Bee Kind Blog Hop

 Thanks Joan for yet another very interesting and wide open to interpretation Hop Topic.

For me to talk about my Kindness I need to share a little of my current lifestyle..  We are retired and living in an adult community in Central Florida with a population of around 150,000.  Yes that number is correct. While not all of the residents are retired the large majority are and they are very, very active.  We have any physical activity you can imagine available including but not limited to golf, bowling, tennis, pickle ball, bocce ball, bicycle riding at many levels, walking, swimming, dragon boats etc. etc.   We also have well over 2500 different registered clubs covering any and everything  including any craft you can think of.

Many of the various groups support in one way or another a charity either locally or nationally.  I belong to 4 different craft groups, quilting, embroidery, yarn work, and cricut .  All of which support many groups in need including but not limited to NICU's and Cancer care.

By now you should have a picture of how and why I am able to be kind and share that kindness. It's just pretty much everywhere you look.

This community also boasts a huge US Veteran population. Two of my favorite areas to show kindness are  associated with the Men and Women who are putting or have put their lives on the line for us. 

I am an active member of Operation Shoebox, a group that sends goodie bags to active troops around the world. This year the group is on target to send 30,000 bags out to the troops.  The bags contain hand written Thank You notes, HBA items, cookies and snacks, puzzle pages from the local papers, paracord bracelets and various other small items.

The group has several hundred members broken out into multiple sub groups each with a specific job. I belong to 2 groups and do occasional work with 2 more.  My main table is Paracord Bracelet's. The photo above shows 50 bracelets, my labor contribution most weeks.  I aim to make 10 each night during the week after dinner. The group is made up of cord cutters, bracelet (macrame) makers,  the folks who seal the ends of the bracelets, fund raisers etc.

I also work with the misc. craft makers fund raising group. We make assorted items for sale to earn money to  pay for shipping the bags around the world. It is a perfect group for me as it gives me an outlet for all my misc. crafting ideas.  I am one of those  crafters that never makes one of something if I can make 5. These trays and pot holders are my current contributions.

I also work with Honor Flight. That's a National  Organization that takes Vets to Washington DC to see the Veterans memorials, National Cemetery and the changing of the Guard. Sorry but I'm not sure what else they do on the trips.  The local chapter makes 4 trips per year with 64 vets per flight.  Part of what the local chapter includes in this 24 hour event is that each Vet gets a RWB quilt at least  40 x 60.  Most of the quilts are made by members of the Quilt Guild of the Villages either individually or as chapter group projects. Quilts are set out and each Vet gets to choose one from among the 80 or so that are available for each trip. These quilts were my contributions for this year.

So what I take away from all of this is that kindness is a 2 way street. Yes I give but what I get back, on so many levels is incalculable. I have made so many new friends and learned so many new things working  with these groups and what positive things we are able to accomplish. I feel that I have received back so much more then  I give or I could possibly have imagined. 

Now on to the Bee part of this hop.  I assume that most of you have seen the zip pouch made from Dollar Tree Dish Drying Mats that have been all over YouTube.  A couple of months ago I saw a video (by Chelse at She Sews Seams)  and made a couple for the fun of it. They came out fine and took less than half an hour.

A couple of weeks ago I saw a Drying Mat with Bees and Bee Hives at I think Hobby Lobby. The mat was much larger then the one from $tree and I thought it would be a great extra for this hop.  I sat down the other night to knock one out and realized that this was a directional design going the wrong way for it to be used for the quickie pouch. Very annoying to say the least.  I left it and came back to it the next morning and decided that I could cut it up and put it back together again and all would be well.

Ta Da and I still half of the mat left to do it again.  The mat was really a lot bigger than my original mats from $ tree, thankfully, and did allow me to get a usable pouch made. The inside isn't as neat as an uncut mat but I'm not going to advertise that fact.

So it's time to say so long for this month. I hope you will follow along and see just how much kindness this group provides. Here is a complete list of all of all of the participants for this month.

Oh and BEE KIND and leave a sweet word or two for each of them if possible.

Monday Sept 23

MooseStashQuilting

Words & Stitches

Selina Qullts

Just  Sew  Quilter

Scrapdash

Tuesday Sept 24

Patchouli Moon Studio

Quilted Snail

Quilt Schmilt

Quilted Delights

Hazels Daughter

Wednesday Sept 25

BeaQuilter

Karrin's Crazy World

That Fabric Feeling

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Quilting Between the Rails

Thursday Sept 26^th

Just Let Me Quilt

Ms P Designs USA

Quilting Gail

Songbird Designs