Donating handmande items to charity auctions

Shadow Cats frequently holds auctions to raise money for the kitties.  I love charity auctions, it gives me a chance to help both by donating and purchasing interesting items.

At their most recent auction, I made and donated 2 large blankets.

French kitties fleece with a rose minky

Pink and purple floral minky with a light brown minky back

This auction did not seem to have as much interest as previous auctions, but each blanket went for $40.

More Project Linus - how to turn a donation of 3 blankets into 10

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I made and donated 3 blankets to Project Linus after there was a call for help on their Facebook page after the tornado in Washington , IL.

I'm always looking for ways to stretch my donations when I can - there are lots of ways to do so - and in this instance, I thought of Pawtique.  Pawtique is a small business run by a very nice woman in Wisconsin who always has a non-profit, Pennies-for-Paws, Inc.  She makes blankets and other items to help fund her desire to help animals in need.  I've been wanting to help her for a while, but living in Texas, I just don't have a strong need for lots of blankets.

Anyway, I bought 2 blankets from Sally and mentioned the specific cause.  She was not aware of Project Linus, but was very happy to send not only the blankets I purchased, but she raised funds to cover her costs and donated her time to make 5 more.  That's 7 additional blankets for kids affected by the tornadoes - the two I purchased, plus the five she donated.  With my original 3 that is a total of 10 blankets, plus I raised awareness of Project Linus for the supporters of Pawtique and Pennies-for Paws, Inc., and hopefully vice versa.

This was a total win-win-win.

Project Linus Blankets

I'm a fan of Project Linus.  A few days ago a plea was made on their Facebook page for 2,000+ blankets to give to the children affected by the tornadoes in Washington, IL.  I pledged to make and send 3 blankets.

This was a perfect opportunity for me to destash more of my minky.  I had several yards in my closet I had bought for some blanket project I abandoned long ago.  I don't have any printed fleece or minky, so I had to stop at Joann's (whoopsies...although I swear I only bought the patterned fabric I needed for these three blankets...the first time I stopped in, anyway).

I'm not a huge fan of fleece (excluding minky, of course, which makes the world better in general), but it makes sewing with minky quite a bit easier and there are so many gorgeous patterns.  I'm pretty happy with the way these turned out.

Cherry blossom fleece with a baby pink minky.

I said I didn't like fleece in general, but this one is amazingly soft.

Polar bears playing hockey with snow white minky.

Each of these are made with two yards of fabric (front and back).  They will probably be distributed to older kids or teens, so I tried to make the patterns fit accordingly with older kids' taste.  The most common size for Project Linus blankets are 40" by 60", so somewhat smaller than what I did.

Brown and teal butterfly fleece with teal minky.

Project Linus has local chapters and frequently posts large-scale needs on their Facebook page, so watch them if you would like to help as well.

Project Linus' website: http://www.projectlinus.org/
Project Linus' Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/projectlinus

Ready to get mailed.

Kitteh Beds

I have a silly amount of minky pieces left over from past projects.  A creative fabric hoarder will find something to do with the stash so she can go out and fill her closets once again!

This month, my favorite kitty sanctuary was in a contest that would have replaced all the kitty beds!  Sadly they lost out by thismuch, so no extra beds.  I don't have the time or expense to replace all the beds, but I can do something, and properly destash my minky scraps at the same time.

Blue minky pieces with a mouse-themed fat quarter.

My goal for the month is at least 10 beds, and I have 6 completed.  

5 oval beds ready to go.

In addition to the minky, I'm finding a number of kitty-themed fat quarters I can use up as well.

Green minky bed with kitty themed bottom.  Maybe too cute to be the bottom of the bed?

I'm also throwing in my saddish-attempt at snuggle sacks.  

 Part of a minky strip quilt that never made it to the finish line.