By KATIE LEFEBVRE, Globe staff reporter
April 7, 2005

CARROLL - A parishioner at Holy Spirit Parish in Carroll has been sharing her gift of sewing by making quilts for people in Calhoun City, Miss. as well as other places all over the world.

Alice Kelly is an 85-year-old woman who loves to sew and about ten years ago started making quilts to send to the Excel tutoring program when Sister Myra Weitl, OSF, went to Calhoun City.

According to Kelly, Sister Myra was a teacher in the Catholic school in Arcadia, 13 miles from Carroll, and the school was going to merge with Westside and Vail. Sister Myra had been there for eight years and decided she wanted to do something different. The Sisters of St. Francis of Dubuque were opening Excel programs in the south. Sister Myra has now been in Calhoun City for about 10 years.

Kelly makes the quilts with squares of different sizes including six, eight and ten inches. The leftovers she cuts into strips to crochet into mud rugs.

"They go over really well in Mississippi," said Kelly of the mud rugs. "The homes aren't wall to wall carpet down there. It is a really poor district."

Over the years, Kelly noted that she has made about 900 quilts to send to Sister Myra along with countless lap ropes for nursing home residents and mud rugs.

Kelly has been making the quilts just by herself. It had gotten around in conversation that Kelly was making these quilts and one woman called Kelly to offer her material. The Carroll woman, whose mother had made quilts, brought Kelly 10 plastic bags of materials.

"Three-fourths of the materials were Disney prints - just adorable, funny," said Kelly. "I have had 72 quilts out of that to send to Sister Myra. It was a big hit."

She has another big box of just Christmas material for the quilts.

Sister Myra gives each of the children in her class in the Excel program a quilt for Christmas. According to Kelly, the children write her letters after they receive their quilts at Christmas. She noted that she gets quite a lift from their letters.

"Sister mentioned to me that it is amazing how you consider Mississippi warmer climate, but they love their quilts," said Kelly. "Grandmas have come to Sister Myra and asked if they could have a quilt."

The quilts are a big hit with the community in Mississippi. Kelly continues to send them "because she so needs them. She gives them away to the children she teaches and families."

"I have told her, 'you tell me when you want me to quit at this,'" said Kelly. "Sister Myra said, 'you just keep making quilts as long as you can.' She appreciates them."

A dentist from Calhoun City went to Honduras and took eight of the quilts that Kelly made with him. Kelly has also sent quilts to Calcutta, tsunami victims, a children's hospital in Prague, Chicago and several other places.

"I really have them all over," said Kelly. "I love materials and just love sewing. I sew everyday. The biggest thrill of all is helping someone."