I am going through things, my own house will “live” differently from this rented house so I am marking boxes where they will go, which is not necessarily the same room they came from.

Oddly, the rental house has 2 advantages over my own house. Here I have a decent size office, off the front hall. I don’t have an office in my own house, I use the guest room for that. Plus this rental has a lovely Jacuzzi bathtub. I will miss that.

Then again, my own house has a pool with a waterfall on one side of it, so we have the sound of falling water all day, it is nice to hear. My pool has a full screen enclosure so on nice days I can open up almost the whole back of the house. No matter what the weather we leave one of the doors to the pool enclosure open a little, so Jack The Cat can come and go as he pleases.

Plus my own house has (had) freshly painted walls, nice, unstained carpets and appliances that actually work.

But I am digressing again (again), what I wanted to talk about was my idea for what to do with the extra needlepoint supplies, canvases and stash I have.

Because I have a needlepoint web store I have quite a bit of *extra* needlepoint stuff. I have kits that didn’t and never will sell, same thing for canvases.

I have a sizable stock of Anchor #5 & #8 floss. I tried to stock the Anchor #8 when I first started NewNeedlepoint.com but sadly, Coats & Clark Co. does not “support” it with adequate stock. My supplier was often not able to fill orders for some of the colors I needed. In addition I had a sizable collection of Anchor #5 for my own use from back when I was just a plain old stitcher instead of a needlepoint entrepreneur.

I have had to replace my my Anchor #8 stock with DMC #8. I still use the Anchor to make kits with but as I near the end of each box of 12 balls, I can no longer fill kits using it. I then have to switch to the DMC. Plus, with my current stock of 300+ DMC #5 colors, I haven’t touched my Anchor #5 stash in quite a while.

I wanted to give these good supplies to someone or some organization that could use them.

To find one I did what I often do. I asked my friend Jane, the knowledgeable Doyenne of the Chilly Hollow Needlepoint Adventure Blog. She does seem to know everyone and everything, so far anyway!

She remembered something she had seen (or maybe she knew someone who remembered seeing it) a mention on the ANG web site about a woman’s prison in Ohio that wanted needlepoint supplies.

Jane found the address and the co-warden’s (vice-warden’s) email and I contacted her.

I got a lovely answer. They would be glad of the donation of any kind of needlepoint supplies.

I want to quote some of her email to me:
“Our program, the community service stitching post, has reciprocal benefits – it definitely helps the offenders in many ways (keep them busy as they serve their time, teaches them a new skill – if they didn’t know how to stitch before, allows them to give back to the community from which they’ve taken, and builds self-esteem), it helps the management of the prison (busy inmates are well behaved) and community service hours, and last but not least, the community non-profit agencies that we work with receive “free labor” for their meaningful projects like providing all of Ohio children who are in foster care with their own personal blanket or “Sew Much Comfort” which alters clothing so injured veterans at Walter Reed Hospital can put on clothes with a bit more ease.”

I guess they could use knitting yarn too from those of us who do both needlepoint & knit.

The email to contact them is:
Elizabeth.Wright@odrc.state.oh.us

and the mailing address is:
Community Service Stitching Post
Ohio Reformatory for Women
1479 Collins Ave.
Marysville, OH 43040-9102

I am sending them a big box. I have some yards of colored canvas in colors I don’t design for. I have 3 complete kits, 2 of my own design and one hand painted. 1 canvas of my own design and 3 hand painted by others. I sent a big pile of smaller canvases that were sized and hemmed for my now defunct Stitch & Frame Category.

I am sending about 75 skeins of Anchor #5 floss in many colors and a bunch of cards of strandable silk thread.

I think this is a terrific way to use some some of my (or your) untouched thread & yarn stash and those canvases and kits you never, ever will get around to stitching.

I had this thought. You know how relaxing stitching can be. How it can erase stress, soothe worries and in general help you feel better, no matter what.

I can’t imagine anyplace where I might need something to do that will help me feel less stressed, less worried, and more relaxed more than a prison. Can you?

Please pass this idea on to all your friends who stitch or knit. I think it is a good one.