Children, Children Everywhere Quilt in the Children's Room

Did you know the quilt hanging on the soffit in the children's room is the result of a Friends of the Shaker Library intergenerational quilting project?

The children's room had been expanded and the soffit over the window was a wide open expanse of white. Friends President Susan Gall decided that a colorful quilt would enhance the space and that a quilting project would be a fitting activity during the month of August (1992) since most of the reading groups and children's activities were on hiatus. She enlisted the help of Shaker quilt artist, Ruta Marino, who decided to have children create drawings from poetry that could be translated to fabric. Coincidentally, Beaumont High School student Meghan Keefe contacted the library to offer her volunteer services. The two were a wonderful team with Meghan serving as Ruta’s organizational arm, enabling her to focus on the creative aspect of the project.

The quilt was inspired by the poem Children, Children, Everywhere by Jack Prelutsky.

Ruta read the poem and instructed children and adults to draw something that would depict the poem. Children and adults had fun coming up with an assortment of creative drawings. Some children chose a sports theme based on the everyone a winner line in the poem. One creative child used a variety of different shapes to depict the line children of all shapes and sizes.

The drawings were transferred to cloth, and children chose from bags of colorful fabric to create their fabric block. Ruta collected the squares and basted them together, and machine quilted the central block of paper doll silhouettes encircling the globe to depict children, children, everywhere.

The quilt, measuring 48 by 120 inches, was hung on the soffit and unveiled at an Artists’ Reception and Quilt Hanging on November 6, 1992. It is a treasure and a testament to a wonderful community of volunteers that crosses all generations.