Cobb County quilter group use passion for sewing to give back

COBB COUNTY, Ga. - A quilt can take months of work, a lot of care, and attention to detail. One community group in Cobb County is taking their passion for the art of quilting to help give back to the community.

"Some people are hand quilters, some people are machine quilters, some people just work with patterns, some people design what they want," East Cobb Quilters Guild President Devon Pfeif said.

Pfeif says more than 300 men and women are part of the guild. While they join to grow and share their art, it's also to grow their friendships.

"It's just a wonderful group of people. Really, really, we get a lot of close friendships," she said.

While their pieces do impress, they're equally, if not more, passionate about quilting for a cause. 

"They love to give back. It's one of the wonderful things about our community," said Chris Ison, the co-chair of the group's Community Service Committee.

Members are working on 10 different projects for eight different organizations in the community. They partner with Affinis Hospice, making fidget quilts for patients with Alzheimer's and dementia. They sew quilts for women experiencing homelessness or going through recovery at the Barbara Crafton Center for Women at the Extension. They also sew quilts for children in the Department of Family and Children Services and for the program Sleep in Heavenly Peace. They recently started making flannel blankets for children in the Cobb Schools Homeless Education Program.

"Every one of our quilts has a message from the member who made it. This one says, you are loved. So we try to put an affirmation to the child, so they know someone cares about them, someone cares enough to make it for them," Ison said.

They make other items too, including placemats for Meals on Wheels patients, sew hundreds of Beads of Courage bags for patients in children's hospitals across the state, and create other items for some of the youngest and most fragile patients and families.

"And I love the fact that our guild is embracing our community from infants to seniors," Ison said.

Last year the guild made 2,500 items for the community. This year they plan to make 3,000 items, and they're already more than 10% of the way to that goal. Each one is a labor of love and a work of art by this community for anyone in need.

"We give away lots and lots of quilts. I think all of the people who make quilts make them from their heart," Meredith Mask, a member of the East Cobb Quilters Guild said.

The guild also focuses on teaching other people how to quilt and bringing in experts for lessons.

"We try to encourage them that even if they are far away, they can join our guild, and still learn a lot through our speakers." Mask said, "Anybody that we can reach out to we're happy to have them and continue this tradition of making quilts."

To learn more about the guild and how you can get involved, visit the group's website.