They are known as Quilts From the Heart, and they donate their work to charities and social service networks throughout Los Angeles, including organizations like the Venice Family Clinic and the City of Hope. The Mar Vista quilting group also makes purses that members sell at the Mar Vista Farmers Market two to three times a year, but they say the vast majority of their creations are given to charities and nonprofit agencies. In December, the Mar Vista quilting group donated quilts and other knitted clothing items to the Venice Family Clinic, and their gifts are well-received, says Rosalba Montoya, the prenatal intake coordinator at the clinic’s Sims/Mann Health and Wellness Center in Santa Monica. Quilts From the Heart donated approximately 200 quilts in 2008 and nearly the same number in 2009, Karastic said. Montoya hears from clients who receive donated blankets and quilts from Quilts From the Heart, and she says that many tell her how important those gifts are to their families. Mar Vista is a community that has a growing reputation as an emerging leader in sustainability and conservation, and Karastic, a former LAUSD teacher whose home was visited in the neighborhood Green Garden Showcase in April, says that is a feature of the quilting group that is noteworthy.

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