Material Donations Are Matched Only By The Spirit Going Into

Quilts Of The Heart

 

By Shannon Hicks

Julia Price moved her shop, Newtown Quilts, from its original location on Main Street South to a new location on Glen Road in Sandy Hook a few months ago. When she opened the new location she gained a comfortable working space within Sandy Hook Center complete with creaky wood floors and stairs leading up to work rooms on a second floor, windows that look out onto a gravel parking lot and wooded backyard-like area, and a group of women who spend one afternoon each week working in a few of those upstairs rooms on quilts that will be going out to others.

For five months Sandy Hook resident Lana Patane has been leading a group called Quilts of the Heart. The group meets at Newtown Quilts in what Mrs Patane describes “an open house environment, so if people need or want help they can come in and get help from me and others.”

“I’ve always been a volunteer and served six years as president of The Connecticut Piece Makers Quilt Guild, and as co-chair for the guild’s annual show,” said Mrs Patane, who decided to bring that volunteer experience and her knowledge of the quilting world to her hometown. With the help of Julia Price, the owner of Newtown Quilts, who offered the use of her upstairs studio space, Mrs Patane volunteers every Wednesday for three hours, helping fellow quilters with their projects.

“We start with a free quilting lesson,” said Mrs Patane. “Each week I teach them different techniques and ways of quilting, different blocks they can make, different methods.”

Donations of material come from Mrs Patane’s collection, from Ms Price, and also from the collections of the women who spend their Wednesday afternoons collaborating and sharing advice with each other. The sounds coming from the upstairs area of the Glen Road quilt shop from 1 to 4 pm each Wednesday are comforting — the whir of sewing machines, the talk between friends, and the laughter that follows many discussions.

“There are four or five people who come regularly. It’s one of those things where you don’t have to come every week; if you can, it’s fine,” said Mrs Patane. “If you have to leave early or come late, it’s not that structured. Some of the ladies take their projects home with them and continue working on them. We don’t like to put so many restrictions on it that people become bored with it.”

“We create beautiful, happy quilts that go to different organizations,” she added during a recent quilting session. Hole in the Wall Gang Camps and Quilts of Valor are two such groups that have benefited from the efforts of the ladies who work with whatever donations of material they receive, turning them into love-filled, warming hugs of fabric.

“This is very much a grassroots effort,” said Carol Mattegat. “There is no money passing hands. What we get, we work with, whether it’s fabric, batting, or any other donation.”

“The big one,” said Mrs Patane, “is the spirit, the people donating their time. It’s been phenomenal.”

The group works with donations, cobbling together quilts from pieces and scraps of fabric that have similar themes or colors.

“These are literally made from scratch, from anything we bring in from home or that we receive,” Mrs Patane said one recent afternoon while working with Ridgefield resident Andrea Brundage on a new quilt. One donation of fabric with a pink background that featured paper dolls and the dresses that could be fitted onto them started a whole discussion about girls’ quilts.

“We do too many for the boys,” said Lucille Baver, who lives in Monroe. “We need to do some for the girls.”

“We have to get really girly with at least one,” agreed Mrs Patane. “Pink, pink, and pinker,” she said with a laugh. “But seriously, the more variety the better.”

During their sessions at Newtown Quilts, quilters work on projects that they have started at home or begin new projects. Members often work together on items that will be sent out.

Ethel Meadows recently designed and made the quilt top for a blanket that Mrs Patane then filled with wool batting and backed with flannel. Unlike other quilts that are sent to an organization for distribution, this quilt had a particular recipient in mind.

“This is for a World War II veteran I know of, who lives on very little,” Mrs Meadows said. “His heat is supplied by a wood stove, and he also cooks on that. He has a little house of his own, and doesn’t ask for much.”

“We made this heavy and backed it with the flannel so that he’ll be warm underneath it,” said Mrs Patane.

Many members enjoy the camaraderie and advice they find at hand while working with others.

“We had eight or nine people there one recent week,” said Mrs Patane. “People do different things — some cut fabric, some organize fabric, some are sewing blocks, others are putting blocks together. It’s really quite an operation.”

The group’s first quilt for Quilts of Valor, a nonpolitical foundation whose mission is to cover all war wounded and injured service members and veterans from the War on Terror with wartime quilts, was started in October. Dominated by shades and patterns of red, white and blue, it took the group until January to finish the project.

Mrs Patane also created a fabric case for the quilt to go in what resembles an envelope, and a label identifying the names of the quilters involved in the project — Peege Brenton of Oxford, Jane Conroy of Trumbull, Debbie DeLollis of Sandy Hook, Mary Eddy of Newtown, and Mrs Patane and Julie Price, also of Sandy Hook — was affixed to the lower left corner of the quilt’s front, and by Ash Wednesday the quilt was ready for its recipient.

Since October the ladies have done two projects for Quilts of Valor and have finished six quilts for Hole in The Wall Gang Camp.

“When I was president of Connecticut Piece Makers, Hole in the Wall made the request — actually Paul Newman himself called one of our members — and asked if we would consider making quilts for the camp. That was my first decision as president, and I said Yes we would, without hesitation,” said Mrs Patane. “Since then the Connecticut Piece Makers continues to make quilts for the camp, and I continue to do this on my own, personally, and send them.

“Having other women make them with me assured that all the children who attend the camp receive a quilt,” she added. “We have six now, and I think by the time we’re ready to bring them up we’ll have another six. I think that’s a wonderful showing for such a small group.”

Mrs Patane and a few other ladies within Quilts of The Heart will drive to Ashford in late May or early June to drop off their quilts. Once camp opens for the summer, the public is not allowed general access to it.

Quilts of The Heart may be based in Sandy Hook, but its reach is far both for those who receive the quilts as well as those who show up at the quilt shop to participate. The group’s current roster includes residents of Sandy Hook and Newtown as well as Monroe, Ridgefield, and Trumbull.

“These people come from everywhere,” said Mrs Patane of her fellow quilting enthusiasts. “We put the word out and it’s like a magnet. They just come.”

Quilters are welcome to contact Mrs Patane at 364-0014 or just drop in on a Wednesday afternoon. Newtown Quilts is at 10 Glen Road in Sandy Hook; telephone 304-2041.