Quilters in Canada are making blankets to give a warm welcome to Ukrainian refugees. Dozens of volunteers in Southern Manitoba have come together, sewing colorful scraps of fabric into quilts to offer as gifts to Ukrainian refugees arriving in the province. When Maureen Carr saw the news on TV of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, she felt she needed to do something to help. She put out a call for all quilters and non-quilters in the area to join her in a project to give arriving Ukrainian refugees a warm welcome.
Carr and more than a dozen volunteers, mostly retired women from Carman, Manitoba, worked together and in just six days they produced 130 quilts and afghans. On Saturday, the quilters put the quilts on display at a local community center and invited residents to come and see their handyworks. A donation jar they placed at the entry to the hall quickly filled up. After paying for some materials, the group plans to give the remaining money away with the quilts.
Nigel Bart, a local artist who came to view the quilts was impressed with the quilters’ work and thought the quilts were an appropriate gift to give to the new arrivals. "Quilts are immensely symbolic," says Bart. "You're sewing patches, different fabrics together. This is what multiculturalism here in Canada is about." Every quilt they make with love and on the flip side of each one is a heart-shaped patch that reads, “Welcome to Canada. We care.”
Source: CBC