One stitch at a time - Woman quilts for fun, gives them to charity
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Anita Dommer is surrounded by some of the quilts she has made at her Chippewa Falls home since January. Each year, she donates the quilts to a charity. Click here to view or purchase this and other exclusive photographs taken by The Chippewa Herald for this feature.
Photo by Candice Novitzke / The Chippewa Herald
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By CANDICE NOVITZKE
Thursday, March 20, 2008 9:02 AM CDT
The Chippewa Herald
When Anita Dommer retired in 2003, she was looking for a way to keep busy. So she dusted off her quilting materials, and got to work.
Amazingly, her retirement hobby has turned out more than 200 quilts to date. Nearly all of them were donated to those in need.
But this year, the donation process was a little different.
Anita wasn’t notified when the usual mobile donation station, World Missions, rolled into town for them to drop off the quilts. So her relatives in Nebraska suggested she and her husband Mel bring the quilts along on a family visit and donate to a group out there. (The Dommers moved to Wisconsin in 1956.)
So, in January she and Mel drove themselves, their luggage, and 44 quilts to Nebraska.
“We had the backseat and the trunk both pretty full,” Anita recalls.
The organization lucky enough to receive the quilts was Orphan Grain Train, a Christian volunteer network based in Norfolk, Neb. Her sister-in-law has been donating quilts to the charity for several years, and one day learned that a quilt she donated became a sail on someone’s sailboat.
“Wherever the need is, that’s where they’ll go,” Anita said.
Quilting has just become second nature for her.
“I keep one next to the laundry table, and upstairs near the table to work on,” she said. “When I’m waiting for laundry, I work on it a bit.”
One quilt might take her as little as a day to complete if she doesn’t do much else. If she’s busier, it may take as long as a week or so.
Though she admits the quilts she makes aren’t as intricate as a quilt entered in the state fair, they still have merit.
“They’re just something nice and warm,” Anita said. “I hope people enjoy them as much as I enjoy making them.”
Lately, she’s been trying something new.
“Sometimes I want a little change in what I’m working with,” she said. “So I’ll start up a lap robe.“
Though smaller and a bit different in construction than a quilt, they’re nice for those confined to wheelchairs. Anita has a small collection of lap robes almost ready to go. A friend is lining up a group to accept the donation.
“I do enjoy it,” she said. “It’s something for me to pass the time. It’s fun.“
But Anita’s not the only one in the house with a hobby to keep busy. Last year, she and Mel turned 80. Mel enjoys woodworking, birdhouse making and collecting antiques. They hope to pursue their interests for quite some time.
“As long as the good Lord gives me good health and the time to make ’em, I’m gonna keep on a makin’ ’em,” Anita said matter-of-factly.
Reach Candice Novitzke at candice.novitzke@lee.net.
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