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Quilty pleasures By AMBER FOSSEN Ashland Daily Tidings In fashioning her first quilt, Charlotte Wong's m�tier has been found. Each week, Wong, 58, attends the Hands All Around Quilters group, where she has been a fixture for the last five years. Just completing her debut quilt, Wong is already fast at work on another, carefully pinning small squares in place, later to be sewn. Charlotte Wong, 58, shows off her first quilt with the Hands All Around Quilters group in Ashland. Wong's interest in fabrics has landed her a job at Henry Calvin Fabrics in Medford. Ashland Daily Tidings/Denise Baratta Wong's deep concentration and eye for detail make the process slow but precise. She knows exactly which fabric she wants to use despite her handicap. Wong is severely disabled. "Charlotte is one of five adults in her home," Judy Beyer, administration assistant at Advocates For Severely Handicap, said. Wong came to Miller House, one of three supervised homes that hosts the Advocates 15 clients, in 1996. There, she lives with her "family," according to Manager Michael Donohue. "Charlotte is our latest edition to Miller House and we have three individuals there who have lived together for nearly 20 years," Donohue said. "I think she kind of sees this as home." Advocates help severely disabled members of the community interact socially, not allowing disabilities to become isolating. "A big part of our goal is to have clients interact," Beyer said. With that in mind, Wong joined Hands All Around Quilters, which formed in 1983 after Naida McDermitt closed her Hands All Around quilt shop. McDermitt said there are 45 quilting members including Wong. "We like having her," McDermitt said. "She's doing such a good job it astounds me." Although language is a barrier - Wong communicates mainly with sounds - the group seems to understand one another just fine. "Sometimes we suspect she knows more than we think she does," McDermitt said. The nonprofit also helps severely disabled clients learn vocational skills to work within the community. Fred Vassar, a vocational job coach for Living Opportunities, said the goal is to promote as much independence as possible. Forging her independent side, Wong rides the bus by herself to Medford five days a week where she works at Henry Calvin Fabrics. "She's wonderfully popular over there. Either the vice president or the president greets her at the door with a soda when she leaves," Vassar said. While Wong rides the bus independently, Vassar is her chariot from the bus to the fabric store. However, Wong still calls the shots. "She's great with directions and points the way to go," he said. At Henry Calvins, Wong is responsible for cutting and organizing swatches that are sent to high scale fashion houses all over the world. Wong's constant flipping of fabric back and forth between her fingers has enabled her to decipher the front side from the back merely by touch. "[This job] took her disability and actually made it into one of her greatest assets," Vassar said. "She has an ability, quite frankly, that most of the other employees don't have." Beyer said the Advocates try to find out what each client is interested in, and then partner them with a related job. Wong expressed an interest in fabric and sewing from the moment she entered Miller House, helping hem and fix other clients' clothes. Being able to connect with the world around them is important to clients, Donohue said. "I see them opening up more, being able to experience new things," he said. "And with someone like Charlotte, she makes it easy because she is so independent and has a lot of things she likes to pursue." LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -