Helping hands for Haiti

This is one of four blankets 12 pairs of hands helped make this afternoon on our day off of work and school. These six girls, three pairs of sisters, are holding the one we all agreed was the prettiest. It is tied with with pink crochet cotton and backed with the same green as the top. I asked for volunteers from my church to help me tie blankets for Mennonite Central Committee to send to Haiti for use as mattresses and beds. If they don't go to Haiti, they will go to other people in need.
Below they are laid out on the floor. I've supplied instructions before on how to make a blanket, but this time I took my biggest pieces of yardage, including some wool suiting, and sewed until they were at least 60 by 80 for the tops, and 65 by 85 for the backings. I took an old picnic table cloth with flannel on the back and cut holes in a six-inch grid that we used to mark the tops for tieing. The blanket on the right had two nice sides--the printed polished cotton bordered by the green, and the wool suiting, also pieced, tied with rows of pink and blue thread. Click on the photos to see the details.
Thanks to all the helping hands today. We had fun talking and eating and tieing, and we've made the lives of at least four more people just a little bit more comfortable.