Happy Color and Design Strike Again…..

It's that time of year again, temperatures are beginning to fall, leaves pop with color and everything is pumpkin-flavored. And it's the time of year my North Shore Quilt Guild gets together for two days in a church basement to go on a quilt-making marathon.

Members assemble, cut and pin, members press the edges, members sit at machines and sew. You can hear the hum of conversation, laughter and sewing machine needles flying up and down. The pile of quilts grows. Everytime a new quilt is added the quiltmaker rings a bell and everyone applauds. It's a fun two day annual event. This year when the final bell rang we'd finished over 100 quilts!

This is also a service we provide to area hospitals….area families The small quilts go to hospital NICU departments to cover premature babies as they lie in their isolettes. The quilts go over the top and protect the baby's eyes from the bright hospital lights. When the babies are ready to go home the quilts go with them so eventually they are spread throughout the community and, I'm sure, to homes all over the state.

We like doing it, the hospital staff loves to accept them and we hope they bring comfort to parents with plenty on their minds. A little bit of "normal" in an abnormal and unwanted situation. The parents want their babies home, but while they lie in the hospital at least a little bit of love and comfort covers them as they grow and heal.

So I cheer on my quilter friends and from afar I cheer on the babies I'll never meet…..go babies go! Get stronger every day, gain weight and go home.