OKC Womens Event

[Ray Davis]

My wife and I were discussing the upcoming rally, and it was felt that there could be another event for the gals.

Kathy came up with the following idea.

A local group she participates in gets together and makes blankets for wounded soldiers. It's a group function, and not really difficult. Mainly it's a bunch of people that sit around a set of tables, and together they tie blankets together.

The blankets then are donated to either Wounded Warriors or Soldiers Angels for the returning soldiers.

Would there be an interest in this? If so, Kathy and I will get the supplies necessary, and will bring them to POG.

Please let me know whether or not your wife or girlfriend would be interested in participating in this event, so we can judge how much material to purchase.

Ray

[Jim Skiff]

Ray,

I know my wife Linda would participate and I think my daughter Margaret would too.

Great idea!

Jim :D

[phorner]

Janice says she's in. She does have a bit of arthritis in the hands, though, so her productivity may be off a bit.

[Sid Tuls]

Ray, I still don't think I'am going to make OK but would like to help out in materials. I don't have your cell but give me a call @ 559-901-6426 Look forward to hear from you.

[bonhall41]

I would be glad to help and also would like to help with supplies. Let me know what to do or what I can bring.

Bonnie

[ajducote]

Ann says she is in. Please let us know if we can bring any supplies, sewing machine or embroidery machine. Sounds like a great project.

[Neal&Carla]

I would be happy to help with the project. We are in Oklahoma City so if I can do anything from this end, please let me know. Sounds like a great idea.

Carla

[truk4u]

Nancy say's she will help and let us know if she needs to bring anything!

[LarryB]

Would like to be involved with this, sounds like a very worthwhile project. I have a good sized 'stash' so would be willing to bring fabric. Just let me know what sizes, etc. Also, what other supplies would we need. Teddy Beer

[BrianE]

A great idea Kathy. Count me in.

Beverly

[hhoppe]

Great idea Kathy: Shirley says she would be happy to join in on the project. Please let us know what to bring and we will help with the supply purchases.

Shirley Hoppe

[Ray Davis]

Thanks to all who have responded. Sounds like it would be a fun event. We will look into getting fabric, as we have a source to get it at a reasonable price.

For those who would like to bring their own fabric, I'm told you need 2 yards ( times 2 for front and back) of fleece material. So, it's a total of 4 yards of fleece, generally two different patterns/colors.

As I understand it, the edges of the fleece are cut into strips, and then the strips are tied together, so it's not really a "sewing" event per-se, but could be done by anyone.

I will also contact some who wanted to help with donations etc. In talking with Kathy, we thought with 40 people participating easily 10 blankets could be done, 4 people working at a time on one blanket. We will be talking to others, and if it seems like we can do more than one per group, maybe we could aim for 20?

Thanks!
Ray

[bonhall41]

I think we can easily do that many. I'll bring scissors and some measuring tools. Let me know if you want me to bring fabric or anything else. Thanks for co-ordinating this project.

Bonnie

[Ray Davis]

Hi All,

Just to let you know, the blanket party is on for OKC. We are going to aim for doing 20 blankets. Kathy is going to purchase all the fabric here. Sid Tuls, although not able to attend, has offered to sponsor a large portion of the cost of the materials. (Thank you SO much, Sid!) We could use more help on that, but I'm going to suggest that if you'd like to help defray the cost of the blankets, please wait until OKC, and we'll take a collection there. Anything collected over and above will be donated to the charity who is sponsored by our auction.

I'll have more info later, but I understand that we'll need things like scissors, roller cutters and mats. We probably don't need sewing machines, unless someone would like to perhaps embroider POG logos to sew onto the blankets? Purely optional I would guess.

Anyway, thanks for all the support in this. As I learn more details, I'll post here.

Thanks,
Ray

ps: I believe the blanket party has been scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, while the guys are sharing their "cool tools".

[bonhall41]

I have one or two roller cutters and a mat or two that I will bring along with some scissors. Looking forward to it.

[Ray Davis]

So, just an update after a practice run of making a few blankets this past weekend.

It turns out (as you might expect) there are different ways to make these blankets. What works well for an individual doesn't work as well in a large group, where you are trying to get a number of them done in a 2-3 hour span.

For those of you who are bringing rotary cutters and mattes, we've discovered that cutting fleece material with these items will pretty much make them unusable for normal sewing or quilting. The rotary blade gets quite dull quickly (at least they are replaceable), however the cutting matte will get the fleece material embedded in it, and make it unusable for regular stuff.

SO, if you are bringing a cutter and/or mattes, you may want to bring your older one that you're not using (as much).

It turns out for a lot of the cutting it can be done with a good pair of scissors, and this is a lot faster in the group environment. So, please plan on bringing good cutting scissors.

I think we are still planning on doing around 20 blankets, but Kathy will be pre-cutting some of them to have ready for tying, while some people will be able to start from scratch. Hopefully that will keep more people busy, rather than waiting around.

A big thank you to Sid and Judy Tuls. Although Sid & Judy will not be able to make OKC due to a previous committment, they have sent a very generous donation which will cover a large amount of the costs of the material.

I know that Kathy is really looking forward to this. We are able to purchase the fabric from a wholesaler, so we'll get the best deal possible there. I'll also try to round of some pictures of those who are receiving these blankets.

Thanks to all.

Ray

[bonhall41]

OK. I'll skip the cutters and mats and bring scissors instead. Can you think of anything else we might need? We will also make a donation but you suggested we wait until OKC. See you then.

Bonnie

[Ray Davis]

So, we have received the fabric for 25 blankets. Kathy has pre-cut 5 of them, to allow a good number of ladies to start tying right away.

For those who have sewing supplies and skills, you may be used in squaring up, cutting etc. Here's a list of things to bring, if possible:

1. A GOOD pair of sew scissors
2. A plastic see-through ruler which is at least 1.5 inches wide, so that you can easily cut 1.5 in strips

3. If you are familar with a rotary cutter and have cutter and mattes you can bring these as well. Just understand that the fleece will dull your blade, and it won't be useful for sewing or quilting after this. The fleece material also gets into the cutting mattes, so bring an OLD one, if you have.

This link: http://soldiersangelsgermany.blogspot.com/2009/01/lindas-visit-to-landstuhl.html will give you some information on the group who will receive the blankets. Ultimately they will make it to Landstuhl Germany, where wounded soldiers are sent.

Linda Ferrara is a women in our local West Point parents club, who had 4 sons serving in the armed forces. One was killed about two years ago. She does an amazing job and is really excited that we are going to be doing 25 blankets.

We could certainly use some donations to help cover the cost of the materials. There is a specific organization name to donate to, but Kathy is out at the moment, so we'll make that known at OKC. Sid Tuls made a very generous donation, which will cover maybe 60-70 percent of the cost.

Thank you so much for being willing to help with this project. I'm sure everyone is going to have a great time.

We look forward to seeing you all in OKC in a couple of weeks!

Ray