South Windsor quilting group creates comfort items for children in crisis

SOUTH WINDSOR, Conn. (WFSB) - A group of women who have been making quilts for people in need since 2007 has created comfort items for children during traumatic situations.

The group, called Peace by Piece, meets once a month at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in South Windsor to create quilts for people going through difficult times.

“We’re trying to bring peace by all the pieces we put together,” said Nancy Eaton, the group’s director.

The volunteers typically make quilts for people going through chemotherapy or recovering from car accidents.

They have sent quilts to victims of mass shootings, wildfires in California and communities across the world, including as far as Abruzzo, Italy, during earthquakes there.

Recently, the group started making what Eaton calls “comfort critters.”

These are small quilts with stuffed animals tucked inside that are delivered to police departments across Connecticut.

“There’s so many times that the police departments deal with something tragic, it might be arresting mom or dad, and the kids you know terrified of what you’re doing,” Eaton said.

The kits are designed for police officers to give to children in distress during traumatic situations.

The comfort items aren’t limited to crisis circumstances.

Eaton recalled a story from a police officer who noticed a child having a difficult day at the grocery store and gave them a comfort critter from the back of their patrol car.

“The kid immediately stopped crying, was in a happier place, and the dad came over and gave the cop a hug and he goes, ‘you have no idea what you did for my day,’” Eaton said. “And when you hear things like that it’s like, we don’t think this is a big deal, but it is. And we don’t think our quilts are big deals, but they are.”

The new mission has given Eaton’s life a new purpose, one she never imagined when she picked up quilting as a hobby decades ago.