By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

CASCO — The dozen women who belong to Needle Charmers have an appetite for life.   

The local quilting group donated placemats to the Casco-Naples Senior Meals program. The colorful placemats were handed out during the drive-through meal time in mid-May. 

The quilting members like to stay busy and have a focused purpose that ties them to the community. These quilters have a zest for life. 

Now, the Needle Charmers are multi-tasking. They are simultaneously working on two projects: Quilts for the victims of home fires, and also a quilt to donate to the Quilts of Valor foundation, which presents hand-made quilts to veterans.   

Quilter Bonnie Wetmore, who is a former third and fourth grade teacher at Songo Locks School, talked about the placemat project and what the group did to keep on quilting during the pandemic.  

“The group took on a project to make placemats for local entities that supply meals to seniors,” Wetmore said. “Everyone made a placemat of their own design, and it was fun to see how many different designs the group completed. We ended up making around 60 placemats.”

“We wanted to do something for the senior citizens,” Wetmore said. 

On May 6, those placemats were given to the Casco Parks and Recreation Director Beth Latsey for the senior meal program. 

Since COVID restrictions, the in-person meal program morphed into a drive-through set up. So, the seniors get meals but not as much socializing. A couple weeks ago, the placemats were handed out along with the food.

“My impression was that they loved them,” Latsey said. “They were happy. They like anything. They are so lonely.”

She had enjoyed seeing the array of designs and colors used for the placemats. Her personal favorite had bright colors: cobaltblues, turquoise and reds, Latsey said.

“The Needle Charmers are a group of women who love quilting,” Wetmore said. “We have 12 active members right now. We would like to have more. We are doing all this activity and trying to get it out so other people see it and want to join.”

The quilting group has existed for a long time and was formerly known as Vi’s Quilters. It has been called the Needle Charmers for the past four or five years. Group members hail from the towns of Windham, Raymond, Casco, Naples, Otisfield and Standish.

The group meets at 2 p.m. on the second and fourth Thursday of the month at different sites in Casco. This month, has been the first time since last winter that people have been able to meet in-person.

“They met outdoors or in garages until it got too cold. Then, they held Zoom meetings, and continued to socialize,” Wetmore said.

On May 15, the Needle Charmers met on the lawn of Kathy Bartley’s house on Leach Hill Road. Everyone social distanced and wore masks unless they were speaking, Wetmore said. 

“We will have the next meeting at the Casco Village Church because we could meet there. We will be having a class on learning a new quilting skill — a new technique that a lot of us haven’t used yet,” she said. 

During the past year and three months, the quilting group has kept busy with numerous projects that dovetailed with community service and some just-for-fun ones, too.

The quilters made an advent calendar which was gifted to the Casco Public Library for its fundraising auction in December, she said. 

“We just finished an alphabet challenge where everyone got a letter of the alphabet and had to come up with a project that reflected that letter,” Wetmore said. 

“The industrious group of ladies is also working on quilts to be donated to fire victims. They are just starting this process but are working to build a supply of quilts to draw from when needed,” she said.

When those quilts are finished, the blankets will be presented to the Casco Fire Department, she said. 

During the pandemic, a few members made sure everyone was doing okay.

“I am trying to keep busy, finding something to do so nobody feels left alone. Barbara [Brown] and I do a lot of work trying to keep everybody involved in stuff,” Wetmore said. “We are really proud of the work of this group.”

An upcoming project is the mystery quilt, she said.Anyone who is interested in joining the Needle Charmers or would like more information about the group, can contact Bonnie Wetmore,