The 13 women on the quilting committee of the Ladies Auxiliary of the American Legion Unit 927 in Gilbert have been working around the clock since September to design, cut, pin and sew 80 quilts for veterans in area nursing homes. The ladies of Unit 927 have been putting together holiday gift bags for their local vets for over nine years.

"This year we just wanted to do something different and make lap quilts," said Patricia Froncek, president of the Women's Auxiliary Unit 927. "We love doing it."Only four out of the 13 volunteers in the committee knew how to sew at the start of the project. "Many of these ladies took the work home," Froncek said."I sewed over 10 quilts in an hour and a half," committee chair Margaret Kluk said.Kluk learned her skills from her mother, who made quilts by hand."I've been sewing a long time. When we were kids we made clothing out of feed bags. Being one of 16, there were a lot of bags," the Kresgeville-born Gilbert resident said.The rest of the committee had foundational jobs including design and prep work before the fabric ever touched a needle. Kate Horn started volunteering with her grandmother Joanne for this year's project by helping with design elements."I'm not much of a sewer, but I wanted to help out," Horn said."They just came up with interesting combinations, whatever fabric was donated was used," said first Vice President Doreen Powers. "We are quite proud of being able to pull it off in such a short time."Donations from the Memorial Day Veterans Poppy sale are used to create the gift bags every year."We contact the homes to see what they need. We pack up body wash and therapeutic socks and tissues. This year we added the quilts and are adding snow globes," Evelyn Santiago said. Santiago became a member of the auxiliary after she and veteran husband moved from the base home in Long Island over 11 years ago."It's important to give to where you live, especially the vets," she said. "It's good. Santa goes with us to hand out the bags and the vets love it.""This is crunch time," Froncek said as the quilts received last-minute ironing and finishing touches at the American Legion Hall on Fairgrounds Road on Tuesday afternoon. The bags will be delivered to the vets starting Monday, Froncek said.