LAHARPE — Joyce Lee is in a giving mood.
The occasion? Her 80th birthday, which was Friday.
The gifts? Quilts. Lots of quilts.
Lee is celebrating her birthday by gifting quilts to each of her 24 grandchildren.
The gifts will be distributed next weekend — a combination birthday/Independence Day celebration at the Lee household in LaHarpe.
“The kids are planning something,” Lee noted, but she’s largely been kept out of the planning process. (Who doesn’t love a surprise?) 
About the quilts
These aren’t some little throw blankets, something to toss over your lap in front of the TV on a cold winter’s night.
Rather, all 24 are queen-size bedspreads, designed and hand-stitched by Lee.
No two are alike, aside from one aspect. Each was meticulously stitched to Lee’s exacting demands — embroidered pieces of art, if you will, bedecked with a dazzling kaleidoscope of colorful fabrics and designs,
“You notice if something’s not right,” she said. Each piece is laid out perfectly, from stem to stern.
To ensure fairness, the grandkids will draw numbers out of a bowl, then get the corresponding numbered quilt from Lee’s collection in her basement.
“That way, nobody gets their feelings hurt,” she chuckled.
Was it difficult completing such a Herculean task?
Not really, “but I hurried,” she laughed. “It’s fun, and I was making something to give to the kids.”
THE GIFTS are possible because of Lee’s lifelong passion as a seamstress.
“I don’t really know” what got her started, Lee noted, other than she learned the craft from her mother. “I remember JC Penney’s used to have some pretty, pretty sheets, more than white or plain colors.”
The multi-colored fabrics were ideal for quilt tying.
