Quilts for Texas

Lea White and Jan Weaver wanted to do something for families who lost their belongings earlier this spring in the West, Texas, fertilizer plant explosion. The disaster leveled more than a hundred homes in West.

So White, from Whitefish, and Weaver, from Columbia Falls, began doing what they do best — quilt. The two ladies from the Teakettle Quilters Guild made eight quilts.

“I just got into my stash and said, ‘These need to go down there,’” White said.

Not only did White and Weaver make the quilts, White hand-delivered them to a church in West that was organizing donations.

It wasn’t a singular journey, however. White and her husband Bob were heading to Brownsville for vacation, and West is right off the interstate on the way to Brownsville.

White even picked up a donation on the way — a quilt shop in Casper, Wyo., gave her a 10 percent discount on material after they learned of her efforts.

The Texas folks were happy to have the quilts, she said.

“They said, ‘These are beautiful, we’re going to hand deliver them,’” she said.

Weaver and White plan to make more quilts in the coming months for disaster victims in Moore, Okla., where a tornado destroyed several neighborhoods there.

The Teakettle Quilters Guild welcomes new members. They meet on the third Saturday of each month at 10 a.m. at the Teakettle Community Center on Nucleus Avenue in Columbia Falls.

There are no meetings planned for July. Regular meetings will start in August.