Elgin student's gifts connect moms with premature babies

An Elgin college student donated 62 tiny quilts and 41 even tinier quilted hearts she made for babies born prematurely at Advocate Sherman Hospital.

Emily Neuman, 20, an elementary education student at Elgin Community College, said she made them with cotton flannel because “it's the softest thing that can go against a baby's skin.”

“It was a big random project,” she said Friday morning, just before dropping off her donation at the hospital. “It's a really simple pattern that I learned in high school.”

Frances Teti-Teal, director of the birthing center at the hospital, said she was grateful for the gift. “They are just beautiful and amazing,” she said.

The hearts are for babies who need to be separated from their mothers. The moms put the hearts against their skin and then the hearts are placed next the babies, who get to know their maternal scent. “This will help keep the moms close when they can't be,” Teti-Teal said.

Neuman said it all started when she took a quilting class through her home-school club in high school.

“We made a project for the semester, a huge rag quilt, and we had so much flannel left over that my teacher decided to show us how to make preemie quilts,” she said. “Most of the other girls made one or two, but I was so interested in them, I made 12.”

The class donated the quilts to Sherman Hospital, she said.

After she enrolled at Elgin Community College, Neuman found herself with too much time on her hands during winter break last year.

“I hate wasting time,” she said. “I really hate not being in school and not having anything to do. So I decided to do something with my break.”

She asked for cotton flannel as Christmas gifts, and by mid-January had made the quilts, mostly measuring 18 square inches, and the hearts, made from leftover fabric and about 6 inches each.

“It doesn't requite a ton of concentration. I can do it while watching TV or listening to an audiobook,” she said.

Neuman said she got in touch with Sherman Hospital about donating her work, but when some of her questions went unanswered, she didn't follow up and then got caught up with her summer job. “They were all boxed up really nice and neat in my closet,” she said.

As for whether she plans to do more quilting, she's taking a break, but “I guarantee that won't be the last,” she said.

• Daily Herald photographer Brian Hill contributed to this report.