As a long time Sheepishly Sharing community member, Sister Margaret Mary reached out to us to ask for our assistance. Sister runs a top-notch music program for her school located in a lower income area of Kentucky. We all know that The Arts are seriously underfunded in most every school so educators need to be creative to achieve funding to 1) keep the program alive and 2) keep improving it. Sister takes that mission to heart and one of her fundraisers is a booth at her school’s fall festival. She’s allowed to keep the proceeds from her sales for her music program.
In the past, she and her students made the inventory but Sister is currently battling health problems that prevent her from producing an adequate number of items! (And it’s worth mentioning that Sister Margaret Mary is vision impaired but can crochet much better and faster than I can when her pain allows! She has even developed an adaptive crochet technique that she teaches in this video!)
How We Can Help
Could you spend some crafting time making some things for Sister’s craft table?! ANY type of craft is welcome! The name of her booth this year is “Teddy Bears and Toys“ so anything that would appeal to kids (or “kids at heart”) would fit the theme! Search Pinterest and YouTube for good ideas! Here are a couple of my Pinterest Boards to get you started:
Browse through my Crochet Hats board to find some Character Hat ideas.
Lovies may be a good idea!
Do you have a cutting machine? There are tons of great “kid items” to make out there! Look through my Silhouette board for items that would fit our theme!
Fairy Gardens are popular with kids! I don’t have a board saved but here’s a general Pinterest search for some cute DIYs!
Important Info re: Knit and Crochet
Unfortunately, hats and scarves don’t seem to sell at her booth UNLESS they’re fun and/or silly character hats! So save your hats and scarves for other donations and think WHIMSICAL choices for Sister’s family-oriented event!
Deadline: October 7, 2019
Mail to: Sister Margaret Mary, SJW
music@sjawalton.com
St. Joseph Academy
48 Needmore St.
Walton, KY 41094
859-485-6444
St. Joseph Academy is a 501(c)(3) institution.
Tax ID #61-1155444
UPDATE from 2018: Thank You Note from Sister Margaret Mary
“I would like to thank my “guardian craft angels” for their donations. I was so impressed with everything I received to help support the music program at St. Joseph Academy. All of the items were works of art made with perfection and a lot of TLC! What really touched me the most was all the letters and notes of support! I just wasn’t receiving hand-made items alone… I was receiving treasures from the heart from each person! What a tremendous blessing! I love you all! There is a special bond between us… sharing God’s gifts with others!
I have another special request. I am in need of fun fur and eye lash yarn in large amounts (bigger skeins). My crochet and craft club members are excited about making teddy bears on the Addi Express knitting machines. Julie Greenfield is the designer of the teddy bear patterns. Her tutorials can be found on YouTube. I purchased a couple of six-packs of eyelash yarn from Amazon. Oh my goodness… I did not realize how little yarn is in one small little skein… Since the skeins of yarn are on 50gm (approx. an oz), it will take six skeins of fun fur or eyelash yarn without any mess ups! If people would like to donate, I need six skeins of a color. All 12 kids want to make a teddy bear. I have no stash of this type of yarn.
I am attaching my first sample teddy bear using Red heart Super Saver. I am currently making another teddy bear with eyelash yarn.”
Sheepishly Sharing 
Margaret, I have a really dumb question and I wasn’t sure where to ask it. I’m doing hats and scarves for Operation Gratitude on my Addis. I have the hat down, but I can’t figure out the best way to do a scarf. It’s too big to fit the width requirements on 4-6″ on the king and I just can’t imagine a big person wearing one made on the tiny addi. Do you have any suggestions? I’ve been hand crocheting, but I’d like to knock this out and get going on Christmas. FYI, my 89-year-old mom knits and she introduced me to your videos. She’s crazy about you. Could you give a shout out to Pat Tudor? Thanks, Julie
I don’t think that’s a dumb question at all, Julie! The first thing I’d try is a thinner yarn. Red Heart Unforgettable, Caron Simply Soft, Yarn Bee, etc. are marked as a #4 worsted but comes out thinner. I bet they’d be close to the 6″ width you need. You could always go down to a #3. I, personally prefer the 3″ scarves and have shown how they work great on me! (Remember that you have different size people in the military!) Alternatively, you could always knit a flat panel any size you’d like. To make it thicker, do 2 and sew them one on top of the other. (This would keep it from curling as well.) Just a thought! Tell Ms. Pat hello for me and thank her for letting me share all this stuff with her! I’ll try hard to remember to do a proper shoutout! (Right now I’m editing videos I filmed earlier as this is my busiest time at Thomas’s school.)
Hi Margaret, I am thinking of ideas for sister’s craft fair items and I’m wondering if child sized fleece blanket with Disney characters etc. would be an item you think would sell. I made a Daniel Tiger blanket for my 2 1/2 yr old granddaughter and she LOVES it.
Sounds great to me!
I am making some crocheted minions in different sizes . A lady in the UK makes them and says they are one of her best sellers. different sizes and was looking for an old pattern I had for a crocheted travel checkerboard. I can’t send a whole lot but I’ll do the best I can. Shipping from Idaho might be pricey
Thanks, Lorele!
please will you do a how to video on crocodile stitch booties in crochet i am 75 yrs old and i want to crochet some booties with the croch stitch at the top of baby booties i know there are some out there but i cannot follow some pattens as well as i can your videos and patterns and i thank you so much for those because of you so much as been donated by your patterns and videos may god continue to bless you peggy
Well, I can’t do a tutorial without special permission from the pattern designer but I’ve never attempted such a project so I have no idea if I could do it!