Church Mice Quilters give spectacularly creative gifts to local families.
LEWISTON – Annie Wilbur loved the quilt covered in appliqud flip-flops. It was one of five given to Patrick and Sharon Moreau’s family at this month’s dedication of their new Habitat for Humanity home.
“It was so girlie-girlie, it was wonderful,” Wilbur said.
With hours of volunteer labor, Androscoggin Habitat for Humanity has built 13 Habitat houses. Wilbur and her friends, calling themselves Church Mice Quilters, have made quilts for every bed in the last six houses.
The Church Mice get together in the basement of the Thomas Memorial Baptist Church on Strawberry Avenue every Thursday night, where there’s chatting, sewing and snacks. The tight group grew out of a Leavitt Area High School Adult Ed class on strip quilting that began more than 15 years ago.
The eight women range in age from their 20s to 70s, with one honorary 4-year-old.
“We are all so blessed to have each other. We laugh together, we cry together and we eat,” said Wilbur, a retired nanny from Turner.
They make a mix of quilts for themselves, for grandchildren and friends, and for charities ranging from the Ronald McDonald House in Portland to Habitat.
At first, they asked for color preferences. Now, they ask for ages of family members and bed sizes, and use their imaginations. Fabric is mostly donated – by people who clean out their sewing rooms or move – and from their personal stashes.
“The fun part is the planning and trying to make it special,” she said. “We’re all fabric-olics.’ We all have more fabrics than we’ll ever use.”
Linda Law, an Auburn bookkeeper, said sometimes the quilting night out is her only social outlet of the week. Quilting, she said, is “an addiction.”
A member of Thomas Memorial, she found the church space after their official class size got too small to meet at the school anymore. The basement is perfect, with big tables and room to lay out their designs and portable sewing machines.
They donate a few dollars each to use the space.
It’s “really been gratifying,” to help the Habitat families, Law said. Often, people moving into their new homes don’t have money to spare or parents wouldn’t think to spend money on themselves for nice bedding when there are more pressing demands.
“The reactions have been absolutely wonderful,” said Paul Belisle, a member of the local Habitat advisory board. “It catches them by surprise – it’s hard for them to believe that anybody would do that for them. It’s oohs and ahhs and tears. It’s a really great feeling.”
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