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Happiness is a warm blanket.

Linus van Pelt

Quilting seems quaint and old-fashioned, something a pioneer woman might do at night by candlelight after a hard day of milking cows, churning butter, cleaning out the hen house and washing clothes on rocks by the river light-years away from today's hyperspaced, nanotubed society.

So it might come as a bit of a surprise that one of the largest volunteer organizations in East County is the Delta Quilters guild, numbering nearly 100 women and one man.

The guild meets at 7 p.m. on the second Monday of the month at Golden Hills Community Church on Lone Tree Way to share yarns on quilting and learn more about it. The guest speaker this Monday, Aug. 11 is Linda Schmidt, who will be speaking on the topic: Short-attention-span quilting.

While there's much satisfaction in making quilts, there might be more in giving them away to comfort the needy. Recipients of Delta Quilters quilts include troubled youths in halfway houses, foster children at Christmas, battered women in a shelter, wounded soldiers, premature babies in hospitals and special-education students in local schools.

I love doing charity work because I love giving to the needy, and quilts are such a comforting thing, said Claudia Hubbard, Brentwood resident and charity coordinator for Delta Quilters. It's a very warm feeling when you give something. There is so much love that gets put into the quilts. As we are making them, it's like a big hug we are giving to the recipient. It makes you want to do more for them.

Sometimes foster children many years later into adulthood, they still have these quilts because it's something that has brought them great comfort in their times of trouble, their times of need.

A quilt is comprised of cotton fabric that has been cut and sewn into pieces to make little squares. Batting is laid in the middle, providing thickness and warmth and a back to keep it all together.

While it seems relatively simple, quilting can get as detailed and complex as the quilter would like. A simple quilt can be sewn up in a day or two, while others take more than a year to complete.

And quilting can involve a lot more than just making bedspreads. Quilters also produce artistic wall hangings, practical pot holders, place mats and clothes such as jackets.

To get started, you could show up at Monday's Delta Quilters meeting or visit East County's quilting shops: Queen B's Quilt Shop, 720 W. Second St. in downtown Antioch, and Sew Ewe Quilt, 470 Harvest Park Drive in Brentwood. The shops offer classes for beginners.

We welcome any visitors, said Hubbard. We have a good workshop we help each other. They are intent to teach and enhance our skills. It's a lot of fun; it's very fulfilling. It's my love.