DECATUR - Linus Van Pelt sat quietly and seemed content holding tightly onto his blanket.

The Peanuts comic strip doll on top of a table was unmoved by all the humming of sewing machines and loud chatting going on inside the gymnasium of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Thursday.

It was a busy day for the nonprofit Project Linus Central Illinois as women, children and a few men made fleece blankets for the displaced children of Hurricane Katrina.

By the end of the day, 1,000 blankets were made and another 200 blankets had been donated.

"Kids love them. They are lightweight, soft, cuddly and kind of gives them refuge," said Mary Balagna, coordinator for the Central Illinois chapter and national vice president for Project Linus, which has 357 chapters across the country.

More than 16,000 blankets have already been given to the evacuated children separated from their parents, Balagna said, when chapter coordinators distributed them directly to shelters in the Gulf states.

"One child who received a blanket put it over his head and stayed under it; he felt like he was by himself at this shelter with all these strangers. The blanket made him feel like he had his own private space," said Balagna, relating one of the many stories she has heard.

Meanwhile, hundreds of soft, colorful fabrics filled the church's gymnasium - some had patterns of flowers, rainbows, teddy bears, NASCAR cars and even a unique school design of crayons, pencils and school buses.

Nancy Bradley sat at a sewing machine doing a surge stitch around the edge of a light blue blanket with bright yellow, red and purple fish blowing bubbles. She was making smaller blankets to be sent to premature babies in hospitals in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Joe Filer had no qualms about cutting material. "I'm just learning as I go," he said while helping his wife, Bunny.

One group called Team 35, led by Linda Kirby and her sisters, made 35 blankets for Project Linus. They did it in memory of Kirby's son, Brad, who was killed in a car accident in 1999.

"Brad loved soft things and blankets. And people knew him from playing football at Macon High School and at Millikin," Kirby said about her son, whose football jersey was No. 35.

Odette Salib, from Cairo, Egypt, happened to be in town visiting her daughter and found out about the blanket project. She was blushing with excitement about being able to participate, saying, "I wanted to do anything to volunteer and help out."

Sheila Smith can be reached at sheilas@herald-review.com or 421-7963.