WHEN Maureen Goodman lost her first-born son Stephen to a cancerous brain tumour in 1963, she turned to the staff at the Royal Children's Hospital for help.
Eight months' pregnant at the time, it was the support from nursing staff and doctors which helped her through such a traumatic experience.
Many years later, Maureen is now pleased to be able to give something back to the hospital in the form of a handmade original quilt.
Maureen, who lives in Dandenong, is one of a group of women who meet each Thursday to share their passion for all things quilting.
The women - Dea Hazelhoff, Louise Landsman, Elizabeth Houareau, Lyn Meulman, Jean Dixon and Maureen - spent a few months collaborating on the quilt, each doing their own section.
It features designs from children currently undergoing treatment in the children's cancer centre at Royal Children's Hospital, and will be proudly hung at the centre.
"We are very proud of the quilt and hope it will bring a lot of pleasure to the children, especially as they will be able to see their own artwork," says Maureen.
"The children were given an opportunity to express themselves and it has just come together beautifully."
The quilt will be presented to the centre in a few weeks, with all the women attending to make a presentation to the children who helped design it.
For the group, weekly meetings at the Wellsprings For Women centre in Dandenong provides more than just a venue in which to hone their craft skills; it is an opportunity to create some lasting friendships.
"We all have different skills and we all help each other," says Maureen, who has been quilting for about eight years.
"It is very relaxing," adds Narre Warren resident Lyn. "It's easy to lose yourself in your work."
The nominated "troublemaker" of the group, Dea, of Hampton Park, says the women have become the best of mates and spend a lot of time laughing and sharing life experiences.
Dea has been quilting for about 12years and says rather than having one single room for her craft, the "whole house looks like one big quilting room".
She says she is always on the lookout for pieces of material to use.
All the women say the key to quilting is patience.
"Patience comes in everything you do in craft, but more particularly in quilting," says Elizabeth, of Noble Park.
Louise, the quieter member, says she loves coming to the quilting group for the company, and the women all share their problems.
She says new members are always welcome and the group is very inviting, especially to those wanting to give quilting a go for the first time.
The women have done lots of other projects which have been used in raffles to raise money for group homes for people with an intellectual disability and for research into stillbirth prevention.
The `quilting for fun' group meets on Thursdays from 1-3pm at Wellsprings For Women in Langhorne Street, Dandenong.
The cost is $5 per week plus a $10 yearly fee.
Contact 9701 3740 or visit www.wellspringsforwomen.com
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