I have been lucky enough to be asked again to donate to another Grow Hope Foundation Auction. Of course it’s more than a pleasure, Kimberly Taylor has such a big hear,t how could anyone say no?

She’s enlisted many incredible artists who donated work from their sketch books. The pieces won’t be revealed until Friday. Personally, I can’t wait. Shhh… don’t tell anyone but I’ve taken a few sneak peeks.

Although this wasn’t from my sketch book it was a rough for a wedding dress commission. I sewed it on two pieces of paper. One piece is handmade/printed. The other is a heavy weight rag paper. Both are archival papers.

My hope is we can make the world feel as beautiful as this bride did on her wedding day… filled with potential, hope and love. I know it’s an overdose of sweet sentiment! What can I say? The Grow Hope Foundation make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!

WANTED: 30 to 40 pieces of fabric that are 2 yards/2 metres in length and 45 inches/1.25 metres in width

It can be pieced or all one length of material. The only requirement is that the edges are finished so they don’t fray (leaving the selvages is totally okay.) Any kind of fabric is perfect (well, not polar fleece or vinyl)  and any print or solid will do!

Once again, I’m teaming up with Kimberly Taylor from the Grow Hope Foundation. Kimberly (who took the stunning photo above) is wanting to go back to Uganda in January 2015 and give away this fabric to these lovely ladies in this village. These ladies work extremely hard to get water each day, feed and take care of their families. They especially like to wrap their hips in fabric to make them look as big as possible for when they dance. You gotta love that! It’s also used to carry their babes, to sit on (while they visit and make beads) among other things.

I know I have some fabric socked away and  I LOVE the idea that it will go onto a new life swinging on someone’s hips!

Sewers, fabric collectors, we can do this! Are you with me?! If you are, just leave me a comment and I will send you an email with my address or we will figure out some way to connect. You’re awesome!

PS. The Grow Hope Foundation is holding an amazing auction that opened yesterday and will run until tomorrow Friday November 14. I suggest you don’t bid on the striped camera bag though, wink, wink!

Oh, sheesh, sorry. Dude! You’re in the way.

Yes you, skadattle!

Okay, there we go, I blogged about it back in March of 2013. I recently donated this pillow to The Grow Hope Foundation, spearheaded by Kimberly Taylor. I met Kim back in 2007 when we were invited over for dinner shortly before our husbands started working together. Kim was very warm and welcoming and the dinner was amazing. Their house was filled with heart felt family photos and I believe she had just started collecting her vintage cameras (a collection that now sits beautifully on their mantel). Just around that time Kim started a blog to show off her amazing photography including photos of her yummy food and life on her beautiful farm they have the cutest chicken coop!).  Her blog was pretty pivotal in my life because it, along with a handful others, inspired me to start my own blog a few years later. Kim was a bona fide Martha Stewart and to be honest it was a little intimidating. However at that dinner, Kim and her husband were upstairs cleaning up dishes while we were all downstairs. I had walked upstairs to get something out of my bag and I must have been extra stealthy quiet because I caught her and her husband kissing… awkward, yes but it was adorable and I thought, I bet I’d never catch Martha Stewart doing that! Which made Kim seem very human to me. She was a wife and a mom, with a home to take care of. It was filled with her family, gardens and animals, all of which you could tell she loved very dearly.

It’s with this big heart that The Grow Hope Foundation came to be. The Grow Hope Foundation, in partner ship with the Sustainable Community Education Program (SCEP), have been helping building communities in Uganda. They’re helping by showing people in the community how to build new latrines, teaching the importance of sanitisation (washing hands after using the washroom and before eating). They are currently working on building a learning compound where locals will have the opportunity to learn how they can improve their lives through, sanitation, hygiene, nutrition and skills training. Their next big goal is to put in a well, so they don’t have to trek off to pick up water everyday but instead put their energy into planing gardens to feed their families.

We we were visiting Kim and her family last weekend she showed me the jewellery that the women of this community make. She told me they get together twice a week for an hour or so and make these beads. They roll them and shellac them, let them dry in the sun and string them. They are so finely made. I’ve seen paper rolled beads before but none like these. As Kim said to me, “It’s the women, they are the ones that really get me” and I have to agree with her. When I saw the beads I just couldn’t help but think, this was probably made by a woman that was born the same year as me, she might even have two boys of her own. She gets together with her friends and makes things just like me. Then Kim told me that all the ladies wanted for their time and all the jewellery they’ve made was two chickens each. Two, just two. Not money, two chickens. They figured there are roosters around and if they get chicks they can raise them for meat. In the mean time at least they would have the eggs to feed their family… big breath, push back tears, I’m all farklempt now… so as you can imagine I’m quite honoured to have been asked by Kim to partake in her auction to raise proceeds for The Grow Hope Foundation. I’ll keep you posted about it but in the meantime if you are interested in donating or learning more about this amazing project you can do so here.

Thanks so much and especially for popping by!