Quilts make warm difference in mountains of Mexico
Posted: Saturday, April 12, 2008
Quilters of Shepher of Peace Lutheran Church in Sergeant Bluff, Bunny Ericksen, Chibby Johnson, Jolene Tonner and Lila Roring work on a quilt bound for Mexico. (Photo by Carole Johnson)
Carole Johnston Journal correspondent
SERGEANT BLUFF -- It could be a bed. Maybe a room divider. Or saved to be a soft casket. One mother cut a quilt three ways so each of her children could have a piece to wrap up in.
SERGEANT BLUFF -- It could be a bed. Maybe a room divider. Or saved to be a soft casket. One mother cut a quilt three ways so each of her children could have a piece to wrap up in.
In winter, the weather is cold and damp in the mountainous area of Mexico south of Laredo, Texas, where rain and snow add to the chill. In some areas where housing might simply be pallets tied together and covered with cardboard, a quilt to keep warm in at night is a treasure.
"You get the biggest grins and sometimes they have tears in their eyes when they receive a quilt," says Kirk Rosin who has taken 19 trips to Mexico to deliver quilts and other items to the poorest of the poor in the central part of the country.
The volunteer with the St. Andrew Mission Society of West Fargo, N.D., explains that it is an organized project. "We usually take 100 quilts which are given out through contacts with local churches and some are left with the pastor for others later. We are happy to do this for the glory of God."
This summer, 50 people, many living on dirt floors, will receive a warm, handmade gift of love, a colorful quilt made by the Quilters of Shepherd of Peace Lutheran Church in Sergeant Bluff.
The 1,200- to 1,500-mile journey starts from the Interstate 29 rest stop just south of Sergeant Bluff where the quilts will be loaded on a bus this summer. The church's pastor, the Rev. Tim Schiller, last summer when the sewing group's 75 quilts were sent to Mexico.
"I met the bus at the rest area with a car full of quilts. It was midnight when we were trying to jam all those quilts on the bus," says Schiller whose father has driven the bus in the past and whose son has gone as a volunteer.
The loading was difficult because the bus already was packed with items bound for Mexico from other areas. Quilts, clothing, medicine, vitamins, health and school kits, layettes and project materials for the four or five volunteers also were on board.
The situation will be similar in June when the 50 quilts are loaded. But it's not a problem even at midnight when the pastor remembers again why they do it:
"We take for granted all that we have. We are so blessed. These people living in the foothills of the mountains have been abandoned by their government."
The same gratitude and compassion for the poor are what drive members of the quilting group to show up at the church every Tuesday morning with their needles and thread.
The quilters start arriving at 8:30. The first ones set up the huge quilting frame and begin stretching the bottom layer of the first quilt out and carefully pin it down. The colorful free material is sturdy and comes from textile stores across the country which recently began charging for shipping, amounting to 25 cents per yard.
Most of the quilting materials are donated. The middle layer is formed from sheets from Goodwill and garage sales and those donated by church members and Sergeant Bluff teachers.
Not all the quilters are women. Church member Jim Volk needed something to do in his spare time. He took denim material home and cut many of the 48 blocks needed for the 60- by 80-inch quilts that will go to Mexico this summer.
After sewing the blocks together at her home, Lila Roring, who started the group four years ago, pulls out the top layer and the ladies pin it on. It is then that the fun of tying begins.
Double-threaded needles poke holes through all three layers and then nimble fingers tie knots in the center of each block. For each of the quilts bound for Mexico, 48 ties are needed. If it is a 60-.by 90-inch quilt, as in the case of those presently being made for the Dakota Boys Ranch, a home for wayward children in North Dakota, 54 ties for 54 blocks are needed.
By this time, the quilters are all warmed up and words are darting back and forth across the quilt. Jolene Tonner is excited because her grandson is home from Iraq. Chibby Johnson is having a hard time because of a bandaged wrist, but she is still smiling and chatting. Bunny Ericksen is happy just to be quilting. An occasional ouch when a needle hits the wrong place brings all the faces up.
"When I got macular degeneration, I thought maybe we won't be able to make more quilts and that was sad because the people are cold and really use them -- that's what we hear almost every time we hear a missionary speak. We made 200 quilts that year," says Roring who started out quilting for missions at St. John's Lutheran Church at Climbing Hill, Iowa 30 years ago.
The tied quilt is then lifted from the frame and folded. Roring will bind the edges at home. Another layer of material is immediately spread across the frame and the work and fun begins again.
"I do a lot of volunteer work. I like the fellowship here and the company and going to lunch afterwards," says Tonner who takes some time away from her job to come over to quilt. "We do a good deed here."
The quilting and socializing go on for a couple of hours, with the group usually tying four quilts, but they remember tying seven quilts one morning. That would be when some of the other members, Sharon Olson, Carol Fauth and Bertha Kamm, were also there.
Among the quilts sent to needy areas are some made of 20-inch blocks depicting the 2006 RAGBRAI which began in Sergeant Bluff.
"Nothing goes to waste" is the group's motto. The women use what is donated and leftover material goes in the middle of the quilt.
When Roring, head of Human Care for the Sioux City Zone of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, quilted with a group in Climbing Hill, Barb Carlson was among the quilters. After both moved, Carlson helped Roring start the group at Sergeant Bluff and has set up her own group at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Sioux City.
On May 3, at a district rally at the Sergeant Bluff church, quilts from church groups in Northwest Iowa will be on display in the sanctuary. Schiller's father-in-law, Loren Vogler, will speak before the quilts are taken by the pastor's father, Dean Schiller, to the Dakota Boys Ranch in Minot, N.D.
SERGEANT BLUFF -- It could be a bed. Maybe a room divider. Or saved to be a soft casket. One mother cut a quilt three ways so each of her children could have a piece to wrap up in.
SERGEANT BLUFF -- It could be a bed. Maybe a room divider. Or saved to be a soft casket. One mother cut a quilt three ways so each of her children could have a piece to wrap up in.
In winter, the weather is cold and damp in the mountainous area of Mexico south of Laredo, Texas, where rain and snow add to the chill. In some areas where housing might simply be pallets tied together and covered with cardboard, a quilt to keep warm in at night is a treasure.
"You get the biggest grins and sometimes they have tears in their eyes when they receive a quilt," says Kirk Rosin who has taken 19 trips to Mexico to deliver quilts and other items to the poorest of the poor in the central part of the country.
The volunteer with the St. Andrew Mission Society of West Fargo, N.D., explains that it is an organized project. "We usually take 100 quilts which are given out through contacts with local churches and some are left with the pastor for others later. We are happy to do this for the glory of God."
This summer, 50 people, many living on dirt floors, will receive a warm, handmade gift of love, a colorful quilt made by the Quilters of Shepherd of Peace Lutheran Church in Sergeant Bluff.
The 1,200- to 1,500-mile journey starts from the Interstate 29 rest stop just south of Sergeant Bluff where the quilts will be loaded on a bus this summer. The church's pastor, the Rev. Tim Schiller, last summer when the sewing group's 75 quilts were sent to Mexico.
"I met the bus at the rest area with a car full of quilts. It was midnight when we were trying to jam all those quilts on the bus," says Schiller whose father has driven the bus in the past and whose son has gone as a volunteer.
The loading was difficult because the bus already was packed with items bound for Mexico from other areas. Quilts, clothing, medicine, vitamins, health and school kits, layettes and project materials for the four or five volunteers also were on board.
The situation will be similar in June when the 50 quilts are loaded. But it's not a problem even at midnight when the pastor remembers again why they do it:
"We take for granted all that we have. We are so blessed. These people living in the foothills of the mountains have been abandoned by their government."
The same gratitude and compassion for the poor are what drive members of the quilting group to show up at the church every Tuesday morning with their needles and thread.
The quilters start arriving at 8:30. The first ones set up the huge quilting frame and begin stretching the bottom layer of the first quilt out and carefully pin it down. The colorful free material is sturdy and comes from textile stores across the country which recently began charging for shipping, amounting to 25 cents per yard.
Most of the quilting materials are donated. The middle layer is formed from sheets from Goodwill and garage sales and those donated by church members and Sergeant Bluff teachers.
Not all the quilters are women. Church member Jim Volk needed something to do in his spare time. He took denim material home and cut many of the 48 blocks needed for the 60- by 80-inch quilts that will go to Mexico this summer.
After sewing the blocks together at her home, Lila Roring, who started the group four years ago, pulls out the top layer and the ladies pin it on. It is then that the fun of tying begins.
Double-threaded needles poke holes through all three layers and then nimble fingers tie knots in the center of each block. For each of the quilts bound for Mexico, 48 ties are needed. If it is a 60-.by 90-inch quilt, as in the case of those presently being made for the Dakota Boys Ranch, a home for wayward children in North Dakota, 54 ties for 54 blocks are needed.
By this time, the quilters are all warmed up and words are darting back and forth across the quilt. Jolene Tonner is excited because her grandson is home from Iraq. Chibby Johnson is having a hard time because of a bandaged wrist, but she is still smiling and chatting. Bunny Ericksen is happy just to be quilting. An occasional ouch when a needle hits the wrong place brings all the faces up.
"When I got macular degeneration, I thought maybe we won't be able to make more quilts and that was sad because the people are cold and really use them -- that's what we hear almost every time we hear a missionary speak. We made 200 quilts that year," says Roring who started out quilting for missions at St. John's Lutheran Church at Climbing Hill, Iowa 30 years ago.
The tied quilt is then lifted from the frame and folded. Roring will bind the edges at home. Another layer of material is immediately spread across the frame and the work and fun begins again.
"I do a lot of volunteer work. I like the fellowship here and the company and going to lunch afterwards," says Tonner who takes some time away from her job to come over to quilt. "We do a good deed here."
The quilting and socializing go on for a couple of hours, with the group usually tying four quilts, but they remember tying seven quilts one morning. That would be when some of the other members, Sharon Olson, Carol Fauth and Bertha Kamm, were also there.
Among the quilts sent to needy areas are some made of 20-inch blocks depicting the 2006 RAGBRAI which began in Sergeant Bluff.
"Nothing goes to waste" is the group's motto. The women use what is donated and leftover material goes in the middle of the quilt.
When Roring, head of Human Care for the Sioux City Zone of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, quilted with a group in Climbing Hill, Barb Carlson was among the quilters. After both moved, Carlson helped Roring start the group at Sergeant Bluff and has set up her own group at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Sioux City.
On May 3, at a district rally at the Sergeant Bluff church, quilts from church groups in Northwest Iowa will be on display in the sanctuary. Schiller's father-in-law, Loren Vogler, will speak before the quilts are taken by the pastor's father, Dean Schiller, to the Dakota Boys Ranch in Minot, N.D.
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