‘A Gift of Quilts’ is a project being organised by Jenny Rundle and her team of quilters to encourage stitchers all over the UK to make and donate up to 500 patchwork quilts. The object is to give a quilt to each country participating in the London Olympics and Paralympics in 2012 as a unique sign of friendship and peace.
Quilters in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, organised a similar event in 1996 and presented 397 quilts to the Olympic teams during the Centennial Games of that year.
Sebastian Coe, Chairman of The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games & Paralympics Games Ltd has given support to the “A gift of quilts” project. How the quilts will be presented is being currently being decided by the Ceremonies Director of the Organising Committee.
This project was conceived early in 2008 by Jenny and it has taken until now to get support for the project and begin the process of asking for quilts to be made and donated. It is also envisaged that there will be an exhibition of the quilts prior to the Games including a book and DVD.
Quilters of the UK are being asked to help make this come to fruition and to spread the message of unity and friendship through quilting. Cathy Miller, Canada’s singing quilter says in her talk that we “can heal the world one stitch at a time”. If we could bring a small amount of happiness and peace to the countries participating by our stitches just think what an achievement that would be.
The 'Gift of a Quilt' is open to anyone, any age, any skills, it can be an individual, a group of friends, a village project, a school project, a community project involving care homes, day centres, all you need to be able to do is hold a needle.
Click here to check out their website for more information
Thanks for the link Ros.
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