6000th Quilt for Charity

By Mary Alice Garrett

This story originally appeared October 16, 2008 in The News Journal of Wilmington, Delware.

On Oct. 20, the quilters at St. Matthews By The Sea are expected to create their 6,000th quilt for needy people and charities.

Shirley Loveland, of Selbyville, founded the Faith, Hope and Love quilting group in 2000 and has been keeping records since. Members donate their work to the cancer center at Beebe Hospital, Bear Hugs for Babies and local individuals. The quilters meet at the Fenwick Island church from 10 a.m to 3 p.m. on the third and fifth Mondays of the month.

The group is one of several throughout the region whose members make quilts.

"Quilting threads bind us together," Lucille Zinn often says about the Arden Quilters.

The 48-year-old Arden Quilters may be the area's oldest group devoted exclusively to hand-quilting; most other local church groups turn out easier-to-make patchwork quilts stitched on sewing machines and tied with double knots.

The Arden Quilters and volunteers at several churches make charities the recipients of their needlework efforts. One unifying program that distributes quilts is Lutheran World Relief. Local participants include Community Lutheran Church near Frankford, Grace Lutheran Church in Hockessin, Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Brandywine Hundred and St. Andrew's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Dover.

The Good Shepherd Quilters support other needlework projects: midwife kits (linens and infant clothing) for Global Health Ministries; knitted children's sweaters for Guideposts in New York; and knitted hats and scarves for Hilltop Neighborhood House in Wilmington. Ruth Gachenbach, 95, of Foulk Manor North Senior Living Community, has knitted many of the sweaters.

The Arden Quilters complete quilts for people who pay for their painstaking work -- usually three to four months for a quilt. In turn, they donate the money to Trinity Presbyterian Church, where they quilt every Wednesday.

At Community Lutheran, the quilters made 128 quilts in 2007 for Lutheran World Relief, plus 10 more for veterans through the American Legion and another eight for others, said member Jean Layton. The group meets 9:30 a.m. to noon Tuesdays at the church.

At St. Andrew's in Dover, the group each fall displays its quilts, dedicates them to service worldwide and delivers them. The quilters meet at 10 a.m. on the second Thursdays in the church's fellowship hall.

At Grace Lutheran, the Graceful Quilters have made 2,250 "knot and patch quilts" since they started in August 2001. Their work force includes three retired male engineers.

The Good Shepherd Quilters, smaller in number and all women, began making the same type of quilts three years earlier. They've completed more than 800 for Lutheran World Relief, the same charity as the Graceful Quilters.

Quilts from both Lutheran churches are taken to Christian World Services in New Windsor, Md., where they're shipped to victims of disasters around the world.

"They go wherever they are needed. I know some went to New Orleans after Katrina," said Dottie Chidester, of Chadds Ford, Pa., who founded the Good Shepherd Quilters.

Many quilts go to Africa, where needy recipients often stand in line to get them by a lottery. Quilts have been used as tepees, tents and ground covers as well as for bedcovers.

The church quilters use donated materials -- dresses, drapery and slipcover fabrics. Arlene Stigler, of Brandywine Hundred, once recycled a skirt for a quilt. Members use embroidery needles and colored crochet thread to tie double knots in the center of quilt squares. This attaches the three layers of quilt top, "filler" layer of bedsheets or blankets and the backing. Borders and hems are stitched on sewing machines.

The Arden Quilters gather each week at Trinity Church for five hours of quilting. They moved there 22 years ago after their original home -- the Arden YWCA -- was sold to make way for a retirement complex.

"It is remarkable. We never thought it would last. It was just something to do on a Wednesday," said early member Gertrude "Bunky" Dankel, of Wilmington. Because of she has the eye condition macular degeneration, Dankel can no longer sew quilt stitches -- 8 to 10 stitches to an inch.

"I could not stay away from the group," Dankel said as she sat recently making fabric yo-yos for table runners.

Other early Arden Quilters -- Bobbi Spaulding, Dot Steele, Kay West and Gynnie Franta -- remember when they taught quilting to Girl Scouts and 4-H members and demonstrated their skills at Hagley Museum.

Newer members include Louise Ludecke, Shirley Harrison Carolyn Bishop and Zinn.

"I joined the group a year ago with the hopes of getting this quilt finished," said Ludecke. "It is a great group of ladies."

Her appliquéd quilt is a reproduction of an 1850 Pennsylvania pattern.

Harrison joined two years ago after retiring as librarian of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia. She had bought quilting materials at a garage sale and wanted to learn what to do with them.

Newest member Bishop became an Arden quilter shortly after her husband's death. She says quilting is "good therapy" for her.

Tricia Reed, also of Brandywine Hundred, said making the knot-and-patch quilts at Good Shepherd gives her "a great sense of accomplishment."

Ludecke, Harrison, Bishop and Reed all live in Brandywine Hundred.

The Graceful Quilters can complete 15 to 20 quilts in a morning.

"We have 15 active men and women," said Jan Hufnal, of Wilmington.

Their quilts are heavier than those at Good Shepherd because they use recycled blankets for the filler layer. The blankets are donated by Goodwill Industries in Wilmington.

Roxann and Art Perella, of Newark, take stacks of 125 quilts at a time to Christian World Services. Roxann heads the Graceful Quilters. Husband Art prefers to tie the crochet knots on the quilts. Both have won prizes for the hand-stitched quilts they've made at home.

At Grace Lutheran, Stanton resident Mary Mulder arranges the quilt squares by patterns and colors, then stitches them together on a sewing machine. Erica Wolf, of Hockessin, likes to "sit and tie" the nearly finished quilts at home.

Charlie Hufnal and John Maurer like to do the zigzag stitch hemming on sewing machines. Both men have previous sewing experience. Hufnal, husband of Jan, has made clothing and tote bags for family members. Maurer, of Wilmington, began making sails for sailboats as a young boy in the Sea Scouts.

Three Graceful Quilters -- Jane Reed, Evelyn Williams and Margaret Marquardt -- are members of Green Hill Presbyterian Church.

"We have really loved coming here [to Grace Lutheran]. It's good fellowship," said Reed.