Panels Will Be Sewn For Aids Quilt

Quilters - experienced and novices alike - will dedicate one Saturday a month through March to create panels to include in the national AIDS Memorial Quilt.

A portion of the quilt, now large enough to span eight football fields, will be brought to Spokane in April, said Kevin Ketchie, spokesman for the Spokane AIDS Network.

That piece will “take up the whole space in the Convention Center,” Ketchie said.

Each 3-by-6-foot panel, the size of a grave, represents someone who has died of AIDS, he said. The quilt panels become memorials to those who have died of the disease and help personalize the loved one of the person who created it.

The ultimate goal of the enormous quilt is to bring about “education and put a tangible face to the numbers and statistics we hear about, (showing) they are real people,” Ketchie said.

The local AIDS network is hoping 20 to 30 panels can be made in Spokane before April to include in the overall project.

Experience is not necessary to work on the project. Seasoned quilters will help beginners.

Quilt panel-making places and dates are:

Today, Emmanuel Lutheran Church, 314 S. Spruce.

Dec. 2, Gonzaga University, room 128, Administration Building.

Jan. 20, West Central Community Center, 1603 N. Belt.

Feb. 24, Emmanuel Lutheran, 314 S. Spruce.

March 23, West Central Community Center, 1603 N. Belt.

Hours are 10 a.m,-3 p.m. each day.

For more information, call the Spokane AIDS Network at 326-6070.

, DataTimes