4 DAYS LEFT

UPDATE

As of now I have enough money to purchase 7 sewing machines.  Some of the kids will just have to share until we have the rest of the money.  I made a little over $100 at our rummage sale and I'll be manning a craft station at the Bayshore Chalk Fest in a couple weeks which will bring in another $150.  That will be $250 towards purchasing a storage cabinet for the sewing machines and sewing kits. So in spite of not making all the money I need, I still feel like I'm in a good spot to get things rolling.

 AWESOME THINGS

• My husbands uncle, who is a retired upholsterer, donated a bunch of large rolls of upholstery fabric. Thank you so much Uncle Mike Annen! About half of what I got out of his old workshop will go to the after school program and the other half (not suitable for beginner sewing projects) will go to Milwaukee Youth Theatre for sets and costuming.  
•  An employee from WDS (Wisconsin Drapery Supply) contacted me and they donated tons (TONS!) of trims, tassels, beading, as well as yards and yards of drapery fabric. Thank you Peppy Wisialowski for thinking of me and my program!
• My Aunt, Bonnie Ruecker, sent me a serger. Yes, a real honest to goodness serger. I haven't used it yet because there just hasn't been time but I'm planning on sitting down this August and figuring it all out. Thank you Aunt Bonnie!  
• A complete stranger named Mary Prince contacted me and said "I have a dress form you can have, and maybe some fabric and other misc. stuff as well". I went to her house last week and came home with a car full of goodies. Mary Prince, you are a jewel! Thank you!

THANK YOU TO SOME MORE WONDERFUL DONORS

• Mary Stott. Mary is on the Board of Directors at ABK Weaving Center and was so wonderful as to take over the newsletter for me this year.  
• Jan Falk. Jan is an amazing felt artist. She is currently exhibiting some work at the Wisconsin Quilt Museum in Cedarburg. Hopefully, she will also have a piece in this years Warped Milwaukee. 
• Dawn Hordyk. Dawn has a heart for children. She exudes enthusiasm and encouragement. In a world full of Debbie Downers we need more Dawns. 
• Dave and Lori McDonald. Dave and Lori are the owners of Brilliance Solutions in Milwaukee and are active members of TCC. REPRESENT!
• My Aunt and Uncle, Monty and Carolyn Hall. They are probably biking through some dangerous urban area or bear-infested forest right now. Thank you for your encouragement.  

donated fabric

more donated fabric

 

donated dress form keeping my dress form company for now.

donated trims.

even more donated fabric, patterns and other misc.

That's it for now.  Come visit me at the Chalk Fest on the 17th. I'll be there from 10 to 5.  Not sure what I'm doing yet but it will be something with pleather. If you haven't donated yet, you have 4 days to donate through indiegogo.  After that, you can still donate through the school.  I'll put more information up about that later.  I'll talk to you in a couple weeks!

Update #5: Course Curriculum, Print Your Own Flyer, and 2 New Perks!

Syllabus

I finished my syllabus/curriculum.  It's ambitious.  Probably too ambitious but I think that's ok.  From my experience with these kids, I've come to think that too little is expected of them.  I want them to strive to live up to my expectations rather than me living down to theirs.  They are capable of more.  I believe that.  That being said, I'm going to be very flexible with my teaching.  If I find that they just aren't "getting" something, than we'll spend an extra week or two on it and if they are racing ahead, well, I have a lot of smaller projects up my sleeve.  If you would like to see the syllabus I came up with, click here.

What's Next?

I'm going to get out to the different sewing machine repair places this week and see if they can do anything for me machine wise.  Unless the money comes in, I'll be looking at getting used machines.  Not ideal but better than nothing.

On an awesome note, my husband's Uncle used to run a upholstery shop.  He's retired now and he said I can go in and take what I want from the fabric that is left over.  I don't know what's left that is usable but I'm anxious to find out.  That will be this upcoming weekend.

We are having a neighborhood rummage sale on July 13th and I've decided to put whatever I make from that towards this program.  I keep looking around the house thinking "do I really need that?"  HA!  It's remarkable how much stuff we really don't need at all.

Wednesday I will be having some small posters printed up to put up around town, basically anywhere there are people who might be remotely interested in helping this program out. The poster will be the size of a sheet of paper with tabs you can tear off that will have the web address of the indiegogo campaign. If you know of a place where I definitely need to put one, please send me a message.

More Bribery

So while cleaning out the basement I found some more bribes, not like the first one worked but hey, maybe that's because $100 is just more than what people want to give?  How about a $25 bribe?

For a $25 donation you can receive one of the following:

Leaving Mississippi purse

My Sister and I purse

When you donate, leave a note which one you want and your address.  I'll get it in the mail early next week. 

 

How You Can Help

If you haven't donated, donate.  Please.  I know that money is tight but even $10 would help out a lot. The other thing is that I only have about 30 days left in my campaign and I really, REALLY, need your help to get the word out. Share my blog links on your facebook page and in all your groups. Email it to your great Aunt Mimi the quilter, who complains loudly over the behavior of young people these days.  Or any other person who loves fiber or art or kids, or all three. 

Lastly, remember that poster I'm having printed up this week?  Here is a link so that YOU can print it out at home and take it to your yarn/fabric shop, local coffee house, book club meeting, church, wherever.  I'd very much appreciate it.