FARMINGTON – A program that keeps quilters, knitters and crocheters around the county busy making blankets also provides an opportunity to socialize and relieve stress.

“It’s better than any therapy session,” said Kathy Palmer of New Sharon, who volunteers and coordinates Project Linus in Franklin County. Palmer collects and distributes blankets, and also provides kits and materials for those who want to make a blanket.

Three years ago, a friend invited her to join a sewing class, she said. At that point, she wasn’t sewing at all. She had tried when her children were young, but with four children, she wasn’t ready, she added.

Not convinced she was ready then, she rented a sewing machine and took a few classes. Now, she sews and embroiders by machine and teaches classes for making quilted handbags.

Janome sewing machines adopted Project Linus as a project, she said, and offered a contest where anyone could submit their name to a drawing for a new machine for every blanket they made.

Cheryl Lewis, owner of Fabric Inn, encouraged Palmer and she made 30 blankets and won the machine, but then Lewis needed a volunteer to deliver them. Palmer decided it was something she could do.

Project Linus is a nationwide volunteer effort to provide security blankets to children facing difficult situations. Originally, started for young cancer patients, it expanded to include any child, preemie to age 18, facing illness or who is traumatized from any life-threatening condition, as stated on its Web site.

Palmer expanded the local program to include the goal of keeping every child in the county warm. About 200 blankets were given out the first two years at places such as Franklin Memorial Hospital, churches and fire departments. Police keep a Linus blanket in their cruiser trunk to use when a child is facing an emergency situation, she said.

The blankets can be quilted, knit, crocheted or made of polar fleece. Anyone who wants to make a blanket is welcome. Some make blankets and drop them off at Fabric Inn while others take a class there and get together with other quilters to sew and talk. Lewis has encouraged the sessions by providing a furnished space and stopping to help when needed, Palmer said.

When you come and quilt or embroider, she said, and work around other quilters, the talk flows and someone always has a story.

“Quilting is a good thing. Everybody needs something to help them de-stress,” she added.

Mardens, a discount retailer, has adopted the Linus Project, she added, and has donated a lot of material to be used for quilts. She has a few boxes and has used donations to purchase batting to make kits for anyone who would like to volunteer to make a quilt.

Any organization that needs blankets or anyone who would like to make one, may call Palmer at 778-6109.