MACON, Ga. — Next month, you can check out some fantastic fabric in an event that happens every two years.
The Heart of Georgia Quilt Guild puts on the show.
They make a donation to the Children's Methodist Home, where the show happens.
Most folks can get one two or maybe three quilts done.
But Gladys Keith worked for 12 months on her donations.
“It's the process. Ohh I want to do this quilt,” she said enthusiastically
Gladys Keith calls herself a fabricholic, and she's not kidding.
Colorful cotton material graces every nook and cranny of her home. In a spare room she's got fifty plastic boxes filled with fabric in practically every color you can think of.
She's quilted every way you can imagine from modern to sewing threads that date back generations.
The 79-year-old is generous and determined.
In 2023, she committed to making 20 quilts for the Methodist Children's Home.
“You have 25 blocks to sew together it takes awhile,” she calculated.
A good bit of the time Gladys quilts six hours a day. The Children's Hospital asked for twin quilts she made twenty and it took over 2-thousand hours to get it done.
She's humble and takes her efforts in stride but it's not lost on the woman who many times just listens to the hum of the machine that she's making a difference.
“To know that some child is going to be warm and you can cuddle up in a quilt and read a book," she said.
It's less of a mission. Instead, quilting is in the fabric of Gladys' life.
After her husband's death, she quilted. After a disagreement with her daughter, she quilts.
It's a passion, it's therapy and it's also an intricate gesture of love.
“If I can't give them away, why make them,” she said.
You can see Gladys' work at the show coming up the first weekend in April.
It will happen in the gym at the Children's Methodist Home.
They will have vendors, demonstrations and a silent auction.
It will run you seven dollars to get in the door.