Operation Smile

Do you want to know how loud 14 expat women can be when it's all for a good cause? Really, really quite loud! Members of my Monday quilt group and the Thursday knitting and stitching group gathered in Kehi's house today and made quilts for Operation Smile. Operation Smile provide free reconstructive surgery to children with cleft lip, palate and other facial deformaties. While recovering from these surgeries, nurses place a roll of soft fabric under the patient's necks. A roll of soft fabric is fine, but a quilt is so much better. Of course it is!

Many of the knitting group didn't know how to piece or rotary cut, but they found themselves called upon to choose fabrics for the quilt tops, press the quilts as we stitched, do any handwork required and make copious cups of tea. Trust me, they were vital! Thalia is home from school this week and she came too, tracing applique shapes, taking photos and making a quilt for the pile. She also found herself much in demand when it came to laying the quilt tops on the backings. We had to use the floor for this, and her back and knees are much younger than the average!

Suzanne stitching
Our first finished quilt, modelled by Kehi

Thalia's quilt

Today's effort

In all we completely finished 8 quilts, before we ran out of the fleece we were using for backing. Another two tops are ready waiting for more backing to be purchased, and many of us took home bundles of fabric to make some more. So a day spent doing something really useful, and having great fun with it!