After the terrible tornado struck Joplin, Missouri back in May of this year I just felt helpless as to what to do to help. Over 150 people lost their lives and hundreds of people lost their homes. My friend Leslie and I decided to help just one person and thought it might be good to make a quilt for a teenage girl. I contacted a friend of ours, Sheryl whose children and grandchildren live in Joplin. Her daughter Rene' knew of a family who had lost their home and there was a teenager in this family so we got busy and started making the quilt.
Through a few conversations with our friend we soon found out that the girl had 8 siblings. We enlisted the help of our stitch group (there are a total of 7 of us). They got excited about the project and we decided we could make a quilt for all 9 of these kids and their parents. We asked for help from our guild (http://www.greencountryquiltersguild.com/) and even posted about the project on Facebook. We soon had donations of batting, fabric, quilting services and money to get the tops quilted. (You all know who you are and we thank you from the bottoms of our hearts!)
To make a long story short (I know--it's too late for that!) on Thursday we delivered all 10 quilts to Joplin and got to meet everyone except the youngest child and the dad. Joplin is less than 2 hours from us. We had a fun filled day and one that we'll remember for a long time!
First I'll show you the pictures of the quilts and then I'll show you pictures of the quilts in the hands of the recipients.
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| This is the one that started it all. Leslie and I used a split nine patch pattern for this one. |
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| Lots of 5 inch charms. All we did was offset the rows. |
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| This one was LOADS of fun! Each of us brought black and white leftovers from other quilts. The pops of color completed it. |
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| One of our members, Coleen, found this top at a yard sale. So sad that someone was getting rid of such a beautiful work of art. We added a border to it and just knew that Mr. and Mr. Joplin would love it! |
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| This was four blocks that June had started. We got busy and made more blocks. Then the bandana print border just made it! |
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| My friend Cindy of Reno, Nevada heard about the project and just had to get involved. She quilted it on her new long arm machine. Don't you love it?! |
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| One of our quilt guild memebers donated this top. All we had to do was add the borders and get it quilted. (Thanks Phyllis and Kat!) |
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| Another one started by June. We split the "jelly roll" strips and added the applique and borders. |
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| Judy is one of our members who spends her summers away from the heat of Oklahoma in beautiful Colorado. When she heard about the project she enlisted the help of her quilt group out there and came up with this. Beautiful! |
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| It was my job to keep this project organized. Unfortunately, I'm not always good at organization. When I miscounted and found out I needed another quilt, our friend Lynessa stepped up to the plate. She had this top finished. When I told her I needed it right away, she quilted it, bound it and had it my hands in less than a week! |
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| This is Korina reading the label on hers. |
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| Here are that five of us who got to go to Joplin pictued with Korina and her quilt. Sadly, Coleen and Judy didn't get to go but they were with us in spirit. Left to right: Emma, June, Korina, Leslie, me and Donna. |
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| Ethan ripping his bag open. Brothers Liam and Kayden lined up behind him waiting patiently. |
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| Sorry about all the red eyes! |
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| Here's Liam... |
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| And here's Kayden. |
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| Desirae ( a little out of order--we gave them the quilts from youngest to oldest, but my computer skills are just not there! The pictures keep skipping into places I DID NOT PUT THEM!) |
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| Chanel |
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| Damen.....Such a sweet smile! |
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| Alyssa |
Okay....my captioning has gone haywire so I'll just tell you about the rest of the pictures.
After Alyssa are Rene' and Monica (the mom) looking at the quilt for the youngest child, Selah.
Then, Monica and 7 of her kids with the quilt we made for Monica and her husband Tim.
The group picture was taken in front of Rene's house and includes some of her kids, too.
The rest of the day was filled with lunch at the Red Onion, a visit to Bittersweet Quilt Shop and Candy House Gourmet Chocolates (YUM!)
We were so blessed to be a part of this project for this family in Joplin. They are all so sweet and it was our great pleasure to get to meet them.
