Cinda Hazelton of Arizona spent the long primary months blogging, donating, and volunteering for Obama. She even traveled to New Mexico during the primaries, but she wished she could do more. "It just didn't seem like enough," she lamented. An avid quilter, she asked on the Obama Blog if anyone would be interested in helping to create a quilt that could be used to raise money for Obama. Within two days, she found not just a partner but an entire group of women interested in quilting for Obama.
They considered raffling the quilt but after much discussion settled on having a drawing. Entries are made whenever someone makes a donation to the Obama campaign through the quilting group's fundraising page or submits an essay explaining what the quilt means to them.
First they went to work designing the Obama quilt. They chose the theme, "Turning America Blue 2008" and chose the Ohio Star for the pattern of the squares. The emailed instructions for the squares were simple, "The stars need to be predominantly blue, and this [Ohio Star] pattern. Corners should be white or cream -- any accent you want!"
Every aspect of the quilt, from the Ohio Star to the color choices is significant. The quilt is made up of 55 blocks, which represent the 50 states, 3 territories, Washington DC, and Americans Abroad -- every group that was represented in the primaries.
The ladies in the group volunteered for the various roles based on their skill set. Angela, from Florida, was very enthusiastic about the project but did not know how to sew. She setup a website and volunteered to track the donations made to the Obama campaign and collect submissions for the essay contest. Caroline from Florida volunteered to embroider the borders of the quilt with the group's Turn America Blue 2008 slogan. Val Smith of Tuscon, Arizona created an intricate cross-stitch of Obama's face with more than 15,000 stitches for the center square of the quilt. Cindy and Val worked together to place the squares and add the border. Finally Val sewed the back of the quilt.
26 women from 16 states worked directly on this quilt. The ladies hail from: Florida, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Iowa, Illinois, Hawaii, Idaho, California, Colorado, New York, Michigan, and Colorado.
Since the quilt was finished in early August, it has made its way to a number of Obama events. The quilters have proudly displayed it at rallies, meetings, fundraisers, and other events. Hazelton hopes that it will someday be displayed in Obama's presidential library. She seems to have no doubt that he will be elected. To date, the group has raised more than $12,000.
The video below documents the history of the quilting group and was compiled by Dan in Phoenix. The photos in the video were taken by the various members of the quilting group.