By Kyra Gillespie
The Pakenham Patchworkers will be hard at work this weekend, making Quilts of Hope at the Stitch! craft show at the Cardinia Cultural Centre.
Quilts of Hope is a fund-raising initiative set up by crafters around Australia to raise funds and donate quilts to children with cancer.
The supporting charity is Challenge, a not-for-profit organisation that focuses on the immediate everyday needs of children and families from the time of diagnosis through treatment and beyond.
The Pakenham Patchworkers will be at the show all weekend from Friday 20 to Sunday 22 October finishing the quilts, and are calling out to crafters to come on down and get involved.
“The Pakenham Patchworkers have always had a charity quilt program for as long as I have been involved in the group, which is coming up to 15 years,” Pakenham Patchworkers’ Laurel Petrie said.
“We are a dedicated group of women who are more than happy to help other people.”
For Laurel, being part of the project is a way of giving back.
“Personally, I am very grateful that I haven’t had to have any of my own children, grandchildren and great grandchildren go through illness. They have all been fit and healthy which is a blessing. This is my way of helping people who aren’t as lucky as my family have been.”
The local group has donated 17 quilts earlier in the year, and is set to donate another dozen over the weekend.
“We like to call them PIN quilts instead of charity quilts, which stands for People In Need. We think it’s a lot more personal to what we do.”
The Stitch! is open from 9.30am to 4pm all weekend, with displays of fabrics, patchworks, embroidery, quilting and workshops running throughout the day.
