Sunny to partly cloudy. High around 80F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph..

Clear skies. Low 59F. Winds light and variable.

A student is excited about pressing the switch that keeps the machine going while Gipp sews at the student’s house during the pandemic. 

Last year’s quilt, which featured a stained-glass design, was one of two made in a similar manner during the school year. Three students are shown with one of them. Another student, background, is participating in the activity at home.

Mike Gipp shows the queen-size quilt that was completed this year.

Naming inanimate objects is nothing new. Consider all the people who name their cars or homesteads. But Mike Gipp, vocational education teacher at Haynes-Inman Education Center, makes sure that each quilt he, volunteer Becky McGlothlin and his students create has a name.

Mike Gipp shows the queen-size quilt that was completed this year.

The latest quilt is named Illusions. A couple of others have been called Endless Possibilities and Resilience. The name of the quilt and school and the year it was made are embroidered on a patch, which is stitched to the back of the quilt.

“The name is something that sort of matches the quilt,” Gipp explained. It’s about a feeling the quilt provides.” 

Gipp has worked at Haynes-Inman, a school for children with special needs, for nine years. He started in a classroom for older students and often stayed with them during their vocational education classes taught by Phyllis Page and McGlothlin. When McGlothlin retired, he began assisting Page in the voc-ed classes and when Page retired he took over responsibilities for them. 

Although Gipp had never sewed anything in the past, four years ago when McGlothlin called him about helping the students make quilts he was open to the idea.

“Becky has taught me what I needed to know and helps with each project,” Gipp said. “The kids enjoy it so much and I continue to hone my sewing skills. Now, I can’t not do it.

“Students are 100 percent engaged in everything that is being done with a quilt. They help select the colors and designs for each quilt and get to see it all come together.”

Gipp has two high school students at a time in the classroom while sewing. He sews the quilts since his students are not able to handle the machine, but they are the ones who keep the machine going by continually hitting a switch that provides powder to it. Each time the switch is pressed it allows 90 seconds of sewing time before the machine cuts off. Students learn to focus and hit the switch to keep the machine in operation.

A student is excited about pressing the switch that keeps the machine going while Gipp sews at the student’s house during the pandemic. 

“Some students have to be prompted several times to hit it,” Gipp said. “A few do it more quickly and one student rarely allows a second of down time before pressing the switch.”

Gipp says it takes approximately two months to complete a quilt depending on its size. Most are lap quilts, but some would fit a double bed and this year’s quilt was queen size.

“We needed to make it that big to get the 3-D depth perception that was needed for its design,” Gipp said.

When schools were closed during the pandemic, Gipp had to be creative with his lessons plans. With parental permission, he went to students’ homes to allow them to participate in making a quilt. That required taking the material, his sewing machine, extension cord and computer to video the activity. The videos were part of his lesson plans that were aired on the school’s campus pages so all the kids could see the progress being made.

“During the 2020-2021 school year we made a second quilt,” Gipp said. “It was similar to the first one but slightly different. I called it a fraternal twin.”

Quilts are usually made in the fall and auctioned at the school’s fall festival with proceeds used for the school. When no festival was held due to Covid, a quilt was auctioned online, and the funds raised went toward Gipp’s classes.

Last year’s quilt, which featured a stained-glass design, was one of two made in a similar manner during the school year. Three students are shown with one of them. Another student, background, is participating in the activity at home.

Because the latest Illusions quilt was so large it was not finished in time for this year’s fall festival. Gipp displayed a portion of the quilt and the winner was gracious to allow extra time for it to be completed.

Gipp and McGlothlin have already begun to brainstorm about possibilities for next year’s quilt design. They have considered incorporating leftover fabric from past quilts. But the final design will be up to the students.

“We let them vote on a couple of choices,” Gipp said.

Gipp is really pleased with his new sewing and quilting skills, but says the classroom projects are not about him.

“They are about the process and the students who have worked on them,” he said. “I am just lucky to get to be part of it.” 

Your comment has been submitted.

There was a problem reporting this.

Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.

Click here to read our PDF flip version

Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.

Error! There was an error processing your request.

Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos.

Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.

For the past 20 years, I’ve been calling for all schools to have armed officers with metal d…

During the final battle in “Star Trek, the Undiscovered Country,” Klingon General Chang ince…

Once upon a time, North Carolina was known for its outstanding representatives in Washington…