They are known as Quilts From the Heart, and they donate their work to charities and social service networks throughout Los Angeles, including organizations like the Venice Family Clinic and the City of Hope. The Mar Vista quilting group also makes purses that members sell at the Mar Vista Farmers Market two to three times a year, but they say the vast majority of their creations are given to charities and nonprofit agencies. In December, the Mar Vista quilting group donated quilts and other knitted clothing items to the Venice Family Clinic, and their gifts are well-received, says Rosalba Montoya, the prenatal intake coordinator at the clinic’s Sims/Mann Health and Wellness Center in Santa Monica. Quilts From the Heart donated approximately 200 quilts in 2008 and nearly the same number in 2009, Karastic said. Montoya hears from clients who receive donated blankets and quilts from Quilts From the Heart, and she says that many tell her how important those gifts are to their families. Mar Vista is a community that has a growing reputation as an emerging leader in sustainability and conservation, and Karastic, a former LAUSD teacher whose home was visited in the neighborhood Green Garden Showcase in April, says that is a feature of the quilting group that is noteworthy.

Threatening letters sent to Van Buren schools - Belleville police continue to look into threatening letters that were sent to four, separate schools in the Van Buren schools that resulted in a district-wide "lock in" on Dec. School officials scramble after low student count - The Van Buren Public School Board continues to search for answers to explain the unexpected student exodus from the District last September. Champagne plans appeal to firing - After last week’s raucous Van Buren Township Board of Trustee’s meeting, it is clear that terminated Public Safety Director Jerry Champagne has no intention of leaving quietly. Interim superintendent’s contract extended - The Van Buren Public School Board approved Interim Superintendent Thomas Riutta’s contract through June 30, 2011 at Monday night’s meeting.

Hacala’s quilts at the Maples Gallery exhibit include a 1930s yellow and white appliqué butterfly quilt and a 1940s poppies appliqué kit quilt with scalloped borders. Two other quilts from that era are a “Trip Around the World” quilt and a “Double Wedding Ring” quilt that still has pencil markings on it. A more modern twist on the “Trip Around the World” quilt is a quilt from the ’90s, made up of thousands of tiny squares to form intricate designs, a pattern identified with the Perkiomen Valley in Pennsylvania. One of the oldest pieces is a geometric pattern “Delectable Mountain” quilt, made in the late 19th century when red and white was a very popular color combination. A “Houses with Stars” quilt from the late 20th century has 25 houses set with red stars in between and bordered by more stars and tiny triangles. A “Cross Stitch Baltimore Al-bum” quilt is edged with a prairie point border, and a 1980-era “Tree of Life” appliqué quilt features a popular kit quilt pattern, with many appliquéd pieces.

Quilter and poet displays work in Redlands | Inland News | PE.

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