Calling All Crafty People

As most of you are probably aware of, tornadoes have been dropping down on unsuspecting southern cities and destroying a lot of people's homes, cars, land, etc. Tuscaloosa, AL looks like a bomb went off and blew up the city. Many people are without most of their personal belongings. Some people lost nothing. Some people lost somethings. Some people lost everything. Just like after Huricane Katrina, Americans are responding to the urge to help. One of these said people is my friend, Jenn Clark. God has placed a special idea on her heart. She feels like he told her to make blankets for the people who were victimized by the tornado destruction. 

"One of the first things to touch us when we are born is a blanket.  As children, we often find solace in our security blankets.  On family movie nights, we often snuggle together under a big, warm blanket.  There is something about a blanket that helps many people find peace, security and even hope."

In order to raise awareness for this project she created a blog called Wrapped With Hope. It is still in its beginning stages, (I'm still working on the layout/banner and she's working on getting all of the information together) but if you read the first entry, she covers the basic premise of the idea.

Here are the basic guidelines that she's established thus far!

Blanket Guidelines

* Blankets must be handmade.

* Please avoid using fabrics with logos (sports teams, companies, etc.)  We hope to take blankets to all areas affected by storms, so we'd like to keep them neutral.

* We welcome any type of blanket as long as it is handmade.  It can be crocheted, knitted, sewn, etc. If you do not know how to do any of these techniques, please refer to our Ideas page where there are some simple sewing and no sew instructions.

* We are not looking for bed size blankets (though we will gladly accept them!).  Our goal is for lap sized blankets - somewhere around 36" x 48"  They do not have to be those exact dimensions, but that is a general guideline.  they also do not have to be rectangles, squares work as well!  Just as long as they are large enough to comfortably cover a lap.

* You may donate gently used blankets.  Please do not donate blankets with worn spots, lumpy batting or holes.  Most of the items these survivors now own have plenty of battle wounds.  We are looking for clean and fresh, signifying a new beginning.

I also would like to mention that Jenn is accepting monetary donations to help cover material costs and possible other costs to make this happen. If you live here in NC and know me personally, but are not able to make a blanket, for whatever reason, please feel free to make donations to me and I will sew a blanket in your honor. :-) 

Please let me know if you are able to help out! I plan on working on a couple blankets to send to Jenn in GA. If you create blankets to contribute, let me know and we can combine them to save on shipping costs!

For more information, please visit http://wrappedwithhope.blogspot.com/.