Cotton Pickin’ Quilters spread love through quilt donations

Published 3:54 pm Wednesday, March 8, 2023

A week after Valentines, one gathering of quilters decided to spread the love by donating 44 quilts to Halcyon Home, a local non-profit for battered women and their children. 

Marlene Peeples, a member of the Cotton Pickin’ Quilters, said that they began working on the project in the Fall and through encouraging each other and a shared love of sewing, she said that their small group of about 15 quilters managed to get a lot more done than they had initially expected. 

“We’ve encouraged each other, we’ve shared our fabrics,” Peeples said. “We don’t have a production line, we just made them and gave ourselves a timeline, a goal, and we gathered in February after Valentines, but during the time of making them we researched, and had a speaker research some more, and we chose Halcyon Home this time.”

With a history of donating to other organizations in the area, such as local churches and the Vashti Center, Peeples said that the group was a special group of ladies. 

“The quilters are special ladies,” Peeples said. “There has been many groups that have gathered through the years. Some come, some go, some come, we’ve met in different places.”

The origins of the group could be traced back to Pat Hall, another member of the group and member of the Pavo Quilters, and a culmination of conversations in church, Grassroots and libraries that go back all the way to 2008. 

Darlene Cook, a member of the Cotton Pickin’ Quilters, said that their love of quilting and giving was only able to flourish in projects like these due to the support of local organizations, such as the Thomas County Baptist Association, who gave them a building to gather and organize out of. 

“It allows us to make more quilts, you know, to come together and work on more projects,” Cook said. “Up until this year, we’ve had mainly monthly meetings, although during the summer we would have some days out at Pavo, they have a great facility out there and it’s set up for quilters.” 

Another member of the quilting group, Jan Perez, said that it was really in quilting groups and guilds that you could find some of the most giving people. 

“What you’ll find, and I think we’ll all agree, is that quilt guilds and quilt groups that meet all over the world, really, are some of the most giving people,” Perez said. “We love to the quilt and make things for ourselves, but I think we’ll most always agree that we probably give away more than we keep for ourselves.”

While they are considering what to do for their next project, Peeples said that they already have some additional adult bibs and carrier bags they’ve made going to some local homes.

“We haven’t decided, haven’t discussed, our next project and who will be our recipient,” Peeples said. “There are a lot of organizations that need help.”