CARLSBAD: Volunteer spreads warmth with quilts for needy kids

By Tom Morrow - For the North County Times | Sunday, May 25, 2008 7:09 PM PDT ∞

CARLSBAD ---- Sharlene Paterson keeps busy in retired life by sewing quilts for needy youngsters throughout North County. She decided a long time ago that sitting around doing nothing in retirement wasn't for her.

"You can only play so much golf or do so much traveling," Paterson said. "I retired in 1991, and 14 years ago I started making quilts for children in need."

She's sewn most of her life, but making quilts came about by accident.

"I was in a yardage store buying some thread when I saw this kit for making a quilt," she recalled.

Paterson's mother always told her she was related to Betsy Ross, hence, sewing has more or less run in the family.

Paterson said she became involved with ABC Quilts in the early 1990s. The group was started in the 1980s in New Hampshire at a time when so many babies were being born with AIDS. The name stood for "At-risk Baby Crib" Quilts.

"The New Hampshire ladies wanted to make quilts for them (babies)," Paterson said. "When I joined ABC Quilts in the 1990s, HIV/AIDS mothers here in San Diego County were being given drugs before birth, preventing the virus from transferring to the fetus."

Before she retired from UC San Diego, a large research grant came to the university to study AIDS. Paterson kept in touch with the social workers involved in that program.

"I advised ABC Quilts of a larger need here in San Diego County: that of battered women's shelters, teenagers in need and organizations similar to Brother Benno's," she said. "ABC agreed to change their mission and age requirements to include children and teens through 18 years."

Based on this change, Paterson learned from social workers, fellow quilters and various newspaper articles appearing in the North County Times about area agencies that would love gifts of handmade quilts for their clients.

Paterson said she makes and distributes more than 475 quilts a year. Most of her quilts are works of art that would sell for as much as $50 in any retail store. But she never tries to sell anything. She donates all of her work to various organizations helping the needy.

"They're (quilts) given in good faith," she said. "Where they go from there, I have no control." She admits to becoming attached to some of her work. Paterson buys all-new fabric, 100 percent cotton, which is mostly printed in Japan. Each quilt takes about two days to make.

ABC Quilts disbanded in 2006, so Paterson joined with Project Linus that year. Project Linus continues distributing quilts and other newborn items to needy mothers.

Paterson gets help from the Carlsbad Newcomers quilters, along with a number of other local women and area children.

"The students of Ocean Knoll Elementary and Park Dale Lane Elementary in Encinitas, and Skyline Elementary in Solana Beach, draw artwork patterns which I print onto the material and sew into the quilt," she explained.

Some of the area organization receiving her quilts have been Palomar Hospital, Camp Pendleton, Brother Benno's, Family Recovery Center, Tri-City Medical Center, and Vista Community Clinic.

Paterson and her team of quilters also make baby caps, pillows, stuffed animals and burpers. A friend of hers who is an Avon representative gives her all sorts of product samples to be donated to new mothers along with these items.

"I hope that receiving a quilt and some other homemade things helps a new mother who might not have the ability to buy such items," Paterson said.

Contact Tom Morrow at quotetaker@cox.net.

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