Quilting for a good cause

By Florence Kalia Times Contributor

The Wheatland Quilters Guild gets together regularly to quilt, and over the past few years, they’ve met not only to quilt but to create special gifts that are then donated to the Strathmore and Wheatland County Christmas Hamper Society and other places to lend a hand in the community.
The guild creates items such as pillowcases, drawstring bags, zipper bags and lap quilts.
“We make some smaller bags in order to put small pieces in, so they don’t get lost in the bigger bags. It is one more gift to open and is a win-win for the kids,” says Doris Trahan, president of the Wheatland Quilters Guild.
In 2012, the guild started making pillowcases and by 2015, provided 164 pillowcases throughout the community. The next year the members directed their focus towards making quilted zipper bags. The zipper and drawstring bags are used to store makeup accessories for teenage girls and smaller toys for younger children.
This year, the club is striving to produce 50 small zipper bags, 50 large zipper bags and 150 large drawstring bags.
All members in the group enjoy coming together and creating these items for the Christmas season.
“The focus of the Wheatland Quilters Guild, besides being a group of women (no men currently, but they are certainly welcome) who enjoy the social aspect of quilting and sharing their various knowledge and experience, is to donate quilts to cancer patients in Strathmore and surrounding region,” described Trahan.
The Wheatland Quilters Guild was started up by a group of women getting together. They decided to advertise in the newspaper and see what response they got from the community. Trahan expressed her interest and went to a meeting and joined. She started off with a positive mindset but no quilting experience at all and now is the president of the guild.
Quilters in the guild have various skill levels and knowledge of quilting. Some of the members are professional quilters and have their own quilting company.
The guild has donated their handmade items to Sagewood Lodge, Mentoring Mothers Group, Women’s Shelter, Ronald McDonald House, and various other support groups. Some of the ladies are also involved with a national group called Days for Girls which provides sanitary supplies to regions in Africa.
To join the quilting group or help them out in their humanitarian causes by donating items, contact Trahan at dtrahan@cciwireless.ca.