This is a quilt I've had around for a while - the blocks came from a block swap ages ago and were eventually made up into a quilt in May 2008, apparently (according to my handy blog!) - the problem with this quilt is that it's not quite big enough for my bed (it should work in theory, but I tried it for about a week and it just wasn't right) and a little too big to just hang around the house as a throw quilt - it would be fine for a double bed, but mine is larger. As it's never really been used, I've decided it's the perfect quilt to donate to a collection of quilts going off to Japan to help furnish some of those who have lost everything with a new start, in a few months time. Midsomer Quilting in Bath is acting as a collecting centre, liaising with a quilter in Japan. I'm sure there are probably other initiatives as well, but this is one I happen to know about...
Obviously, other things are needed in Japan as well - I'm sure donations of money can be put to great use, especially in the short term - but as I am a quilter, I almost always have several "spare" quilts floating around my house, either because they have been put aside to be presents at some future point or because they were made with no specific purpose in mind and therefore, don't always suit our house - so it makes sense to donate one. I did think about using a quilt as a raffle prize to raise money for Japan on my blog* but in the end decided to simply donate an actual quilt as I think it will be gratefully received and hopefully respected as well. Quilting has a strong tradition in Japan, and while this is nothing like some of the tiny, intricate pieces I've seen made by Japanese quilt artists, it's certainly a quilt I'd be happy to own, even if I hadn't just lost my home...
*I've seen this done before on a blog - someone offered up a quilt as a prize and basically, if you donated money to whatever the cause was, you got chances in the raffle - it works on the honour system - the person auctioning the quilt has to trust that people aren't lying when they say they've donated to the Red Cross or whatever - but we're all trustworthy, aren't we! But in the end, I decided I was too lazy, and just donating a quilt would be a lot less organisational effort.
2 comments:
I've just given 4 tops to a friend that has a longarm for the Japan relief. Quilt tops that weren't earmarked for anything specific, but would be perfect to give a little comfort where it is needed.
Log Cabin quilts are my favorite, along with 9-patch set on point. Yours is gorgeous. I love the colors you used.
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