Quilts for Japan

 This was the easiest quilt to make, nine different transport fabrics, sew into a large nine patch.  Cut into four, turn blocks, sew back together and add borders!    As posted previously I had made the mistake of stippling it in dark colour which looked awful.  I pulled this out and re quilted it in straight lines in mono filament and I was much happier with the end result. 

 I was very happy with this quilt, Bright Stars, it is bright, cheerful, I got to practise my FMQ on it (LOL!) and I finally got over my fear of using white fabric!  You cannot tell but the white background actually has little black stars all over it. 

This is the cot quilt that started me on the long long journey of UFOs!  I had always intended this quilt to be for the child of one of my oldest friends, who resides in Japan, married a Japanese man and had her first baby 10 years ago!!  So when I finally finished it in February it was certainly my intention to send it to Japan to keep someones baby warm.  The scenes of the tsunami sweeping across landscape will haunt me for a long time.  It is those feelings of hopelessness that make me grateful I am a quilter, because I know that apart from donating money, I can make a quilt, which will in a small way enrich the life of someone else.   I found these words on the Internet, kindly translated into Japanese, which I printed out and included on the label of my three cot quilts;
"May this quilt keep you safe from harm,
may it be your good luck charm,
I do not know your name or the mountains you face,
what you hold in your arms is a quilters embrace."
Words by Cathy Miller, The Singing Quilter - who gave her permission for the words to be included labels of quilts for Japan. 
A special THANK YOU to Kristen who saved the day by taking these photos as I was on my way to the post office to meet the deadline to get these quilts to Japan. 
Happy quilting Sue.