Group shares passion, creates handmade crafts

By Chris Shott
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

A group of “sew-andsews” meets every Tuesday afternoon at Linden Ponds’ creative arts studio to fine tune their prodigious knitting and quilting skills.

Labor of love
The group doesn’t actually have a name, but they share a passion for needlework, knitting, and crossstitching— ultimately producing stylish handiworks and crafts for personal and charitable purposes. Their labors of love require not only hand skills, but patience and diligence, all of which are in plentiful supply.

“We have approximately 14 members and most come every week,” Mary Caron says. “We meet once a week for about three hours throughout the year.”

According to Caron, the group started three years ago as a quilting group when Linden Ponds opened. To involve more people, members opted to expand the group to include people who prefer to sew, knit, do needlework, and cross-stitch.

The group has no formal organization; instead, members rely on each other for suggestions and advice, and individually determine items for production.

Limited experience before joining
Caron says some members have become so proficient that they help create infant headwear for the Dana Farber Cancer Center in Boston. She says she had limited experience in crafts before joining the group in December 2004.

“I’ve only made one quilt in my life and it took two years to finish,” Caron says. “It was hard work, but I enjoyed it. This is also a good way to get to know people who live here.”

On a cool summer afternoon, the “sew-and-sews” worked busily and silently at personalized creations. As Joan Havasy worked with needles, Ann Andrews knitted, and Mary Lou Clare deftly cross-stitched.

“About three of our members do quilting, while the rest do other things,” Caron says. “Hopefully, when more people join our group, we’ll be able to make quilts for people in need.”