Those who sleep under a quilt sleep under♥♥♥ a blanket of love♥♥♥

How small our world is. ....As I was preparing for my voyage to Alberta and reviewing some of the history of Edmonton Alberta, I realized, at that very moment I was contribuing to a wonderful program developed in this exact same city. Because this week ( as I do every year around this time) I made my deliveries for "The Blanket Of Love Porgram."

The winter projects are all done and the results are fantastic. I delivered 6 beautiful quilts to the Yarmouth Nova Scotia Hospital Psychiatric unit for the "Blanket of Love" Porgram. Women in the area take it upon themselves to make and contirbute these quilts for the clients on the unit. This program is a project of the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia.

History
Sheila Ethier, R.N. founded the program in 1996 for patients with a mental illness at the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton, Alberta. Since its inception, over 1000 quilts have been donated to patients across Canada who are in need of comfort and hope.
How the program was started:"I created the Blankets of Love project in the summer of 1996. I was a patient on the psychiatric ward at the University of Alberta Hospital several times for the treatment of major depression. I remember how lonely and isolated I had felt from the rest of the world. I was always cold and looking for more blankets. "One afternoon while at home I came across a quilt my grandmother had made for me when I was a young girl. I looked at the worn, bright yellow and orange patchwork quilt and I remembered the day my grandmother had given it to me. In reliving memories of my grandmother and of the love expressed in making a quilt just for me I immediately felt a peace wash over me. I covered myself with my quilt made of love and let the warmth soothe my cold, achy body. In those quiet comforting moments I knew 'Blankets of Love' would help other people. And so the program began."
-- Sheila Ethier
Sheila Etier R.N., "Count It All Joy" founder of the Blanket Of Love Porgram.

As much as I hate to part with my quilts, donating them and knowing they are received by people who will benefit from them, makes it all worthwhile. The first quilts I make at the begining of each new year are for the "Blanket of Love" .