A collage of Sue Schoolcraft’s quilts for Gifford babies.
Fluffy bunnies and festive snowmen and sleepy lions. Raggedy Ann and Andy. Bob the Builder. Thomas the Train. These childhood favorites (and many others) have one thing in common: They all star on original quilts handmade by Sue Schoolcraft of Randolph Center.
The avid quilter has been at it for 58 years, and for at least 20 years has given many of her patchworks to Gifford to distribute to newborns and their families.
And rather than scale back later in life, Schoolcraft has ramped up production, in 2020 setting herself a unique personal challenge: In one year, make and deliver 24 quilts to the hospital’s Birthing Center. She exceeded the challenge and in late February 2021 made a special trip to the hospital with her husband, Ronald, to deliver 25 quilts after their COVID-19 vaccine appointments. She had another three quilts in the works at home, she said.
Aside from the joy that quilting brings to her life, Schoolcraft, a member of the Gifford Auxiliary, said she’s motivated by a desire to give back to the community and provide local families with a gift that can be cherished for generations.
“I am hoping that they are going to someone who needs them and will enjoy them for years to come,” she said. “Even if a baby outgrows them, they can hang on a wall and be saved for their children and grandchildren, being passed down.”
Each quilt has a unique theme and design, and is marked by keen attention to detail. None of it is by accident.
Sue and Ronald Schoolcraft.
“If she’s not sewing, she’s designing something, drawing it out on draft paper,” said Ronald of his wife’s commitment to her craft.
Every quilt “is always a gift of love, and each one is different,” said Ashley Lincoln, Gifford’s director of development and public relations. “I have had the pleasure to give a quilt to a new mom in our Birthing Center, and she was completely overcome with joy and emotion, especially as she had received one with a previous baby, realizing that each one of her children was going to have a special blanket from the hospital, one that no one else is going to have. It means a lot.”
Schoolcraft isn’t alone in using her talents to give back to Gifford families. Members of the Delectable Mountain Quilters, of which Schoolcraft has been a part for at least 20 years, provide quilts to the Birthing Center, each made with love by residents of Barnard, East Barnard, Bethel, Woodstock, Brookfield, Randolph.
It’s a tightknit group, said Schoolcraft, but they’ve had to forgo their traditional meetings during the pandemic.
“We used to meet weekly at different people’s houses,” said Schoolcraft. “Now we call each other, to check up on each other. And we had an old-fashioned chain letter that we sent around before Christmas. We passed the letter on to each other via snail mail.”
Lincoln expressed Gifford’s gratitude for the group.
“They provide a gift of time that you’re not going to get anywhere else.”
Across generations
It’s not only babies who are wrapped in the warmth of Schoolcraft’s blankets.
“Sue has also made quilts for our residents at Menig,” said Lincoln, referring to Gifford’s nursing home in Randolph Center. “She would find out a resident’s favorite color, hobby or profession, and their quilt would be reflective of that. When a local farmer moved into Menig, his quilt reflected his life in farming. Sue took the time to find out his passions. She cares that much, to provide a unique gift to someone that she may never even have met.”
Whether given at the beginning or end of life, a Sue Schoolcraft original is quilted with love.
