We've had many requests for updates with the I Love First Peoples sewing donation drive, so earlier this month I posted an update as Amanda and I began the sorting process. You can read all about Janome Canada's partnership with the Canadian organization I Love First Peoples by using the Search box, or by clicking this LINK. We've been so impressed, not only for the amount and variety of the items, but for the pleasant, unexpected little surprises we've uncovered along the way.

Janome Canada in partnership with I Love First Peoples is bringing the love of sewing to Indigenous schools in remote communities across Canada

Many of you included hand written cards and letters thanking Janome Canada for donating the Janome 2030 QDC sewing machines to the ILFP's Sew and Sew program, which will bring the love of sewing to Indigenous schools; Grade 4 to Grade 12, in remote communities across Canada. Thank you for those! It is so exciting and rewarding to think of a new generation of sewists just waiting to discover the joys, and rewards of expressing one's creativity through sewing!

It's been fun sorting through the donations and discovering little notes like this heart-shaped one below. No name was attached, but a thoughtful quilter took a few extra minutes to write a cute description of the jar's contents; clips used for binding, which were bought before the perhaps more widely available and widely used plastic Wonder Clips made by Clover. Isn't that adorable?!

Kits save so much time as most everything needed to complete the project is included, and Monika Henry, of Penny Spool Quilts, not only donated the fabric, she donated her time creating a kit with pattern and instructions included so a budding young sewist can get started on a project right away! I totally want to make this quilt myself! lol!

Amanda and I think this kit is sew adorable!

We are thrilled to receive SO many bags of thread, but especially loved this sewist's donation box as all the threads were so beautifully separated by colour. I bet their stash of fabric is organized in same way. This will definitely save Amanda and I time as we distribute the thread so every school gets a whole rainbow of colours, just like a box of crayons.

Look at all that YUMMY thread!

Many of us have learned the hard way that it pays to take a little extra time to close the rotary cutter after use. Every sewist, especially those who haven't used the tool before will appreciate the reminder that it's SHARP and needs to be handled with care. We received many rotary cutters, and yes, all the blades were closed, but several of them had extra covers, and/or extra notes to "handle with care" and "sharp!" written on them. Thank you for taking the extra time to do this, the schools will appreciate it!

Safety First with a sharp rotary cutter!

There were many more donations pre-sorted in little baggies of like items together; many fabrics neatly cut and folded with the dimensions written on an attached note; bags of scraps neatly pressed and sorted. All of these extra efforts, all this extra time was not necessary and not expected, but is VERY much appreciated! Thank you sew much to everyone who donated!

Once all the donations are sorted into categories, Amanda and I will begin the final sorting and distribution so each school receives a variety of notions, fabric, irons, and thread; everything they need to get started sewing right away! To be continued.....lol!

Happy Sewing!