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Community Corner

Novi Needlers Donate Quilts to the Needy

Mixing creativity and goodwill, the Novi Needlers blanket southeast Michigan with their quilts.

Walk into the third floor craft room at the Novi Senior Center and you will likely hear the chatter of women discussing possible color combinations, patterns and recipients for their new creations.

Puppies and kittens? That goes to a baby at . The one with red, white and blue flowers? Of course that would go to a woman at the Ann Arbor Veterans Hospital.

The women discussing these topics are the Novi Needlers—nine women who share a common passion: quilting.

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The Novi Needlers meet twice a month at the Novi Senior Center to sew quilts, which they then donate to people in southeast Michigan.

Betty Brzezniak said the group started in 1995 and remembers seeing a listing for a quilting group in the Novi Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services catalogue. The first few meetings had more than 20 attendees, Brzezniak said.

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Today, there are 12 regular members. But smaller numbers have not affected the number of quilts made; this past year alone, the group donated 385 quilts to those in need.

One of the largest of the quilt producers is Betty Rankin of Novi. This past year she made 100 quilts and hopes to make even more this year. By July, she is already past 50. 

“I taught my self to quilt when I was very young," Rankin said. "I even remember when I was about 8 years old, critiquing another quilt I saw, thinking, ‘Oh, I wouldn’t put those colors together.’”

Rankin, who loves using colors, said that two non-matching colors can be put together in a quilt, as long as they are spread out.

“Everyone has a different style, but Betty does the most interesting quilts," said Needler Janet Bickner of Northville, one of the newer members. "I’ve learned so much from Betty.”

The Needlers give their blankets to several organizations with people in need of a warm blanket, including the Ann Arbor Veteran’s Hospital, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Providence Park Hospital in Novi, the Salvation Army, the domestic violence shelter First Step and more.

“It is such a relaxing thing to quilt, especially when you know it is going to a child who needs it," said Carol Gatrelo of Novi.

Brzezniak agreed, saying, “You get a lot more out of it than you put into it.”

The group itself accepts donations of 100 percent cotton fabric, which can be dropped off at the front desk at the Novi Senior Center. The Novi Needlers meet every second and fourth Wednesday of the month.

For more information, call Novi Senior Center at 248-347-0414.

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