TYLER — Quilts hanging in the Tyler Public Library encourage kids to participate in The Reading Express.

Whether you want to learn to read or to quilt, you need to keep practicing. If you take time off, you lose skills.

New or “rusty” quilters frequently make quilts to give away. You can polish your skills and have something to give with a hug to someone who needs it.

Love Covers, a small group of the Quilters’ Guild of East Texas, has chosen to fill a quilt closet at the new Datie Florence Brown Children’s Home.

Each child will have an opportunity to choose her favorite to keep. A stuffed toy or doll and a pillowcase provide children something of their own to take with them.

The quilts hanging in the library will go to the Children’s Home at the end of July.

Other Bees have been making quilts for the Fisher Houses, homes for military families receiving medical care at military hospitals, and Quilts of Valor, another place where veterans are recognized.

Still, other Bees make quilts for hospice and children’s care providers.

Additionally, the guild makes one big quilt to raffle off each year at the Azalea Quilt Show in March. All the money generated is given to organizations that benefit women and children.

On July 8, checks will be presented to Datie Florence Brown Children’s Home, St. Paul’s Children’s Foundation, and the Education Department at the Caldwell Zoo.