Covert has a dozen quilts ready to send to an orphanage in Africa. Bob Hayworth, associate pastor at Grace Brethren Church, said her efforts are appreciated.
It started when Covert taught children at the church to quilt, and adults asked her to make more for an orphanage in Africa.
Hayworth will take Covert’s quilts to Africa next summer when he accompanies his church youth group during a humanitarian trip to an orphanage in Zambia.
“Barbara has always done a lot of quilting. She was active with our ladies’ ministry and she did a lot of quilting last summer during an art camp. It’s a very nice effort,” said Hayworth. “It’s a wonderful thing that Barbara is doing for the orphanage.”
Covert always liked to sew, and made clothing for her sons and her nieces. But it wasn’t until she retired that she found quilting to be her true creative niche.
“I took an arts and crafts class at Butte College, and it included basic quilting. I took that class for two years.”
Her quilts are colorful, and often have themes of animals and things children can appreciate. “I design them all and use only cotton. I just like putting colors together. I buy the batting and backing. It’s my own little thing to do. “
Each quilt starts with a pattern of four parts and she makes them by machine. “There are 12 blocks, and each one takes about 1.5 hours to complete. I don’t work every day, but an entire quilt takes about a month to make.”
She assembles the quilts at the clubhouse in the mobile home park where she lives. “I put the pieces together, and two friends help me.”
In her meticulously arranged sewing room, Covert has boxes and boxes of fabric, all carefully organized by color and by previous projects. “I try not to waste,” she said.
She has shared quilting with many groups, including her own sorority, Beta Sigma Phi.
She likes to imagine her quilts reaching the orphans in Zambia. “I make a quilt the way a quilt should be made. Each one has my name, the year I made it, and the name of my church. It’s nice to think the children will know who sent them.”