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A group of residents in Hamilton, New Zealand have lovingly made and donated 90 quilts to patients at Waikato Hospital.
On Saturday, 24 June, months of work culminated in the gift of beautiful hand-made quilts to the hospital, for use by its childhood disease and newborn health patients.
The quilts were constructed by a group of friends and neighbours in the Temple View area of Hamilton, who decided to do this as a project through the JustServe.org community service website.
Erina Osborne is the coordinator for the E & K Just Serve Quilters, a group of women who meet weekly because they enjoy quilting. They meet every Tuesday morning to work on their quilts which they donate to organisations which give them to individuals who need them.
They recently selected Waikato Hospital in Hamilton to receive the quilts they have made in the past year.
Osborne said 30 quilts were given to the hospital’s WaiKids Cancer Clinic for Children. She said 21 of the quilts depicted various children’s stories and fictional characters. Nine other very detailed, hand-crocheted quilts were contributed by an 80-year-old member of the group.
60 quilts were donated to the hospital’s maternity and newborn services. These included 29 angel-themed quilts which were donated to the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU), specifically for parents of babies that died shortly after their birth.
Another 31 quilts were donated to the neonatal services at the hospital, to comfort and warm babies in the first four weeks of their lives, completing the total of 90 quilts donated.
Osborne said an additional 14 hand-made “Twiddle Muffs” were donated for use by patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease and dementia.
Twiddle Muffs are knitted hand-warmers with decorations such as buttons, beads, zips, ribbons, and textured fabrics attached, Osborne said. They are a colourful, captivating, sensory therapy tool designed to keep the restless hands of people with Alzheimer’s or other types of dementia occupied, calm and warm.
Osborne invites anyone interested in quilting to join the E & K Just Serve Quilters. Information about the group is found online on the JustServe.org website.