Delaware quilt group to celebrate 100th bee March 23

Quilts of Love will celebrate its 100th quilting bee from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Saturday, March 23, at St. Jude the Apostle Church,152 Tulip Drive, Lewes.

The Delaware-based quilting group has crafted more than 3,700 quilts for those in need locally and across the globe. If laid end to end, the group’s donated quilts would reach more than two miles, approximately the distance from Rehoboth Beach to Dewey Beach.

Quilts of Love was founded in 2001 by resident Jan LoBiondo, when she called for a group of volunteers to help make baby quilts at St. Edmond Catholic Church in Rehoboth Beach.

“We decided to have four quilting bees each year,” said Pat DeVoll, a Quilts of Love charter member. “Churches were contacted, and many offered room for us to get together and sew quilts. A core group of members assembled kits which included everything needed to make a quilt. People saw our ads in local papers and church bulletins, and came together to sew with us or picked up a kit and made a quilt at home to donate.”

The group joined a guild, and in 2005 it became the first of nine community service groups in the Ocean Waves Quilt Guild, based in Lewes. Ocean Waves has supported Quilts of Love by purchasing necessary quilting materials such as batting. Also, quilt kits can be picked up at the Ocean Waves meetings.

Over the years, friendships have blossomed as membership and interest in quilting bees has grown. Quilts of Love currently has an email list of 75 quilters who have attended a bee. The group has donated quilts to 17 different organizations, bringing love and good wishes to families in need in Sussex County and around the world.

It was not until 2011, more than 10 years after its founding, that Quilts of Love members starting keeping count of the number of baby quilts made and donated. Since then, the group has sewn and donated 3,721 quilts, using more than 7,442 yards of fabric and 46 bolts of batting.

“I wish I knew the total number of quilts made since we began in 2001,” said DeVoll. “But what’s more important is we know we’ve made a meaningful difference for so many people in our community and beyond.”

The primary mission of Quilts of Love is to make baby quilts for newborns in Sussex County and beyond. Recipients at the present time are Bayhealth, The Sisters of Life, Nemours Milford, Children and Families First, Mennonite Missions and The Ministry of Caring. Larger quilts are given to Habitat for Humanity and Milford Advocacy for the Homeless. During the year, four quilting bees are held in the Rehoboth Beach area for members to come and sew in person. Baby quilt kits are available to be sewn at home. 

To learn more about Quilts of Love or to participate in the group’s 100th quilting bee and receive notices of upcoming bees, contact Pat DeVoll at pjdevoll@aol.com.