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.

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