PATCHWORK PRESENTS: Johnston seniors keeping families warm, one quilt at a time

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John Reis walked into the craft room at the Johnston Senior Center and set his eyes on a pile of handmade quilts.

He reached out to touch a blanket decorated with images of heavy earth-moving equipment — bulldozers and backhoes.

“This will be perfect for a little boy who just turned 12,” Reis said. “Thank you. The kids love these personalized gifts.”

Reis, a caseworker with Children’s Friend and Services’ Project Connect, arrived at the Johnston Senior Center Wednesday morning to pick up the latest bundle of 50-75 quilts, crafted by a dedicated crew known as the Giving Quilt Group.

Families in need will receive the quilts just in time for the holidays, and New England’s dropping temperatures.

Reis struck up a relationship with Johnston quilter Marie Lanzi decades earlier, while he worked for the Providence Police and she worked for the Providence Journal.

Since the quilting group was founded in 2009, Lanzi estimates they have donated more than 600 quilts to community service organizations and local churches.

The quilts range greatly in color and design; using styles like the drunkard’s path, curious cat, maple leaf and jelly roll race. They display a variety of designs and images, from trucks and flowers to playful kittens.

Quilter Fran Zanni held up a finished baby blue and green patchwork featuring fluorescent dogs gathered en masse; canine friends patting each other on the back.

“We do most of our sewing at home,” she said, moving around a craft table to help beginning quilter Betty Bryda set up sewing machine.

While some members of the Giving Quilt Group are seasoned quilters, Bryda is a relative newcomer, though she already possessed sewing skills.

“I needed something to do,” Bryda said. “I was just sitting around the house. I couldn’t stand it. I figured I wanted to do something.”

“She thought it would keep her from eating too much,” Zanni quipped.

Lanzi unfolded several examples of her work on one of the long rectangular crafting tables.

“I consider this to be like a puzzle,” she said, running her fingertips over the seams between each interlocking shape. “You take the different pieces of fabric and fit them together to make a picture.”

Although countless hours of work go into each piece, the quilters rarely grow too attached to their master patchworks. Soon after they’re done, they give them away.

Reis works with families in need, who have found themselves in crisis following substance abuse addictions and mental health issues, and have been connected to the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth and Families.

“They loved the quilts you gave us last year,” he said, pushing the quilts into piles he could carry outside. “I explained to my co-workers how personalized these quilts are; each one is signed on the back.”

Zanni, Lanzi, Bryda and fellow quilter Evelyn Cedroni helped him gather the gift blankets.

“We also take donations,” Lanzi said. “We can always use more fabric, thread and batting.”

As long as they have the materials, the members of the Giving Quilt Group will gladly donate their time and talent.

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