The call was issued at the February meeting of the Bayberry Quilters Guild for quilts for tsunami victims in Japan. The same call was issued by an organization in Golden, Colorado to all quilt guilds in the United States.
At the March meetings of the Bayberry Quilters [they meet on a Tuesday evening for working women and on Wednesday morning for those who don't have day jobs] 122 quilts were collected. Some had been made during that month, many more came from stashes. They were all sizes, from crib size for babies to queen size quilts. They were a wonderful variety of colors, styles and patterns. Although Bayberry's treasury was willing to pay the postage to the collection point in Colorado, a request for donations to defray the cost brought in $336 of the approximately $450 needed for UPS chargers -- and UPS gave a discount for this particular shipment which was several large boxes.
This is only the latest example of generosity. Bayberry, like Empire Quilters which I belonged to in NYC, has ongoing charity projects to give to locally needy people and organizations. Quilters are a generous species. After the Katrina catastrophe thousands of quilts were donated.
Like many quilters, I have more quilts than I need, the top shelves of my closets are full of quilts and there are some under beds as well. I make them for the joy of making, of seeing colors and patterns go together. If someone I know would like to have one, I give it to him or her; if a call comes for donated quilts, I pull out one or two or three. As I write I remember a couple of quilts in my UFO box that I ought to finish -- they are only tops right now. They will be good quilts to have on hand the next time a need arises. And I have so many ideas for quilts I'd like to make and such a lovely stash of fabrics waiting to be used. Being a quilter is a special kind of joy in itself.
