On a recent visit to Sawyers Sewing in Victoria, I handed over a giant bag of toiletries collected on my travels this year. I have been doing this for a number of years. The cause is a worthy one: Sandy Merriman House in Victoria, BC which is a shelter for woman and their children in domestic crisis. Between Janome presentations to groups of consumers, I took photo’s of the lovely display of bags (above) made by the staff and customers of Sawyers Sewing Centre. I also voted for my favourite bag – a contest sponsored by Jarret and his staff to raise awareness of this project. And, no, I’m not telling you who I voted for! They were all just lovely. Well done everyone!

Judy who coordinates this charity endeavour annually sent this message about the bags for 2017:

Enclosed is a photograph of the 32 very plump handmade Christmas gift cosmetic bags that we delivered to the Sandy Merriman House Women’s Shelter in Victoria BC, December 19, 2017.  In addition, there were 12 equally chubby bags we also delivered to the Victoria Woman’s Transition House. They were intended to be given as Christmas gifts to the ladies who visit these shelters.

 

This year all the gifts bags were sewn and/or quilted specifically for the ladies at the shelters. They were made by customers and friends of Sawyers Sewing, when Jarret Sawyer sponsored a Christmas contest for the express purpose of creating handcrafted bags for the ladies at the shelters. In addition, many of Sawyer’s customer also donated items to fill the bags. The gift bags were stuffed to the zipper with toothbrush, toothpaste, hotel sized shampoos, several bars of hand soap, cream rinse, a ball point pen or two, hand wipes, zip bags, band aides, comb and safety pins, to name a few things. Many bags also included other cosmetic items such as lipstick, mascara, hand lotion, hand sanitizer, combs, perfume, nail files, sewing kit, mouthwash, deodorant, etc, depending upon what was available or what had been donated or what I could find at a reasonable price. 

 The volunteers at the shelter were impressed by how big and beautiful and cheerful these quilted bags were. One volunteer said they will make wonderful Christmas gifts!  

 

 Below is the link to the shelter website, in case you are interested… https://coolaid.org/our-services/homes-2/shelters/sandy-merriman  

 

Many thanks again to all for you continued kindness and generosity!   

Judy Strelioff

Do you sew for a cause? Tell us about what sewing or quilting you do for charity and how it makes you feel to be able to give your time and resources in this way? 

What Janome machine do you use for your charity sewing?

We’d love to hear from you.