Tornado Disaster Relief Quilts

A few days after arriving here in the US, I read a notice in the newspaper about a Special Community Projects Work Day where the participants were going to work on quilts for the Disaster Relief Project.

As you may remember, Oklahoma was hit hard in by tornadoes in May this year, and Moore was the town with the biggest damage. 24 casualties were reported, among them were many children. Several people lost their homes and everything they owned.

We drove through the area,and even now, 1 1/2 months after the disaster, there was still a lot of wreckage left, destroyed buildings and broken trees. It was special to see the disaster area with my own eyes, it gets a lot closer than just seeing it on TV.

I decides to join the Projects Work Day and met up at the designated location ready to make a quilt. The local quilt guild had made kits for a bow-tie block quilt, and all the ladies that showed up got a kit. I think the design was originally made after the the Katrina hurricane disaster in the New Orleans area in 2005. The design is quick and easy to make, and you can easily assemble a quilt top in one day.

The design is based on 10" blocks, including a "little tricky" 8" block to join the bow ties. (At least it is tricky the first time you do it, but I got better at it after a while.)

This is my first completed block. "My" fabric was with a Oklahoma City Thunder design, one of the best basketball teams in NBA. Bright colors one more time!

Here is another example of the block, with calmer colors. The inner and outer border is added on this one. The complete quilt measures 50" x 70 "

As it is when a lot of quilting ladies meet, there was some show and tell in the beginning. One lady showed a beautiful sail-boat quilt, I think it was made for her husband.

The work session was set up for the whole day, including lunch. We sewed and chatted, and had a great time together. I got to meet and get to know a lot of fellow quilters.

Not all of the participants made the designated design, I think it was Kim who made this string quilt made from 2.5" strips. It is really good looking, and it will warm a kid in need!

The kits had many different color combinations, but were all stunning in their different ways. Here are a few examples of quilt tops in progress:

Dr. Seuss,

University of Oklahoma, OU,

and a beautiful black and pink version.

Finally, here is my completed quilt top at the end of the work day. The only thing that is missing are the borders, but they were sewn on late the same evening. It is indeed a bright and orange quilt, Go Thunder!

I will show more detailed pictures when the quilting has been done. I had a great time together with the approx. 20 other ladies, and I believe that there will be a lot of pleased kids and people in need receiving these quilts!