Donate to Stitches of Love and Hope Quilting Program

Earlier this month, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) shared details about the Stitches of Love and Hope Quilting Program at the Hobby Unit on Facebook, sharing that 40 handmade quilts and 30 handmade pillowcases had been donated to the Departments of Family Services.

Warden Audrey England is proud of several programs available to inmates, but the Stitches of Love and Hope Quilting Program established last year holds an extra special place in her heart.

When the program was established, inmates originally focused on creating items to donate to nursing homes. However, a Netflix Documentary called “The Quilters,” about prisoners at a maximum security prison in Missouri sewing quilts for foster children sparked inspiration for donating to children.

“We will still provide things to the nursing homes, but we kind of switched our direction and decided to go toward the foster children in the three counties surrounding us,” England said. “I sent (The Department of Family Services) an email saying this is what we’re doing, and we’d like to incorporate the local community and make sure we’re giving back to the local community in Marlin and Falls County, plus Robertson and Milam. I got ahold of their directors and they got me in touch with the people that I needed to be in touch with here locally and they are extremely excited.”

Currently, 10 inmates are part of the quilting program and dedicate three or four hours a day (M-F) working on these prayerfully made quilts. The inmates had no quilting experience prior to this initiative, and only a few had sewing skills, but under the masterful instruction of Terri Speer, the entire group is now flourishing. Speer has lived in Marlin for over 50 years and worked with TDCJ for more than 20; she was once in charge of the Craft Shop, though it is no longer in existence.

“This is a way for the inmates to use their creativity and show themselves to the public,” Speer said. “They’ve learned a lot, improved a lot, and they were so excited about our first donation to Family Services a couple weeks ago.”

While quilts are a comfort to children, Speer and England found an additional avenue to provide kids in the foster program with a sense of security.

“These kids don’t typically have anything to carry their property, their stuff in when they go from house to house, so Mrs. Speer came up with the idea of making what we called a pillowcase, but it has a drawstring so they can carry that quilt and their personal items with them,” England said. “We wanted it to be something they can have with them for the rest of their lives, not just now.”

England is bolstered by the joy this crafting brings inmates, and hopes these quilting skills will help inmates secure jobs upon release.

“The inmates love it, because even when they start picking out the material to make those quilts, they’re thinking of those children and already praying for them, then throughout the entire process,” England said. “Even though they don’t know the name or age of that child, they’re praying for them, and the name of the quilting program came from the inmates themselves, because they’re giving love and hope back to those children and giving them something to hold onto.”

According to Speer, donations are needed and welcome so the Stitches of Love and Hope Quilting Program can continue sharing quilts with children and elderly folks who need them.

“Our entire program was started with donations. We will accept donations of anything quilting related: from sewing machines to fabric (no scrap is too small), UFOs (un-finished objects you may have started 10 years ago and lost interest), domestic sewing machine needles, rulers, cutting mats, rotary tools, 5 “ scissors, patterns etc. We also have a need for Batting and Backing fabric.”

If you are interested in donating to the Stitches of Love and Hope Quilting Program, contact Speer at Terri.Speer@tdcj.texas.gov.