Sue Sitter/PCT First Lutheran Church Pastor Connie Monson, left, stands with quilting group member Jan Norsby in a sea of handmade quilts bound for Lutheran World Relief.

Rows and rows of quilts have added a welcoming touch to the sanctuary at First Lutheran Church in Rugby.

The quilts represent one way a group of congregants helps others and displaying them for churchgoers to admire and feel has become a Lenten tradition at First Lutheran.

Rugby resident Jan Norsby, who describes herself as “an avid quilter,” often says her favorite activity gives her opportunities to help others. She recently donated some of her handmade quilts to help veterans when she heard the story of former Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell.

“I was just telling Pastor Connie about that,” Norsby said. “Sometimes, something you read or see just hits you and you feel, ‘I have to do that.'”

Pointing to nearly 200 quilts draped over pews in the church sanctuary, she said, “We have maybe 20 ladies that come and do this.”

“We have 100 more downstairs,” she added.

“They’re all patchwork made from fabric and sheets and curtains and jeans and whatever we get donated,” Norsby said.

First Lutheran Pastor Connie Monson described the quilts as “the old-fashioned kind of quilting where you make use of all the old things you have.”

The quilts in the sanctuary are destined for Lutheran World Relief, a charity that helps victims of disasters, wars and other hardships throughout the world.

Norsby said Lutheran World Relief has warehouses in Minneapolis and Baltimore, “where we ship the quilts to, and then they bundle them into bales and send them to places like Ukraine. They’ve sent a lot of them to Ukraine.”

“They’ve sent quilts to (survivors of) Hurricane Katrina,” Norsby added. “They go anywhere they’re needed.”

To keep themselves supplied in materials and tools, the group sometimes produces quilts for sale and then uses the money raised to purchase whatever they need.

“We bought two sewing machines this past year to use so we don’t have to bring our own anymore,” Norsby said.

The group meets every Monday from September through May in the First Lutheran Church basement.

Norsby said the group welcomes members from all faiths or backgrounds.

“We have three Catholic ladies who quilt with us,” Norsby noted.

“Then, we have a quilter friend who doesn’t belong to this church, but she uses leftover fabric to just sew two-inch squares together,” Norsby said. “She brings them to our group.”

“That’s kind of fun,” she said. “I think last fall, she must have brought in ten quilt tops made of small squares.”

“I would not have the patience to do that,” Monson said with a laugh.

Monson said the quilts would stay draped over pews in the sanctuary until Palm Sunday.

Both Monson and Norsby said congregants would be sitting on quilts.

“They love it,” Norsby said with a smile.

Monson said, “I remember last year having one of our teenagers just wrap up in a quilt. She looked like it was so cozy.”

Norsby nodded. “In fact, we used to just put them out for Palm Sunday and people would say, ‘I wish you would put them out earlier so we could see them before you ship them off.”

“So, this year, we decided we’d put them out the Sunday before Palm Sunday so people could see them, and then on the Monday after Palm Sunday, we’d pack them into boxes and have them ready to ship,” Norsby said.

Monson said congregants make sure to fold the quilts neatly at the end of the pews on Palm Sunday to make them ready to pack.

“Midwest Trucking in Minot takes them and delivers them to Minneapolis,” Norsby said, noting the company ships the quilts free of charge.

“To blow our horn a little bit, Lutheran Relief is among the first groups of people on scene when there’s a disaster,” Norsby added.

Monson nodded. “And they stay,” she said.

Helping closer to home

“We started giving quilts to the Heart River Lutheran Church in Mandan, which is connected to the youth correctional center,” Norsby added. “And they give a quilt to the kids that are leaving the center and wrap them in the quilt in front of the congregation and say they’re wrapped in the love of the church and the community.”

“The kids really love those quilts. It’s the one thing they get to take with them. They don’t have anything,” she said.

The group from First Lutheran also donates backpacks filled with personal care items such as shampoo to the youth leaving the facility.

“We usually donate a quilt to the auctions when someone has a benefit, and the Pierce County Fair and the museum – we give quilts for their auctions,” Norsby said. “It keeps them in the community.”

Other quilts go to local families in need. Norsby noted one family displaced by a fire in Rugby about two years ago received quilts.

“I’ve heard from relatives about how much they loved those quilts,” she said. “And their little girl was thrilled to death with it. It makes you feel good,” she said.

The group produces a large number of quilts by dividing the work into steps, with each member assigned a specific task, such as cutting or pinning. The production goes through each step in an assembly line.

“We do quite a few quilts each Monday,” member Gloria Grove said as she worked on a quilt by herself in the church basement.

These go to people in the community and the state and the world, really, but when there’s a family in need here, we really try to get quilts for them.

Norsby said the group accepts donations of fabric of all types or sewing supplies.

Norsby noted the group even welcomes new members who can’t sew.

“That’s okay, because you can cut out squares or you can tie the quilts, or you can press squares,” she said.

To join or donate to the group, call First Lutheran Church at 776-5801.