Project Santa is almost over. The group I'm working with made 1000 stockings last year but only about half the people showed up this year to work on them. This is the first year that I was invited into the group. I mentioned that if last year was 1000 that we should do more. Everyone yelled, "NO! Last year almost killed us."

We now have 824 decorated with 236 sewn and ready to decorate for a total of 1060!! I've been sewing more this morning but even if we don't get them done we've still gone over the 1000 mark!!! We have 6 hours left in the group meetings to get them decorated. We did 136 Saturday in two hours with only 4 people decorating. I believe we'll make it!

Wonderful job for a Great project. You can do it!

There is nothing that can't be accomplished by a group of dedicated volunteers. Congratulations.

Congratulations, job well done. Was missing your posts, now I know why you were absent.

:thumbup: :D

Way to go! Would love to see a picture if you have the time. :)

Congratulations! What a wonderful thing to do.

Well, we're all done and stupid me forgot to take pictures! Anyway, we decided to send a couple hundred to our local county nursing home and will still be taking over 900 to send to the troops. The final count was 1,157! YEA!!!!! DD came out ever Tuesday and Thursday after school to help decorate and for the last week a couple of her friends joined her. Some of the stockings became quite whimsical but a lot were very elegant. We scrounged Goodwill, private stashes, Salvation Army, sale racks and anywhere else we could think of to come up with enough fabric. Several of us took off in different directions to try to find fabrics suitable for appliques. Mostly what we made the stocking bodies from was plain or gently printed fabric, the mock cuffs were plain or Christmas print and then we had to locate Christmas prints that were large enough or had enough room between them that we could use some ultrahold Heat and Bond on them for appliques. We've cut out until our hands are swollen, sat and sewn until our feet are swollen and our backs aching but all for a great cause.
I'm leaving for a quilting retreat at Threads of Time in Danville this morning but several of the ladies are traveling to LaSalle, Il on Monday to help stuff the stockings with the goodies that a lady there gets donated or purchases with money that's been donated. I hope there will be a lot of soldiers who's day will be made a little brighter by what we've helped do. I've brought home a large storage tub of stocking fabric and after the first of the year will start on next year's stockings. If, and I pray that it does, the war should end and our men and women come home there's plenty of nursing homes, childrens homes and other worthy causes locally that they can still be donated to.