DIANE MAKAR MURPHY Homemade quilt captures the character of Ivy Woods

Since 1984, Donna Oesch has worked at Ivy Woods Manor. At the end of a long, winding drive, off Market Street in Boardman, Ivy Woods is sheltered by trees and is shelter for adults with mental and behavioral disorders.
As a restorative nurses aid, Oesch helps residents with exercise. She shows them how to dress and how to do other activities of daily living.
Residents may be stroke victims who need rehabilitation before returning home or those who will spend the rest of their lives at Ivy Woods. Oesch is there to help in either case. She considers it a journey of life.
Which brings us to a project Oesch began several months ago: a quilt for the residents of Ivy Woods.
"I like to do quilts, and I like drawing things," she said. Oesch, 60, began making quilts when her three children were little. "Some are just embroideries, just a blanket with squares," she said. "I was watching a film on quilt-making and decided I wanted to make one for the people at Ivy Woods. I wondered how they could help me."
Hand prints
While she was lying in bed one night, an idea popped into her head. Oesch would use hand prints.
She chose various shades of green cloth -- "green because of Ivy Woods." Next, she had each resident place a hand on a material square, then outlined it with a narrow bead of green or white fabric paint.
Using her two embroidery sewing machines, Oesch began sewing the names of the residents beneath the respective hand prints. Sam A., Carrie L., Stella P., Jeff S., Marie B., Mildred M., Martha S. ...
Because one of the residents was 100 years old, Oesch wanted to emphasize the idea that life is a journey.
"I might be where these people are some time," she said.
In addition to the hand prints, she added squares that would have meaning for the Ivy Woods family.
"I embroidered a rooster because last Easter, I brought eggs in," Oesch said. "On Good Friday, they hatched. The residents raised them. Eventually, we had to give the peeps away, but I kept one rooster."
She also embroidered a dog on the quilt. "The administrator's dog Barney comes every day, so I put Pluto [on the quilt]," she said.
Ivy Woods has cats; so does Oesch's design.
Finished product
Oesch worked for four months on the quilt, even taking it with her on vacation to Lake Erie. Her husband of 40 years, Randal, 61, a coal miner with Sterling Coal Mine, was supportive.
"My husband is crafty, too," Oesch said. (He is, in fact, now helping Donna with a nine-pocket, heirloom, jean quilt.)
The number of squares added up and spilled over to another small quilt, both of which would ultimately hang in Ivy Wood's lobby. If you go there now, you will see, in the midst of all those names, hands, the rooster, and the dog and cats, these words: "Made by Donna Oesch and residents -- Ivy Woods Manor 2003." The hand prints are all shapes and sizes -- a unique hand for each unique person.
The day Oesch brought the quilt in, she told patients she had something to show them. She laid out the quilt and looked at their excited faces. Then hands began to move. Each resident searched for his or her name.
"They looked for their hand prints and put their hand in it," she said.
Even now, residents like to go up to the hanging quilts and place a palm in the appropriate squares.
"I really do feel life is a journey," Oesch said. "You keep the memories after death. At least that's what I think."
Maybe Oesch has made good memories for the people around her to take with them. She certainly has good ones for herself.
Said Oesch, "I love my job.
murphy@vindy.com