Posted by Tammy (66.222.126.130) on September 06, 2003 at 09:19:07:
In Reply to: high fuctioning residents posted by Ali on September 03, 2003 at 05:16:07:
A group I did that was successful was Project Linus. If you have residents that are interested in making blankets/quilts for children that are in the hospital then I think you will enjoy this activity. I started out my talking the the creative arts group about the idea and they expressed interest in it. We started out by obtaining fabric, batting, thread,from our local Project Linus chapter (you can find them on the internet) or donations from staff, families and volunteers. I made 6x6 inch cardboard squares to use as tracing patterns. Each resident started out by tracing squares on fabric and cutting them out. The next time we met I brought my sewing machine in and had a resident sew the squares together. She would sew a row of 6 or 8 squares together. She would then make about 8-20 more rows and then sew all the rows together. Once that was complete, I would lay the batting on the floor and pin the fabric to the batting. (Batting goes on the back side). The fabric and the batting were then sewn together around the edges. Then I would take another sewn fabric of squares and pin that to the fabric/batting for the back side. (Pin wrong sides of fabric together). I would have a resident sew this together, leaving an openning of about 8-12 inches. I then turned the blanket inside-out so that the batting was now on the inside. One of the residents was given a large darning needle to sew the openning closed. Another resident (maybe someone who doesn't like to come out of their room) is given a large darning needle and yarn to "tie" the blanket together. If you've ever seen a homemade blanket, look at the yarn knots on it and you'll understand how this is done. The residents that really enjoyed this program always came on their own to this program. I also had the help of a volunteer or a staff member to assist me with this project. The residents feel a sense of accomplishment and know that they are providing warmth and comfort for a child. It seems like a lot of work, but once you get the hang of it, the group runs very smoothly. This group would last for an hour, but the residents would have preferred that it last all afternoon.