Quilt Makers Meet Weekly on Wednesday Mornings

http://www.communitylutheran.org/

Quilt making is a fun and rewarding activity that can be enjoyed by people of all ages and skill levels. Quilting is the creation of true beauty and an expression of emotion that is captured and reflected in the careful choice and preparation of fabric and in the placement of each individual stitch.

The best thing about making your own quilt is that once it is finished you get to share it with your family, friends or donate it to someone in great need of warmth and comfort. A quilt can be used by someone on a day-to-day basis and serve as a constant reminder of the love, care and attention to detail that went into making it. For this reason, many quilts are cherished and kept as heirlooms to be passed down to future family generations.

Quilters are members of a worldwide alliance of caring people who have a passion for creating with fabric and thread. Quilters practice compassion, empathy and respect for their fellow man while they quietly go about their business each week. This mindset is reflected in the many hours quilters everywhere spend making quilts and blankets for those who need them. If quilters are not sewing, they are donating fabric and other materials, or donating their time in distributing quilts and identifying the need for quilts in their local neighborhoods and overseas.

Often quilters volunteer to work as a team and donate their finished products because it’s a mission of their church and they understand the quilts are going to needy people. It gives them joy to know they are making a difference in someone’s life. They also enjoy the fellowship of working with the other church members.  There are many churches around the globe that involve themselves in making, receiving and distributing quilts and blankets to needy people.

Quilts and warm blankets are required all year round, even in the warmer weather. Quilts offer warmth and comfort to those in distress or trauma and can represent home to a dispossessed person. Service to the community is a vital expression of our Community Lutheran faith. Here in Loudoun County there is an essential human need to provide for those in need of warmth and comfort and a feeling that someone “out there” in their neighborhood really cares about them.

The Community Lutheran Church (CLC) began their quilting efforts in early 2009. Since April of 2009 the group of quilters meets on Wednesday mornings from 9:30-12:00. They use a king or queen-sized sheet as the bottom of the quilt. Then they place a layer of batting (stuffing) over the bottom and a topper on the top. The toppers determine the length and width of the quilt and are made for CLC by Edelgard Girolamo. The toppers, batting and bottoms are all bound together with embroidery floss. Glorene Mjoness does the shopping for various sundry items the group needs.

CLC Quilter Mary Lowndes informed me, “Making your own quilt is a very hands-on process that is very much a blend of art and skill. To make a quilt from start to finish can be a time-consuming process, but it is not overly difficult to do as long as you do not try to rush it. The result at the end of the day is always worth the effort so you need to remember just to relax and take your time!”

CLC Quilter Peggy Darr also volunteers at Good Shepherd Alliance (GSA) Homeless Offices in Ashburn. Peggy provides administrative support to Terri Lightle, GSA Director of Administration and Community Relations.  Peggy told me recently, “I enjoy working on the quilts because I feel like I’m doing something important. Knowing that the quilts are going to people who have very little makes all the work worthwhile.”

CLC Quilter Barbara Lawrence lays out the many colored quilts in preparation for the dedication and blessing. The quilts covered every pew in the church santuary. The blessing of the quilts took place between Sunday morning services in December. Photo courtesy of Community Lutheran Church.

The group makes about three quilts per week, and has made one hundred fifty beautifully colored quilts. Twenty-three quilts were donated to GSA Homeless Shelters in Ashburn. The quilts will be provided to single mothers and their children at the Hebron shelter in North Leesburg. The others are to be donated to Lutheran World Relief, via the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Maryland. Owned and operated by the Church of the Brethren, the Center houses organizations that work in areas of relief and development, disaster response, social justice and peace education. Church of the Brethren will send the quilts overseas to their missions in Africa.

Before being boxed up for distribution, the last group of fifty quilts made was displayed in the Church sanctuary by placing them on the pews. The dedication and blessing of the quilts took place during a morning service on Sunday, December 12, 2010.

The blessing was as follows:

Praise to God, maker of all things, who has blessed us with so many gifts; a good eye for color, the ability to make fine stitches, the skills to organize and team build. Now we offer the fruits of our labors, the quilts we have made, to You. We dedicate these quilts to your service, trusting that your love will go wherever each item is sent, making it more than just a piece of material, a collection of items, making each piece we have created an expression of love.

We dedicate these quilts to your service, trusting that your love will go wherever each item is sent, making it more than just a piece of material, a collection of items—making each piece we have created an expression of love.

The ten CLC Quilters are as follows: Mary Lowndes, Peggy Darr, Cheri McLaughlin, Rosemary Richard, Gloria Mjoness, Kathy Eastep, Barbara Lawrence, Edelgard Girolamo, Shirley Bookwalter and Nancy Wagner.

The CLC quilters are starting on their next fifty quilts. They need donations of new and gently used king and queen-sized sheets for the bottoms and embroidery floss for the binding. There are currently ten quilters in the group that meet each week. If you are interested in donating quilting material or joining the CLC quilters, please contact Mary Lowndes at 703-729-3783 or email Mary at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

The people of Community Lutheran move forward prayerfully with the promise of Ephesians 3:20-21 in their hearts:

“Now to God who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to God be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”