WORTHINGTON - For more than a year, members of the Stash & Scrappy Quilt Guild in Worthington have worked with needle and thread to create quilts for local Honor Guard members who provide military rites at funerals of veterans.
On July 4, during the intermission of the ‘Amazing’ Worthington City Band concert in Chautauqua Park, the guild quilters will present 13 of their completed quilts to local Legion and VFW members who serve in the Honor Guard. The remainder of the quilts, along with eight fleece blankets, will be given to Worthington-area veterans residing in the Minnesota Veterans Home in Luverne.
The community service project is something for which the Stash & Scrappy Quilt Guild is known. Prior to making the quilts for veterans, the group’s 35 members stitched up quilts for Project Linus.
“We took a couple of months’ break and then we started the quilts for veterans,” Becky Berning shared.
“We’ve been at this for more than a year,” added Eunice Ailts.
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Quilt Guild member Dorothy Cummings suggested making quilts for the Honor Guard and quilted 10 of those that were donated.
“They’re present at every funeral and they really don’t get recognized by the community or receive any sign of thank you,” Berning said. “We thought that was a pretty awesome idea, so we ran with it.”
Quilters in the group donated fabric from their stashes for the quilt tops, many choosing patriotic colors and themed fabrics in red, white and blue.
Berning searched the internet for patterns that would be easy for some of the group’s beginner quilters to follow, and fabric was kitted up with the pattern for members to make the quilt top. They had to provide their own quilt batting and backing.
A show and tell of the quilts was conducted in mid-May, and that evening, quilters attached special labels to each of the quilts.
Since the guild has just a couple of scheduled work days each year, so quilters did much of the work at home on their own time.
“It’s hard to get everyone together,” Ailts said.
Membership in the Stash & Scrappy Quilt Guild has increased in the past year with more people interested in learning to quilt. The group gathers at 6 p.m. on the third Monday of each month at American Reformed Church in Worthington. The meetings consist of a program presentation, often featuring a quilt designer.
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“We are talking about doing a beginner quilting class,” Berning said, adding that if anyone is interested in joining a class this fall, they may contact her at 372-2451.
“We invite all skill levels (to join the guild),” Ailts added. “If they’re willing to learn, someone will be willing to teach them.”
“We have seasoned and beginner quilters work together on work days to learn the skill,” Berning said, adding that work days are usually planned on Saturdays so those who work during the week can attend.
With the quilts for veterans project wrapped up, Ailts said the guild hasn’t yet talked about its next project.
“There’s so much we could do,” she said, noting that making dresses out of pillowcases to send to children in Africa is one option. Another idea is to focus once again on Project Linus.
“Since we have a lot of donated Project Linus fabric, I think we have to go back to that,” she added.
