Mission

Mission

Children need to feel secure. When there are natural disasters or other traumatic events that occur in a child's life, it helps him to have an anchor to hold on to. This blog is an effort to collect new, handmade, child-sized and baby-sized charity quilts to distribute to displaced or traumatized children of Tuscaloosa County and Jefferson County, Alabama.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Dominating

It was a long-standing joke between my husband and I that if we ever saw the TIV or Dominator from Discovery Channel's Storm Chasers anywhere near our community, we would immediately run screaming the other way as fast as we could. This Sunday was the premiere of this season's Storm Chasers and, you guessed it, they were in Tuscaloosa for the April 27th storms. Running the other way was good advice, but not so funny now, as I sat in my living room reliving the storms through the eyes of the storm chasers as they tried to do what they could to help out in a helpless situation.

As our project draws to a close, I think of all the children we have covered with the beautiful quilts our quilt angels have so graciously contributed, helping out in what seemed like a helpless situation. To date, we have collected 72 quilts from 15 states and Australia. I am still hoping to make it to 100, as we only have 28 more to go. The weather is finally cooling down and there have been several nights where I know those quilts have been not only an emotional comfort, but also a physical comfort to our kids. Thank you all for everything you have done. You are appreciated more than you know.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Rosedale to be covered this week!

I can't believe that it has been just a little over 3 months since the tornadoes swept through Alabama. On the one hand, it seems like it just happened yesterday. On the other hand, so much has happened since then, that it seems like it has been much longer than 3 months.

Many of you have asked about the status of the Bama Bound Quilts project. Some have expressed concern about how long the qifting process has taken. I hope that this post helps answer some of the questions you may have.

I wanted everyone to know a little about the mechanics of the gifting process and where we are in that process. When a quilt comes in for gifting, I document it with photographs and on paper. Each quilt is photographed. It is then given a title and number. A log sheet is created with the name, number, quilter's name and address, state represented, description of the quilt and its measurements. I check to make sure that the quilts are clean, in good shape and meet the project requirements. Once photographed and logged, the quilts are packaged together for delivery.

I made a promise when I started this group that I would try to make sure that each quilt entrusted to me was personally placed in the hands of a child (or his/her parents) affected by the tornadoes. In order to keep this promise, each quilt must be given to the recipient and their name, age, gender, and address logged. Each child is photographed with his/her quilt. Parents must sign that they received the quilt and give permission to use the photos on the blog, facebook, etc.

Please keep in mind that I am the only one photographing, logging and packaging the quilts. While I could quickly prepare and gift small numbers of quilts, it has taken some time to gather and prepare the quilts for the Rosedale mass gifting. I do have help delivering the Rosedale quilts. Debra, the quilt angel, has identified the Rosedale kids, located where they have been displaced to, and mapped a delivery route. Twenty-four of the 45 Rosedale quilts will be in Debra's capable hands tomorrow. She will then deliver them while I complete logging and packaging the rest.

Please keep in mind that this entire process has taken some time for the Rosedale kids, particularly since we did not have all the quilts we needed until mid-July, and they had to be gifted as a group. All the Rosedale quilts should be gifted by the end of the month.

I will post photos as soon as possible. Be sure to check our facebook page for updates.

Michelle

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

7 more quilts... I love going to the Post Office!

We got 7 more quilts today toward the 45 needed for the Rosedale kids. 5 from Evelyn in CA and 2 from Linda in OH. Add those to the 5 that I got on 6/20 from Anita in NC and 2 from Lois in TX. That makes 14 in the last week. That is amazing!!! Y'all ROCK! Photos to come soon. Don't forget to like us on facebook to keep up with all the details.

xx Michelle

Monday, June 27, 2011

Long time, no blog...

Hi, everyone. I can't believe that it has been over 3 weeks since I have blogged! Sorry, about that, but things have been crazy down here.

Things are going well as far as quilts reciepts go. We are very close to reaching the 45 quilts necessary to cover the Rosedale kids. I am expecting a large shipment today or tomorrow. When it arrives, I will get a firm count and start posting photos.

Thanks to everyone for your patience. Please remember that you can follow us on facebook by liking our page: www.facebook.com/bamaboundquiltspage.