We support mothers in need by creating hand-made baby blankets for our local Pro-Life pregnancy center.
Are you pregnant and need help? 
SB Pregnancy Center
Quilters can participate from home or at our meetings every 3rd Tuesday.

Interested? Please contact us by filling out the form on this webpage.

Quilters for LIFE – by Joy Juedes, Parish Reporter

Quilters for LIFE meet 9:00am - 12:00pm every third Tuesday in The Holy Name of Jesus Parish Hall at 115 W. Olive Ave in Redlands. Fabric donations can be left and Quilting Kits can be picked up at the parish office.

The group makes 30 to 50 quilts every two months and delivers them to the San Bernardino Pregnancy and Family Resource Center. Members often sew the cloth squares together at home and then the group adds batting -- the fluffy filling -- and the back of the quilt at their meetings, according to Charlene Hall, one of the group's organizers.  "When I first started working with the group we were able to finish about two dozen quilts a year. The pregnancy center started expanding and it didn’t take long before the two dozen quilts were gone in matter of two weeks or so," she said. She came up with a method to meet demand for the 36-inch-square quilts using a simpler pattern. Members can pick up kits with instructions, work on them at home, and bring them back for assembly.

WAYS TO HELP... You do not need to know how to sew!
At meetings, which are each third Tuesday, members bring finished quilt fronts that are matched with solid or striped fabric, which becomes the back of the quilt. "We have stations where someone does ironing, another station for cutting the batting to fit. Most of what we do is sewing those three layers together by hand, and then somebody will either finish the edges there or take them home to finish," explains Charlene.

Help from home... QUILTING KITS
We also provide quilting kits, which are ideal for women who are homebound or who cannot make it on Tuesday mornings. One homebound member stitches flannel blankets, and others crochet or knit. And the group always welcomes more help. 
The quilts are stored at the church until the group takes them to the pregnancy center,  They like to "make a day of it" -- meet, have lunch and deliver the quilts, she said. Members who haven't been to the center often get a tour.

DONATIONS of the following are MOST welcome:

• 100% cotton fabric
• thread, needles and other essentials
• rolls of batting (we use one $250 roll every two months)
• gift cards for Joann's Fabrics purchased through Sacred Heart Academy
• monetary donations given to Holy Name of Jesus Quilters

We also accept Christmas fabric all year long for December babies. 

Our meetings give us an opportunity to socialize. “Contrary to perception, a meeting doesn't look at all like a quilting bee. The really nice thing is we don't have any quilts lying around unfinished. These are very small projects; and, our ministry goal is to deliver them to mothers in need," Hall said. 

The San Bernardino Pregnancy Resource Center shared that one mother in need asked, "Is this for my baby?" and started crying. This homemade gift reminded her that people do care. Isn't that a blessing?