The first is Little Dresses for Africa which is a group that create dresses from pillowcases and then distribute them orphanages in Central Africa. They are a Christian-based, non-profit group that was started by a small group of women who had gone on a short-term mission trip. After returning home they looked for a way to help those in need. One of their group came up with a simple sewing design she had found on the net. Now with over 30,000 dresses made and delivered they are planting seeds of hope.

I plan to start shopping this month’s linen sales to gather together a dozen or so pillowcases, along with ribbon and trim. I’ll post pictures of the finished dresses before I send them off to the group. Then I’ll go out and shop for some more pillowcases.

The other group that has been featured on Sewing with Nancy was the Project Linus another non-profit group. They have many chapters across the country and provide blankets to various organizations. There are nearly 380 chapters and they have provided over 3,000,000 blankets! Each chapter knows what is needed in their area and makes sure the blankets go to the correct place. They make their way to sick children, those that have been traumitized, etc. The best thing is to go the site, find a chapter close to you, and see what their needs are.

Along with pillowcases I’ll be looking for fleece to embroider – a great project for my embroidery machine and lots of the “cute” designs I have.

With the New Year just beginning it’s a good time to start on projects. Will post updates on how I’m doing with the dresses and blankets.