Monday, October 1, 2012

Sewing Hearts for The Giving Heart




The Giving Heart is a wonderful organization in nearby Richmond, Virginia, which serves the community by distributing essential items to those in need, and by hosting a big Thanksgiving Feast every year.

Additionally, in December, The Giving Heart will be one of 50 non-profits that will decorate a Christmas tree during the Miller and Rhoads Charity Christmas Tree event.  Since the word "heart" is part of the name, they hope to decorate their tree with hearts.

But who will make the the hearts?

You and I will, of course!!

We need to make enough hearts to cover a 7 1/2-foot-tall Christmas tree.  I estimate a minimum of 100 hearts will be necessary to do the job, and I would truly welcome your help.  If you would like to make a heart or two, just jump right in--you can use your own pattern, or one of the three below (just keep it under 5" wide and tall).  You can find a tutorial for sewing a heart by clicking HERE.  Be sure to add a hanging loop or cord to the top.  You can look through this blog for heart ideas, and feel free to borrow any idea you like!  I will post pictures of the hearts I make in the coming weeks, and if you send me pictures of the hearts you make, I will post them here too!  Send them to leslieandersen4@gmail.com .

We want to make a colorful tree, so in addition to red, green and white, you can use fabric of any color to make your heart.  For the decoration on the front, we want to use words that relate to The Giving Heart.  Here is a list of suggested words and phrases:

The Giving Heart
Giving Bags
Thanksgiving Feast
Got You Covered
Community
Fellowship
Gratitude
Patience
Kindness
Love
Peace
Friendship
Hope
Caring
Helping
Sharing
Joy

You may use any technique to put the word on the heart--paint, embroidery, permanent marker, etc. You may also embellish the heart with other things, like beads, buttons, ribbon, fabric or felt. Perfection is not required!

I'm waiting to hear the final date by which the hearts may be submitted; but to be on the safe side, I would suggest that you plan to send your hearts by early November.  Finished hearts may be mailed to:

Vicki Neilson, Director
The Giving Heart
11527 Primrose Lane
Rockville, VA  23146

You don't have to sign up to make hearts for the tree, but if you plan to make one or more hearts, please leave a comment below so I can have a rough idea of how much help I will have with this.

If you have any questions, you can e-mail me at leslieandersen4@gmail.com; or leave a comment below and I will respond there.  Thanks in advance for your help!



6 comments:

Livia Luzete said...

Hi Leslie, I'm in love about this idea. I started to sew some hearts so offer to my friends here in Brazil. Now, I want to send someones to The Giving Heart.
At the end of October I will to do.
Bye

Leslie Andersen said...

Thanks so much, Livia! I am happy to know you will be helping me with this project!

Kay said...

I am planning to send in some hearts. Hopefully I will get them done in the next week or so and will let you know when they are on the way.

Leslie Andersen said...

Thank you, Kay!

Pam in IL said...

Count me in! I will send at least one, maybe more.

Leslie Andersen said...

Thanks so much, Pam!!