We are off to a fibre festival

Yes we are!
We are holding a table to help raise awareness and get more squares coming in - so pop over to Yarnival to see what we are up to.

And - with apologies to Angela - some late sharing of photos of some gorgeously soft blankets - They are probably already in Japan!

Thank you - I love love love the colours - thank you so much Angela!!

Retrospective posting

Sorry that this is late - life has been rather hectic here and I have finally got round to adding some more photos of beautiful blankets and toys and a rather large bag of yummy squares which arrived yesterday.

These beautiful blankets have been made by Esther from Happy in Red - 

please pop over and say hello 

These two cute characters were kindly donated by a dear friend from across the road,

she felt strongly that a child's need for them far outweighed her own :)

And finally, another dear friend arrived with a large bag of squares 

(other supermarket bags are available!!) 

excuse me, I shall just go and count them........

110.... yes - one hundred and ten

Fantastic!

Thanks ladies yet again.

Simple pleasures

A simple gesture.
A simple card - some kind words - all these are so easy to do and yet mean so so much.


Look what came in the post -

It is from my wonderful contact - Christina - in Japan. So I emailed her a thank you for her wonderful card asking her to translate the Joyo Kanji ideographs. 
And she sent this back.............





Glad to hear you got the card. Now I have to try and remember which card I sent you! From memory, I  think it was a verse that said "Have Hope and Joy, Don't give up in the difficulties. Keep on Praying".

I think I shared with you how your group's dedication and generosity of sending us blankets and animals really inspired the ladies here in Shichigahama to start knitting blankets in the Yarn Alive class that Teddy Sawka started in the refugee centers (temporary homes). They were blessed by your blankets and so wanted to bless other areas that were devastated by giving them blankets that they made.  Well now, they adore the toys you sent so have been starting to make those too. It seems that Yarn Alive has really taken off and has received a lot of press on radio, tv and print. It's been amazing to see these ladies who have lost everything, come together and enjoy life once again in such a simple yet practical way. Many of these ladies lost their entire collection of yarn and tools - hundreds of dollars worth! Yet on the other hand, some ladies are learning for the first time to knit/crochet - a new hobby that is giving them joy! 

So basically want I want to say is, thank you for being part of the transformation here in Shichigahama. These ladies are now hoping to start selling their knitted goods in order to raise money to put back into Yarn Alive to keep supplying yarn and tools. The blankets and toys that you are sending us are continuing to be distributed in other areas that were also hard hit. Practical warmth, joy and inspiration is what you and your ladies have given us here – I  can't thank you enough. 

I felt all teary when I read this, that us just making blankets coz we can, coz we like to knit and crochet, coz we have the odd ball of wool and this has helped women who have lost so much. Kinda humbling..

Thanks to you - we in some small part have helped them to help themselves and in turn help others.

wow.