Craft Club The Or Zarua Craft Club is about to complete a full quilt for the Sanctuary Stitchers project for the Jewish Board of Children and Family Services. The quilt is an amalgam of knitted or crocheted squares in various patterns with color as the central unifying element. Please join us on Sunday, January 22, 2012, and Sunday, February 19, 2012, at 10:15 am in the Library to help join the seams of the quilt as we use needle and yarn to attach one square to another and each row of squares to the next. The Or Zarua Crafts Club provides a friendly setting for Congregants to pursue a craft they enjoy while helping others and socializing. Participants range in age and skill level, from novices to experienced stitchers, and can work on the group's mitzvah projects or on their own personal projects.

Quilt by Lorraine Shapiro

Many of our members have been knitting or crocheting squares that are assembled into blankets for the Jewish Board of Family and Children Services' Sanctuary Stitchers Project, which presents the blankets to children and teens living at JBFCS residential treatment facilities. Other members have been crocheting colorful kippot to send to a synagogue in Sderot, the embattled Israeli community adjacent to Gaza. We meet monthly on Sunday mornings in the Or Zarua library on the fourth floor, usually on the second Sunday of every month, from 10:15 to 11:45. We also encourage "virtual membership" for Congregants who prefer to knit at home. Please bring your handiwork to the Synagogue office knowing that knitted squares are very much appreciated as gifts from the heart. Consult the Sanctuary Stitchers website for the detailed specifications. Please contact the Or Zarua office if you are interested in attending a Crafts Club meeting, contributing either kippot for Sderot or 7" x 9" rectangles for a blanket, or if you have ideas for future mitzvah projects.