Linda Van Pelt has been keeping her Sandy Creek

High School students in stitches for weeks. In an effort to

help young cancer patients during chemotherapy

treatments, Van Pelt enlisted her clothing class to sew blankets

and quilts for the Linus Project which distributes them to

area hospitals.

Named after the "Peanuts" character Linus,

whose constant companion is his trusty security blanket,

the Project provides a little comfort for those in chemo.

Van Pelt said she learned about Project Linus from a notice

in the newspaper. She followed up on it and decided to take

it on with assistance from her students.

"The first batch of blankets were made of fleece,"

she said, showing off the hand-stitched coverlets made by

the students. "Now they are working on embroidering

squares which we will stitch together to form a quilt," she said.

Not only do the students gain experience in hand

sewing, machine sewing, pattern tracing and embroidery, but

they also fine-tune their hand and eye coordination, according

to Van Pelt.

The class is composed of about 18 girls and two

boys, ranging in grade level from freshman to senior.

Students admitted that the hardest part of the class was

probably threading the needle. Most had mastered at least

one embroidery stitch and were ready to tackle the quilt

assembly.

For more information about the Linus Project, call

Judy Simpson at 770-716-9968.

<!--##############