Local quilting groups have been making annual presentations for 20 years
By MARK MILLER
A group of active, creative women have been making quilts for veterans for about 20 years now, but the effort and process was officially kicked into high gear by a request from Jody Gates, then a teacher at Norwell High School.
“She had called and wanted to know if it would be possible to have a quilt for each veteran they were planning on honoring at a Veterans Day ceremony,” recalls Betty Johnloz, current president of the Bee Happy Quilters Club. “Of course, we said ‘sure.’”
That was in 2005. The group devoted an entire weekend at what has now become a semi-annual quilting retreat. They made 40 quilts that weekend and supplemented those with more quilts from their “sister club” in Adams County and others from friends … totaling 100 quilts presented to veterans at the Norwell event.
Since then, the group has made annual presentations of quilts for veterans with this year’s event set for Thursday, Nov. 14, at the Christian Care community center building in Bluffton.
“Sue Harris always finds us a new set of veterans,” Johnloz said. Harris said she had 17 lined up but will continue to “make some phone calls” for more.
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There were 24 busy bodies at the C&C Bible Fellowship complex northeast of Berne over the first weekend in November. It was their semi-annual Quilt Lovers Retreat, organized the past few years by Julie Jones of Bluffton. It includes members of the Wells County-based Bee Happy Quilters, the Creative Quilters Club primarily made up of Adams County ladies, the Swiss Stitchers Club from Berne as well as several “friends and family” from as far away as Tennessee.
While part of their focus was finishing up enough patriotic-themed quilts for Veterans Day, they are also making quilts that will be presented to law enforcement and first responders, local food banks and people who have experienced a house fire. The group also sent 43 quilts to flood victims in North Carolina this year.
“One of our members has a brother down there,” Johnloz says, “so he handled the distribution through three different churches.”
The group arrived on Thursday afternoon, Oct. 31, and stayed until Sunday afternoon. They all bring their own sewing machines and fabric, which is often shared and swapped. The facility has a large kitchen and ample sleeping quarters for the group. Jones organizes them into 3-or-4 person teams, each providing one meal during the weekend.
“It’s fun, its really a blast,” Johnloz says, “And these gals are so amazing, so creative in what they do.”
Johnloz is actually serving as president of both the Bee Happy club in Wells County and the Creative Quilters in Adams County. The club began as one in 2004 but quickly grew too large and was split, although a number of members remain active in both clubs.
“The clubs meet once a month,” Johnloz explains. “We have a short lesson and do a little show-and-tell about what we’re working on.”
Johnloz also hosts a quilting event in her basement three of four times a year which is when many of the quilts for charity work are made. The quilts for veterans are done by individual members in their homes throughout the year and at the semi-annual retreats. Some quilts are completed totally by individuals while some are done by teamwork.
“Some ladies enjoy the piecing and others prefer the binding,” Johnloz says. “It all works out.”
Making the quilts for veterans is special to Harris, who has been working on recognizing Wells County veterans for a number of years. She has been a member of the quilting group since 2015.
“Anything we can do to honor veterans,” she says. “We just can’t do that enough.”
miller@news-banner.com
