There’s nothing like a handmade quilt to keep one warm.

Tuesday, March 06, 2001

There’s nothing like a handmade quilt to keep one warm.

Even the look of a quilt – the squares of bright colors and designs – makes one smile and feel assured.

What a quilt can do to keep a body warm is only half their assets. They also warm the soul.

That’s why Elaine Thon was so happy to be the beneficiary of the generosity of the Keepsake Quilters Guild.

Thon received 30 quilts from the talented quilters recently.

The quilts will go to mothers and their babies to warm little bodies and their souls.

Thon is acting director of the Southern Minnesota Women’s Center.

The pregnancy center based in Austin provides whatever forms of support may be necessary to enable a woman to carry her child to term and to plan constructively for the future.

Thon visited last Thursday’s meeting of the Keepsake Quilters Guild at St. John Lutheran Church in northwest Austin. The guild is the largest organization of quilters in the area, boasting more than 80 members and averaging more than 50 for each meeting.

Jan Schulz is president of the organization, which meets the first Thursday of each month at St. John’s Lutheran Church.

Marie Wiese was project chairman for the quilt-making exercise on behalf of the Southern Minnesota Women’s Center.

"Many of the quilts were completed at a workshop we held in January and others were finished by the quilters at home," she said.

From start to finish, it takes, on average, eight hours to complete a quilt. The quilts were small or uniquely "baby size" and also large, full-size coverlets.

"The quilts go to the mothers the Southern Minnesota Women’s Center helps," Thon said. "They are a birth present, with clothes and other items in the layette given to mothers."

The center distributes the gifts both to mothers of newborns and those of growing infants needing them.

Thon made a brief presentation to the Keepsake Quilters Guild about the Southern Minnesota Women’s Center’s work. She invited members to consider assisting the pregnancy care center.

The 30 quilts was a first-time project for the guild and the largest of its kind for the members.

Call Lee Bonorden at 434-2232 or e-mail him at newsroom@austindailyherald.com.