What is the first thing you think of when you hear the word “Africa”?  For me, it’s heat.  I think of savannahs and jungles and deserts.  But apparently, it can also get quite cold.  Mothers and newborns have been dying of hypothermia in Tanzania.  Karen Klemp and Jane Krogstad have started a program called Hope 2 Others to put together kits of things to help mothers and babies survive, including warm hats.  Nancy Zieman, a famous quilter, is encouraging others to help by making heart-shaped hats from this pattern that you can print off your computer:  http://www.nancyzieman.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Hope-2-Others-Heart-Shape-Hat-Pattern.pdf.

The Trillium Quilt Guild has taken on this project as one of our charitable donations.  A couple of women at the group gave me some polar fleece and a pattern and I started cutting and sewing today.

You want to make sure to cut the hats out so that the brim of the hat is on the stretchy side.

Fold the fabric over and pin the pattern right up against the fold.

Cut around the pattern, but not along the fold.

If you open the fabric, you can see why it’s called a heart-shaped hat.

Sew a quarter-inch seam along the cut edge.

Snip the threads

Turn the hat right side out.

Fold up a cuff. You don’t even have to stitch the cuff edge!

The finished hat.  Isn’t it adorable?

This project is so easy, a child could do it!  This would be a good project to do with a child to teach them about compassion and giving.

I spent a couple of hours this morning cutting the hats out. I worked on it off and on throughout the day besides working a full day. By this evening, I had made fifty hats!

If you want to join the project, donations of hats, booties, blankets, or other much-needed baby items can be sent to Hope 2 Others, P.O. Box 1006, Sun Prairie, WI 53590.