Stitching through storms: quilts of resilience and recovery

How you can help:

This project emerged as part of the Tennessee Arts Commission’s Tennessee Folklife Institute. My project is quilting in Northeast Tennessee after the devastation that Hurricane Helene caused to our region. I’m working with community organizations and agencies, galleries, makers, crafters, quilt guilds, and artists to coordinate and encourage quilters (and non-quilters!) to make and contribute a 12” quilt block that will join squares in a quilt top that I’ll assemble. Ideally, there will be at least two quilts, one representing each of the two rivers in Northeast Tennessee that overran their banks and affected lives and property: The Nolichucky and The Watauga. 

I’ll collect name and contact information for each person contributing a quilt square. I want to follow up with them via email, phone, or in person to document what they want to share about the theme and their quilt block so that the public can access that information by scanning a QR code accompanying the finished quilt exhibits.

I plan to hand-quilt the tops (unless others want to join me in a bee) and make the finished quilts available for display in community organizations like senior centers, community centers, libraries, and other places where people can easily access theses quilts and enjoy them. Ultimately, I’d like to donate the completed quilt to a community organization, a public library, or historical society.

RSVP below for quilt block making events and check back or receive email updates about where you can view the finished projects.

  • Make a block. Each finished block should be 12.25 inches, so a 12 inch block with 1/4 inch seam allowances. The theme for the block is loosely either the Nolichucky River (and gorge) and the Watauga River. The block should observe how Hurricane Helene affected communities in Northeast Tennessee. So, you could do a river-themed appliqué, or a maple leaf quilt block, or something more abstract.

  • Quilt block-making events are being scheduled for community centers in locally, so check back or sign up for email updates, and come meet others who are participating in the project.

  • Label your finished block with your name before dropping it off.

  • Fill out an online form with your name, contact information, and a few sentences about what inspired your quilt block.

  • Share information about the project with others.

  • Visit the finished quilts at one of the exhibition sites (TBA soon).

Drop off locations:

Upcoming events

  • Mountain City, TN quilt block making

    3/18/2025 10:00 AM-12:00 PM

    Join us at Johnson County Senior Center, 128 College Street, Mountain City, TN 37683

    RSVP

  • Elizabethton, TN quilt block making

    3/19/2025 10:00AM-12:00PM

    Join us at the Elizabethton Senior Center, 428 E G Street, Elizabethton, TN 37643

    RSVP

  • Jonesborough, TN quilt block making

    4/24/2025 10:00 AM- 12:00PM

    Join us at the Jonesborough Senior Center, 307 E. Main Street, Jonesborough, TN 37659 [this event is for members of the JSC only]

    RSVP