one year ago today

March 11, 2011 Japan suffered one of its greatest natural disasters in history.  A 9.0 earthquake and tsunami struck.  That day, I got a phone call from our local Fresh and Easy store that was soon to be opening letting me know we had just been awarded $1,000 for our Binky Patrol chapter.  I decided to purchase an Accuquilt Studio fabric cutter and a couple of strip dies so we could get busy making quilts for the children of Japan. 

Busy we got.  We put the word out and about 3 months later we sent 1144 quilts to Japan with the help of FedEx.  I can't believe a whole year has gone by.

As I was searching the internet, looking for some pictures, I came across this blog that describes their efforts to collect and send quilts to Japan as well.  Just look at the picures of all of the quilts they collected!  Wow.  Lots of comfort in the form of quilty hugs.

http://pattispatchwork.com/2011/05/20/a-gesture-of-kindness-to-victims-in-japan/

Now, on to the next project, quilts for the tornado relief effort, after I finish covering these rock climbing mats for my high school.  I worked from 8-4 yesterday and got 3 finished.  I have two more to go and have to get them done before they suck the life out of me!  I've been working on them for 3 months already.  They are nothing like quilting.  They are these huge, six by eight foot foam mats that weigh about 50 pounds each and are so akward to lift and move by myself.  I have no place to easily store them so have to drag them here and there and can't just move them out when I want to work on them for a few minutes.  So, I decided to just suck it up and work on them all weekend and get them done!