Published: July 18, 2008 11:02 am         

Sewing Sisters

Redwood Springs friends donate handmade quilts to area hospitals

San Marcos — The two seem more like sisters than quilting buddies.

When Lou Gold began making quilts for Threads of Love, she set a goal for she and her friend Peggy Apiki: 25 quilts a month.

Apiki sort of laughs.

“I went back into my apartment and said ‘she’s crazy. Ten a month maybe,” Apiki said.

“Well, if you’re going to do anything, do it right,” Gold quips.

So the two friends have been sewing like mad since. And at present they have 182 mini quilts to show for it.

Since February, Gold and Apiki, both residents at Redwood Springs Assisted Living Facility in San Marcos, have been constructing 18-inch by 18-inch quilts and donating them to 15 area hospitals with neonatal facilities. The little quilts are placed under sick babies as a way to encourage the parents, and also put on top of the isolettes to add color to an otherwise “sterile environment.”

Apiki and Gold met two years ago when they began eating at the same dinner table each night. The two talked about quilting often. So when Apiki discovered the Threads of Love program in quilting newsletter in February, she knew who to call.

“I wanted to participate, but I didn’t have any fabric anymore. So I immediately went to Lou. I said ‘what do you think, do you want to do this?” Apiki said.

“And oh, I have fabric,” Lou said.

“And boy does she. Let me tell you, she has it everywhere: Under the beds, on the shelves and on tables. It’s everywhere,” Apiki said.

The two each work out of their own apartment, but are constantly visiting the other’s room, looking for fabrics, swapping fabrics, matching fabrics, talking about design and asking how many the other has done.

Lou also makes tiny caps and crocheted booties for the premature children. She’s been sewing since she was a child on a farm near Rogers, helping her mother put quilts in the frame. She says she gave up quilting to raise a family and work on the family farm in Kyle, but started back after she retired.

Peggy’s mom quilted, but she didn’t get involved until later in life.

“When I was retiring, I thought I needed a hobby that will keep me occupied and feed my artistic desires. So I took quilting lessons in Austin,” Apiki said.

And it’s been good for both of them. When Apiki moved here two years ago she says she was “moping around a lot.”

“I had to give up my quilting and my car and all my furniture (when I moved here,” Apiki said.

But now with Threads of Love, she has plenty of in-demand quilts and a good friend to share them with.

“We have our differences, but we get them ironed out. We’re just picking on each other,” Lou says.

“Yeah, but sometimes we need a big iron,” Apiki replies.

The two laugh.

“We have a friendship that won’t ever die,” Apiki says.

     

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.