A Blanket Of Love

At the Jerusalem Hills Children's Home, two groups of boys and girls were kept busy and excited, working on a unique and worthy project that became both a very creative as well as useful gesture of giving.

Efrat, a friend of one of the Home's teachers, returned to live in Israel with her husband and three children, after having lived in Japan for twenty years. She suggested that the kids at the Home create patchwork quilts as gifts for homeless Japanese children, victims of the Fokushima earthquake disaster.

Her suggestion was enthusiastically received and the children, 9-11 years old, began creating individual patches of color for the quilts. Each child was given a rectangular piece of white cloth and textile colors, on which he or she drew pictures along with greetings. The end result was 36 beautifully painted patches that came together to create 4 quilts, 40x60 inches in size.

In order to turn these patches of color into strong and usable quilts, Efrat enlisted the help of professional seamstresses who had been recently laid off from their jobs at the Polgat textile factory. The women sewed the patches together, added filling and a strong, warm backing, giving the children's artwork its final form. The children and staff at the Home are grateful for these women's voluntary help.

This week Efrat took the blankets with her to Japan, on a visit to her husband's family, and there she will deposit the blankets with a relief center for the homeless.

With greetings such as "Good Night", "Peace" and "Love" that were integrated into the children's drawings, there is no doubt that these special patchwork quilts will not only warm the Japanese children in their sleep, but will also warm their hearts.

May 2011

  Children working on the quilts