Lois Designs - no products but the social responsibility's up & running...

No products on the new Lois Designs blog yet as I'm still testing and developing prototypes to make sure they're fit for purpose.  Hopefully there'll be a few taster photos up in a few weeks.

However I have just posted information about where the charitable donation of 10% of my net profits are going to go - to two centres working in the slums in Nairobi Kenya.  I visited them as part of a team with church back in 2006, and spent a very happy 3 weeks working with the sewing school teachers on sewing machine maintenance, hand embroidery and hand sewn patchwork.

I promised to support them for five years, and any cash from this new venture is additional to that commitment.  I would love to go back and visit, but first I think I need to gather the funds to fulfill the pressing needs they've told me about.  Also, the flights etc costs so much, I can't help thinking the cash itself could be better spent by them on new equipment rather than a trip for me... unless of course they decide they need my skills, which will be fine, but just going because I feel like it isn't the way forwards! 

Part of the reason I'm doing the Block Lotto this year is to find ways of using scraps and leftover fabric - when I was there, they just sold the scraps for pence per bag as cushion filling etc.  Hand patchwork skills will enable them to use some of the bigger pieces, and now I'm getting great ideas about how to use the smaller ones...