Threads of Love is warming hearts and spreading joy with handmade gifts

By Melanie Williamson

Threads of Love is a group of women who spend their free time crocheting, knitting, and quilting as a service to others. The work to spread joy and comfort to others from newborn babies to the elderly. While they recently adopted the name Threads of Love, this group of ladies has been working together for a couple of years.

It started with one woman named Lorie Fedor, who was lovingly making crocheted and sewn baby hats and donating them to the local hospitals for the newborn babies. A member of St. Mary Church in Vermilion, she decided to see if anyone else would be interested in making hats with her, so she started an informal group. They simply called themselves the Baby Hat Ladies.

However, with a group of women working together, all making baby hats, it didn’t take long before the local hospitals told Fedor that they could take some time off because they had a stockpile of baby hats. This was when the group decided to expand their efforts.

Fedor contacted local nursing homes, the Salvation Army, and a cancer treatment center, and they started making hats and scarves for school age children, hats for patients undergoing chemo, and lap blankets for those living in the nursing homes. In 2014, the group made over 100 matching hats and scarves in blue and white, so every student at St. Mary school received one.

This past year Lorie Fedor, the driving force behind this little group, passed away. The remaining members decided to keep going with Fedor’s mission to bring comfort, love, and warmth to others.

They decided on a new name because they had come so far from just making baby hats. They meet once a month to collect everything that volunteers have made, and then the core group of regulars deliver what’s been made to the various organizations and recipients.

In addition to the hospitals, Salvation Army, nursing homes, and cancer treatment center, they make blankets and pillow cases for Blessing House in Elyria and baby blankets for a crisis pregnancy center. They also make lap blankets that are delivered the sick and home bound.

They want to invite anyone with a love of crocheting, kitting, or sewing to join their efforts. Also, they are always taking donations of yarn or monetary donations that can be used to buy yarn. If you would like to volunteer your time or make a donations, you can call the church office at 967-8711.