Blood offering?

This morning I spent an hour repairing a collection bag for my church. The original black velvet bag had worn out, so I took my math skills (diameter times Pi) to make a new bag for this wonderful old oak handle. I decided to be thrifty, since money is always tight in churches, and use a piece of fuchsia velvet gifted to me by someone in my congregation. I like the cheerful colour and I'm thinking a bright bag might get more notice (and therefore more $$). After all, God loves a cheerful giver, and I feel cheerful when I see this colour.

Here is the finished bag after an hour of sewing and hammering the wooden tacks into the bag. I made two bags,because I had enough fabric and I know some of the other bags are wearing thin as well. The sewing went fine, but the hammering not so good. After getting the bag upside down and them inside out, I had a little accident with the screwdriver when taking out the tacks for the second time. Ouch!

Head over to visit Prairie Peasant to see the latest collection of the block challenges from our guild, the Strippiecers. I forgot my camera when we met last week, but Laura got some great pix.
Also, for those of you who were shaking their heads and wondering why I was advocating making blankets last week when all the relief organizations were asking for money, here's an update. Mennonite Central Committee Manitoba is sending 10,000 heavy comforters as well as 10,000 sheets to Haiti on Feb. 28. Check out mcc.org/kits for information on sizes and methods. They 're saying that since so many Haitians are sleeping outside, the comforters/blankets will be used for mattresses or shelter and the sheets for mosquito protection.