[Nfb-krafters-korner] Mitsy kits

[Carol Osmar]

 Hi all, I called into this chat Monday evening.
Tammy is working hard to making sewing more accessible to blind 
people by providing seminars at senior centers in
Massachusetts where she lives.  She provides a kit to make a 
small quilting project.  She attaches burlap to the edge of the 
quilt squares to make a straight edge to hand sew the squares 
together.

Her web sight is not up yet, but she plans to sell these kits 
online.  She also hopes to expand into other sewing projects.

I told her about our group, and although her goal is to give 
blind people an activity that they can participate alongside 
sighted people, she is very interested in what we do.  I hope she 
and Joyce can talk after the convention.

Carol O
If you always do
 what you always did,
 you will always get
 what you always got.

----- Original Message -----
From: Becky Frankeberger via 
Nfb-krafters-korner<nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org
To: "'List for blind crafters and artists'" 
<nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Sat, 4 Jul 2015 07:31:44 -0700
Subject: [Nfb-krafters-korner] Mitsy kits

Our featured speaker on Branco Broadcast this week will be Tammy 
Rousell.
She will appear Monday, July 6 at 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time.  To 
participate,
please do the following.  Call 712-432-3645.  When you hear the 
man's voice
after the computer voice, press 1 for the main menu, 1 for the 
rooms menu,
and 6 for my conference room.  After you hear the greeting, it 
will ask for
your name.  You don't need to say it.  Hit pound and you will be 
in the
conference.  Here is some information about our guest.

Prior to initiating the Mitsy Kit, Tammy Roussell was an 
Information
Technology manager with over 25 years' experience solving 
business
information system challenges  for organizations including UNUM 
Provident,
LL Bean, Keane consulting, Southwest Airlines, and Liberty Mutual 
Insurance
.  Tammy holds a BAS in Psychology and Management from Dallas 
Baptist
University, and has earned her Lean Six Sigma Master Black belt 
certificate
from Villanova University.

Responding to her desire to serve those in need, Tammy left the 
corporate
world, giving up her six figure salary to pursue a career in 
which she could
improve the quality of life for the elderly and disabled.  
Seeking to take
advantage of her natural problem solving skills and passion to 
help people,
she initially sought out an Occupational Therapy Master's degree.  
However,
her plans shifted as she was increasingly drawn to care for her 
elderly
mother who was healthy in so many ways, but found her life
limited/restricted due to her blindness.

Upon taking a leave of absence from the Occupational Therapy 
Master's
program, Tammy discovered a method to help her blind mother sew 
and quilt
with tactile guides.  What started as an effort to help her 
mother maintain
independence developed into a vision that the greater blind and 
visually
impaired community might also benefit from this tactile guided 
sewing and
quilting method.  Tammy's mom good-naturedly "ran trials" and 
gave feedback
that was used to improve the tactile guided quilting method, now 
called the
Mitsy Kit, after Tammy's mom.

Moving towards developing a nonprofit, Tammy recently submitted a
provisional utility patent application for the Mitsy Kit.  Her 
mom continues
to thrive and maintain independence, enjoying her personal 
success with the
Mitsy Kit to produce a multitude of small to full size quilts, 
quilted
pillows, and quilted wall hangings.  Other like-minded, 
passionate, dedicated
volunteers have contributed to the development of new Mitsy Kit 
quilting
designs for individual purchase and use in group workshops at 
Senior
Centers, Centers for the blind and other community and faith 
based
organizations.  Additionally, a MitsyKit.com e-commerce web site 
is being
developed to make kits available for a nominal price and to 
provide a
revenue source for the blind through sales of their quilted, 
Mitsy Kit
creations.



Tammy will give a brief presentation, and then take questions 
from our
participants.  If you need help getting into the conference, 
please let me
know and I will assist you.  We look forward to hearing from you 
on Monday
night.



    Bob Branco



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