News 11/14/24

You guys have been very generous already with all the donations for our Stash Bash for Santa Pal and for our sewing friends who lost their machines and supplies. Your help has been so appreciated and amazing!

Now you can also make the holidays a little brighter for our neighbors who have been displaced by Hurricane Helene! It's hard to get accurate numbers, but the recent news said that more than 100,000 homes were damaged or destroyed completely by the storm. Many of these people are living in shelters, hotel rooms, with friends and family, campers, and even in tents. 

We're asking everyone to help us spread holiday cheer by making Christmas stockings and handmade Christmas trees. These will be distributed throughout Western NC. We'll also have Menorahs and candles available. 

Click here for a free stocking pattern, but feel free to make stockings using your own favorite pattern. Our pattern uses two fat quarters and is simple to sew, even for a beginner. Don't be afraid to use fabric other than holiday fabric! You can even use non-cotton fabrics. Novelty prints (camouflage, cars, bugs, math symbols, cartoon characters, unicorns, etc.) are popular for stockings. 

We're also collecting handmade mini Christmas trees. Trees can be made from anything -- from wood to styrofoam to fabric to paper -- anything goes! We're hoping for trees ranging in size from 8" to around 18". The idea is to give people a small tree that can be used this year in a temporary space and then hopefully become a treasured holiday decoration for years to come. This would be a great family project over the Thanksgiving break!

Here are some ideas. Just Google "DIY mini Christmas tree ideas" or visit Pinterest to get even more ideas.
 

https://www.coolcrafts.com/cool-christmas-tree-ideas/

https://acraftedpassion.com/diy-mini-christmas-tree-decor-ideas/

https://themariaantoinette.com/2020/12/03/do-it-yourself-festive-mini-christmas-tree-crafts/

https://www.diyncrafts.com/108848/holidays/christmas/40-mini-christmas-tree-decorations-ornaments

Be sure to sign and date your tree, like the piece of art that it is! Remember that you'll need to get the tree here to our store, so be mindful of size and weight if you need to ship it.

Please share this with all your crafty friends. We're hoping to start distributing these right before or shortly after Thanksgiving, so we don't have much time. Please bring or mail stockings and trees to us as soon as possible!

Thanks to your generosity, we raised more than $5500 for Santa Pal! This is just incredible. The money raised will bring joy to so many parents and kids this season!

You've also provided us with an abundance of sewing machines and notions to replace items lost during Helene. At this time, please hang onto the notions and fabrics you may have to donate. We have a pretty good supply at the moment, but people are still coming in to pick up things. Our storage space is very limited, so I'll put the call back out if we need more notions. We do have a good supply of donated machines, but feel free to contact us if you have one to donate. I'll put it on the list and try to match it up with someone in need.

If you know of anyone who lost sewing machines or supplies, please contact us at ashevillecottonco@gmail.com or call us at 828-277-4100. We realize they may not be quite ready to take the supplies, but if they can at least let us know what they need, that would be awesome.

Thank you also for all the generous donations of quilts, pillowcases, and items for one of our local Project Linus groups. It's truly amazing what you guys have done in such a short time to help our community. I wish I had been organized enough to write each of you a thank-you note! Alas, I have lost track of names and addresses. But please know each one of you is in our hearts!