Though tired from walking the festival floor Thursday, Terry Gallegos stopped at one more booth.
This one, Quilts Beyond Borders, offered a "Sit and Sew."
Gallegos, 62, promised 20 minutes but stayed an hour to complete a small blanket.
"I'm finished,"she said proudly, displaying her work.
Not everyone who stopped at the booth completed a blanket, of course. Some, like volunteers from The Woodlands Area Quilts Guild, patiently measured fabric. Others ironed or helped steady new quilters' hands. The goal, however, remained the same: to start or finish quilt tops for quilts that will be sent to HIV/AIDS orphans in Ethiopia.
Founded by professional quilters June Colburn and Noreen Fling, Quilts Beyond Borders first visited Ethiopia in August 2007. The group distributed 220 quilts, Fling said Thursday, but there were 450 kids at this orphanage.
Because of the shortage, not all children received quilts.
After returning from Ethiopia, Colburn and Fling hosted "Sit and Sew" events at quilt festivals in Houston and Chicago. Volunteers completed about 150 quilt tops last year in Houston.
Fling hopes participants this year can make enough so that every child can receive a quilt. Colburn is leaving for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Nov. 26. She'll visit the same orphanage, plus another facility with 1,500 bedridden children.
Participants at the booth said they were moved by the cause.
"Those children have nothing," said Sharon Cookman, 68, of Anderson, Ind. She scrutinized her work at every turn.
"Do you have any more of these?" she asked, gesturing to fabric with a Scooby Doo image. "I think the kids would like this."
By sewing a quilt top, Colburn said, Houston festival goers can make a real connection with the children's plight. Colburn said people often are surprised at how valuable a quilt can be for the children in Ethiopia, where the temperature can drop to 30 degrees at night.
"It is one thing to say that there are millions of orphans in the world and that there are hundreds and thousands of orphans in Ethiopia," she said. "But when you see a picture of a quilt that you have made wrapped around a child halfway around the world, the importance of the global AIDS epidemic and orphan crisis becomes personal."
As seamstresses of varying skill levels gathered, the booth was abuzz with the hum of the machines and spirited conversation.
Some women said the respite provided not only a break from walking but from overspending at the numerous booths.
But the biggest reward, it seemed, came from supporting the quilt project.
"We are quilting comfort, yes," Cookman said. "But by showing these kids someone cares for them, we are quilting hope, too."
Quilts Beyond Borders is one of about 12 charities represented at the festival.
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