SALISBURY — The Grace Quilters are sharing care and compassion in the form of quilts with those in the mountains.

The group meets Tuesdays at Grace Lutheran Church in Salisbury to make quilts to be shared with others in need.

Terri Brown, coordinator of the quilting group, said there are usually 11 or 12 women that gather. When there is no school, some of the church’s young girls, ranging in age from fourth or fifth grade and middle school age, also come to help.

Unless something happens, the group meets weekly and works on quilts, producing about three or four each week.

“They add up quick, and we donate them to anybody in this area that might have had a fire or something,” Brown said.

The group sews together squares out of donated fabric, measuring 60×80 inches and they tack them, Brown said, noting they are not hand quilted, but all the work they do is by hand.

“We feel good about what we do,” she said.

Usually the quilts are sent to Lutheran World Relief in Baltimore, Maryland, and then shipped overseas to third-world countries, she said. However, this year Lutheran Disaster Response decided that they could be of help here in the United States. Therefore, the quilts will be sent to the mountains, possibly to the Boone or Asheville areas, said Brown, noting that she is waiting to hear the exact destination.

The group recently boxed up 185 quilts to be taken to the mountains with 100 coming from the Grace Quilters and the remaining 85 from Chapel Hill. Additional quilts and care packages from the local Lutheran Disaster Response office will be sent as well.

Brown said they anticipate making more quilts for the mountains.

“If we can get them up there, we sure will,” she said.

Quilts made by the group have also been donated for the church’s annual fish fry as part of a raffle, and some have been sold to help the group purchase quilting supplies.

Brown said they also receive help from the church and some people donate to the group. 

“We just have a lot of wonderful people that donate,” she said, noting that they use sheets for the backing for the quilts, and people search at auctions and yard sales and “are always looking for us. Seems like these quilters are in the back of everybody’s mind of what we might need.”

Rev. Joshua Copeland, pastor of the local congregation, blessed the quilts that will be sent, which is something they also do when they are shipped to Lutheran World Relief, Brown said.

By sharing their talents and time, the group is sharing love with those in need.

“We are doing this because we want to wrap those in need. We want to wrap them in love,” said Brown. “Every quilt that goes out of there we bless. We just want to wrap people in love.”