How I'm helping to celebrate World Toilet Day

Yes, that's right. World Toilet Day, held every November 19, to help raise awareness for the 2.5 billion people who don't have access to proper sanitation. Until a few months ago, I didn't know there was such a day. But then I heard about a Global Quilt Project through @PieceMama on Twitter. The project is being sponsored by GlobalChange.Me, a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide safe, clean water and sanitation to people living in extreme poverty throughout the World.

GlobalChange.Me is collecting 12x12 and 9.5x9.5 quilt sqaures. Their plan is to put the collected squares together into a quilt that will be auctioned off on November 19, 2010, World Toilet Day. Proceeds from the auction will be used to build two latrines for a school in the Central Africa Republic.

Any quilter knows we don't need an excuse to create with fabric, but sometimes it's nice to have something extra motivating you. I learned about the project months ago, and squares are due by July 31. Of course I put it off until the last minute to create something, but I finished a square this afternoon. I was really hoping to have more than one to donate, but at least I have the one! It will be in the mail tomorrow.

I really had no plan going in to making the block. I grabbed a box of scraps, pulled out some of the biggest pieces, and sat down in front of the machine. Somewhere along the way I figured I'd do something of a crazy quilt block. I managed to do this one without any backing/stabilizer. There's really no rhyme or reason to the fabric placement, but I guess if you turn it one way, it could look like grass, a tall red building, and rays of sunshine. Or it could just be a bunch of scraps I stitched together until I had a 12x12 block.