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“I make my quilts as fast as I can to keep my family
warm, and as beautiful as I can to keep my heart from breaking.”
-- Anonymous pioneer woman
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By Pastor Roxi Kringle, St. John, Farmersville
Moved by the devastation of the South Asian Tsunami, Chris Piro of St. John Lutheran
Church, Farmersville, decided to gather as many sewers as possible to make quilts
for Lutheran World Relief. “I wanted to do something and feel like I was
doing something rather than just give money to a cause,” Piro said.
It was a sentiment shared by all who came. Eighteen women from four congregations
and a local quilt guild came together January 13 and 14 at St. John Lutheran
Church, Farmersville, for a two-day quilt-a-thon for tsunami relief.
Even a “wintry mix” of rain and snow did not keep these compassionate
quilters away. “At first I didn’t want to come out in this weather, “said
Ellie Lazar of St. John Windish, Bethlehem, and Colonial Quilt Guild member, “but
then I remembered what all that water in the tsunami did to those people.”
By the end of the second day, 21 quilts had been completed. In addition, the
quilters from St. Andrew Lutheran Church, Easton, donated six completed quilts,
and folks from Hope, Tatamy, dropped off seven. Several women who couldn’t
stay for the entire day took projects home with plans to complete them and return
them within the week.
Pledges for hours worked or quilts made raised over $400 for Lutheran World Relief’s “Wave of Giving.” In addition, the Lower Northampton chapter of Thrivent Financial
for Lutherans donated $300 to be used for shipping the quilts to Lutheran World
Relief and LWR’s Project Comfort.
A single quilter making a relatively simple quilt top can easily spend 20-40
hours to construct it. In order to complete 21 quilts in 24 hours, many hands
were needed to cut fabric before sewing as well as tying the quilt layers together
once the tops were sewn. Coming and going as their schedules allowed, the 18
women put in 118 hours cutting, sewing, pressing, tying, and finishing the quilts.
Information on Wave of Giving for Lutheran World Relief can be found at http://www.waveofgiving.org/.
Information about Project Comfort can be found at http://www.lwr.org/parish/comfort.asp.
Participants were from St. John’s, Farmersville; St. Andrew, Easton; St.
John Windish, Bethlehem; St. Peter, Bethlehem and Colonial Quilt Guild.
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