Taking Measures to Help Others

The first thing you notice about Ramona Gieseke is a certain symmetry to her dress and her movements. A passion for precision, helping  others and staying engaged are the hallmarks of her personality.

Every month she creates quilts of baby blankets for at-risk babies. She measures, cuts and spends countless hours cutting colorful fabric to fit pattern she envisions in her mind's eye.

"I can see it before I make it, " the 84-year-old Gieseke said, smoothing out a neatly folded stack of blankets with an array of colors peeking through.

Gieseke recently completed her 1,030th quilt, with no plans to stop.

She is nothing if not fastidious. Colorful folded retangles of fabric, thread and scraps hang neatly in a closet. Meticulously folded blankets are stocked in bins for transport.  

"I waste nothing," Gieseke said. "I use it all."

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday she attends a fitness class at the Bob Sierra YMCA in Northdale. She volunteers on several projects, stays involved at Grace Lutheran Church in Carrollwood, shops for a rainbow of patterned fabric and meticulously cuts, sews and  quilts stunning pint-sized cocoons for at-risk babies at St. Joseph's Hospital.