ORANGE : A Quilt That Is Sewn With Threads of Friendship

The pile of children’s posters that came to Esther Dendel’s crafts studio four years ago could have aged on parents’ refrigerators and been relegated to some dusty box.

Instead, 23 of those works have been meticulously re-created in fabric by the 18 women of Dendel’s quilting circle.

The final product--which was stored at the Orange Central Library until funds could be found to buy a frame--was unveiled for the City Council on Tuesday before it was hung in the children’s section of the library.

The women who spent close to a year stitching the quilt still value the time they spent creating it. Quilts, which have gained popularity in recent years, now sell for as much as thousands of dollars.

“They are seeing quilts as an art form now,” Dendel said. “Before, it was a way of using up scrap.”

Dendel, 84, and her husband, Jo, who had crafted mosaic panels for the library in their Costa Mesa workshop, were originally asked by library officials to make mosaics of the children’s drawings. Dendel’s arthritis, however, ruled out the heavy work.

So, she suggested asking the craftspeople who use her studio to make a quilt. Some, like Marylin Kattan--a professional quilter--were skilled in sewing. Others were jewelry makers or potters or weavers. They divided up the often tedious work of tracing the drawings of children’s books onto applique squares.

In the meantime, they shared the confidences of a group that works closely. “It’s surprising some of the things people will reveal about themselves,” Dendel said.

Work projects always come to an end, but this one was not hard to give up, the women said. “We could give up the product because we had the process,” Dendel explained.