Colorful Quilts
“My Days are Full” and Here’s Why...
Loyce DeVore’s outlook on life colors all the quilts she sews for Swazi babies.
An 85-year-old resident of an assisted living complex in Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho, Loyce talks plainly and to the point:
“We wake up every morning with food in our refrigerators and blankets on our beds. I can’t make food for those on the other side of the world, but I can make them blankets.”
Loyce has sewn hundreds of quilts in the two years she has known about The Luke Commission’s work in Swaziland. Each quilt is different. Each is beautifully pieced together in bright cottons.
Loyce no longer drives, so her friends Fred and Berta Bjurstrom of Post Falls, Idaho, take her supplies and then transport the blankets to the TLC Sagle shop.
“We have trouble making sure she has enough batting,” laughed Fred.
Loyce told the Bjurtroms: “I may have to slow down a bit, because the arthritis in my fingers is acting up.”
Nevertheless, day in and day out, Loyce sews for babies born into families without much of this world’s wealth. “My days are full,” she noted.
In fact, the whole large retirement home takes part, as dozens of residents collect and buy material for Loyce.
“There’s an amazing network of people participating in this blanket project,” said Berta.
And when a Luke Commission team member wraps a baby in one of Loyce’s quilts or places a blanket on the chilly shoulders of a new mother, the color of Loyce’s life stretches from northwest U.S. to southern Africa.
by Janet Tuinstra
Colorful Quilts
“My Days are Full” and Here’s Why...
Loyce DeVore’s outlook on life colors all the quilts she sews for Swazi babies.
An 85-year-old resident of an assisted living complex in Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho, Loyce talks plainly and to the point:
“We wake up every morning with food in our refrigerators and blankets on our beds. I can’t make food for those on the other side of the world, but I can make them blankets.”
Loyce has sewn hundreds of quilts in the two years she has known about The Luke Commission’s work in Swaziland. Each quilt is different. Each is beautifully pieced together in bright cottons.
Loyce no longer drives, so her friends Fred and Berta Bjurstrom of Post Falls, Idaho, take her supplies and then transport the blankets to the TLC Sagle shop.
“We have trouble making sure she has enough batting,” laughed Fred.
Loyce told the Bjurtroms: “I may have to slow down a bit, because the arthritis in my fingers is acting up.”
Nevertheless, day in and day out, Loyce sews for babies born into families without much of this world’s wealth. “My days are full,” she noted.
In fact, the whole large retirement home takes part, as dozens of residents collect and buy material for Loyce.
“There’s an amazing network of people participating in this blanket project,” said Berta.
And when a Luke Commission team member wraps a baby in one of Loyce’s quilts or places a blanket on the chilly shoulders of a new mother, the color of Loyce’s life stretches from northwest U.S. to southern Africa.
by Janet Tuinstra