situations and placing in loving homes.  There are around 10,000 homeless people in Houston, and 25% of those are children.  The majority of these children are living in survival mode.  They are not thriving, they are surviving.  Wouldn't you just love to bring some hope into their lives?

Little Footprints in Houston is doing that.  They are on the streets offering love and meeting the spiritual and physical needs of these children.  In some instances, the best thing for the child is to be removed from their current living situation and placed into a foster home (LF calls their families Rescue Families or Rescue Homes).  We learned in our training that some of the children that are being rescued are living in motel rooms with their prostitute moms.  Mom turns tricks in one bed while the kids are in the other.  Some of the children being rescued are being tortured.  Actually tortured.  Tied to chairs, burned with cigarettes, sexually abused in unimaginable ways.  I met a baby girl that was 10 weeks old.  She was rescued at 8 weeks.  She was living on the floor of an abandoned house.  The adults living in this house were on meth and using survival sex.  She was on the floor in the corner.  A newborn, on the floor.

You can imagine how hard it was to sit in training and hear story after story.  Some had happy endings, they were placed in homes that could offer them the family they needed for the time that they needed them.  Some did not have happy endings.  Some ended with children remaining in homes where they were being raped daily.  Some ended with children dying at the hands of a mom's jealous boyfriend.  Sitting in training, my mind was working.  How can I help Lord?  What can I do?  And then I was reading an account in the book Quilting for Peace that jogged a memory.  I remembered hearing about police officers and fire fighters collecting teddy bears to give to children that they were rescuing from trauma situations.  I thought "why not for the little feet of Houston's streets?  Why not offer them something to hug and love to help ease anxiety?".

That brings me to this, to you!

Would you please consider sewing up a lovey?  A little softie friend for one of these sweet children?   Would you maybe even consider getting a group of friends together for a sewing night?  Sew a little, chat a little, eat a little?


The nitty gritty:

Buddy holding "clementine" made from the speedy quick OWL pattern

• There are so many great, free patterns online.  In my short perusal I found this bunny, this monkey, this owl, and for the littlest feet, this sunshine.  So thankful for the women that took the time to put such greatness online for free!  (those different color words are links- please click on them!)  If you already have a softie pattern that you love, please use that one!

The adorable Molly Monkey Doll from mmmcrafts-
just a sample of one of the MANY patterns you can choose from!

• While you sew, would you please pray over the child that will be receiving this gift?  Pray for their safety, for their healing?

• Most children that are being rescued are between newborn- four years.

• I'm shooting to have a box full by the end of July.  Can you help with that?

If you are interested in taking part in this, THANK YOU!  Please email me for an address to send your softie to.  Please write "softie" in the subject box so I won't delete!  My email is:

mandiandjohn (at) sbcglobal (dot) net