Quilting for a cause
Lodi group gives back with blankets, masks
When kids join the World of Wonders Science Museum for summer camp sessions this year, they will each receive two masks — to keep — to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The masks have been donated by the Lodi Rag Quilters, a local group of sewing enthusiasts with a long tradition of giving back to the community.
But the group of local stitchers does a lot more than make masks. For more than a dozen years, they’ve been piecing together quilts, donating them to groups including Lodi Adopt-A-Child and Vienna Nursing and Rehabilitation Center; the Shriners Hospital for Children, Ronald McDonald House and Kiwanis Family House in Sacramento; Camp Erin, hosted by Community Hospice; the Transitional Learning Center in Stockton; and several other organizations.
Together, the club turns out hundreds of quilts each year, from small baby sizes to large quilts with pockets at the bottom where children and teens can tuck their feet.
“Everybody does their own part, and that’s how we end up with these beautiful quilts,” member Pat Browning said.
The members have created a sort of assembly line. Browning, who churned out most of the first batch of masks for the WOW Museum, cuts the batting, and Donna Bender cuts the fabric. Jane Rogers and Susan Atkinson make the fringe. Kay Zeigler pieces together one or two quilts a day all year long.
Each of the other members — Sheree Coe, Betty and Darvin Geiszler, Sheryl Carey and Martha Lind — take on tasks such as stitching the squares together or putting together quilt kits.
The group is led by Ellen Ashbaugh, who plans to bring her Singer Featherweight to the WOW Museum one day next week and let the students watch as she sews more masks. (The antique sewing machine was passed down from her mother, who received it as a wedding gift in 1947, she said.)
Ashbaugh ferries completed quilts to their destinations in Sacramento, Lodi and elsewhere, along with other work for the group.
Lind and Rogers were original members, joined almost immediately by Geiszler, who found the group through the quilting shop that used to be on Lodi Avenue. Since then, the group has expanded.
A few, like Browning and Atkinson, were looking for a meaningful way to spend their spare time in retirement. They’ve formed friendships outside the group, supporting each other through hard times.
All of the women are enthusiastic about giving back with their quilts.
For example, Camp Erin helps children ages 6 to 17 who have lost a family member learn coping skills to deal with their grief. Along with a summer of emotional support and fun activities, the kids get quilts.
One young girl received a quilt with dragonflies, Ashbaugh said. She was reeling from the loss of her mother, who loved dragonflies, and the quilt felt like a message to her.
Another trio of boys had lost their brother in Afghanistan, and the Rag Quilters made them camouflage quilts in his memory.
The first year they made quilts for the Transitional Learning Center, Coe said, the children — most of whom are experiencing homelessness — were excited because they were warm on cold nights.
“It was their children’s favorite Christmas gift,” Coe said.
That’s when they started making the slightly larger size with the foot pocket, she added.
The group also made 75 quilts for adult patients at Vienna last year.
“There are so many people at convalescent hospitals who get nothing at Christmas,” Ashbaugh said.
The group runs off of donations, both of fabric, thread and other supplies, and money. Any fabric they can’t use is gifted to other groups that need it.
Help is always welcome. Anyone who wants to take on crafting some quilts themselves can pick up a quilt kit, complete with pre-cut fabric and batting; completed quilts are returned to the group to be donated.