Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Quilts for Joplin

Earlier this summer my BFF Leslie and I decided to make a quilt for a teenaged girl in Joplin, MO (remember--the terrible tornado in May).  We have a good friend whose daugthers, sons-in-law and 14 grandchildren all live there.  One of those grandchildren was in the storm, but she survived.  So...we have a contact.  We got in touch with our contact and she found out the name of a girl in Joplin whose family lost everything and who would really appreciate a hand made quilt.

We had a lot of fun making it.  Our contact (I'll call her Sheryl, 'cause that's her name) didn't reveal to us the whole story until we pinned her down for more info.  It turns out this teenaged girl has 4 sisters and 4 brothers.  Our hearts were touched and we  COULDN'T make just one quilt.  We enlisted the help of our stitch group (there are 7 of us in all) and we decided there HAD to be quilts made for all the kids and their parents.

A few weeks have passed.  All 10 quilts are underway!  We're getting help from one of our members who is spending the summer in Colorado.  We're also getting help from a dear friend of mine who lives in Reno, Nevada.  We announced this project to our guild and help has been pouring in.  We've had 3 volunteers for doing some the machine quilting.  Ladies at the shop where I work (Cotton Patch, Tulsa, OK) have donated batting and others locally and around the country have donated money to get the others quilted.

I'm happy to announce that the first quilt Leslie and I started is completely finished.

Our plan is to hand deliver the quilts when they're all done, hopefully, well before Christmas.  We have the names of all 9 children (ages 4-16) and their parents and are looking forward to meeting them all.

We're so thankful for all the help that's been offered.

4 comments:

Kat Davis said...

That is brilliant! I love this quilt and the story behind it. You ladies are amazing.

Susan said...

My sister who lives just south of Joplin is collecting quilts to give to victims. Such a small gesture to those that have lost everything. Keep up the good work. Gos Bless you and your friends

dianne said...

is there a little boy who might like a turtle quilt? i have one that is ready to quilt, but there has been no urgency to finish it cuz i don't have anyone to give it to ... let me know.

Carrie P. said...

OH, you guys are so kind to make those quilts. The first one is great.