Handmade quilt donated to The Mustard Seed
A group of Central Alberta children used their monthly play dates to show compassion for the less fortunate — while also learning some useful sewing skills.
On Monday, the group of kids from Lacombe, Red Deer and Blackfalds gifted their finished hand-made quilt to The Mustard Seed, so it can help keep a homeless person warm.
The project was started last January. Eight-year-old Hailey-Mae Oderkirk and some of her young friends began gathering once a month to do a craft before having an hour of playtime, said Hailey-Mae’s mother, Pam Oderkirk.
Since Pam feels young people should learn to think of others in the community, she suggested the kids use their crafting time to make something special for someone in need.
Making a quilt appealed to the children, who got to learn hand stitching, as well as flexing their drawing and fabric cutting skills.
Pam said, “A lot of these kids had never held a needle before,” so she liked passing down some sewing abilities to a younger generation. “It’s a skill we seem to be moving away from…”
The project gained further traction when some ladies from their church expressed an interest in joining the sewing circle.
Each child ended up creating a colourful fabric square featuring an angel, inspired by a Biblical verse in Genesis as well as the Dolly Parton song Coat of Many Colours.
Pam said the process involved using fabric glue to tack down the kids’ fabric angels. The children would then do their best to sew the angels onto the background patch. And Pam and the other ladies would make sure each angel was well-sewn before the quilt was machine-stitched together.
The kids were so excited when they took their finished quilt to The Mustard Seed on Monday — along with a $100 donation and some hat and mitt sets — that they are already talking about what altruistic craft they will work on next year.