CALAIS – A Cooper woman patiently sews a quilt that soon will be cuddled by an Iraqi child.

Alice Jean Robinson is a member of a Down East quilting group that is making colorful coverlets for abandoned babies in Iraq.

The babies are at an orphanage in the northern part of the country, a place most of the quilters know little about.

But they’ve had a crash course in the past few months from the Rev. David Sivret, the priest of St. Anne’s Episcopal Church.

Sivret has traded his vestments for camouflage fatigues. He is the chaplain of the Maine Army National Guard’s 133rd Engineer Battalion.

On Thursday Robinson, a member of Sivret’s church, was working on a multicolored quilt that had at its center a white kitten.

The quilters were seated around a table in the church basement. Two women were cleaning windows nearby; the quilters were laughing and talking as they poked needles through colorful fabric. The quilters have chosen generic themes, animals or colorful strips of cloth, not patriotic or religious symbols.

“We all have a soft spot in our hearts for kids,” Lubec quilter Marilyn Ness said quietly. “This is something they can hold in their arms, cuddle to their bodies. Something they can call their own.”

Most of the quilters do not belong to the church and have volunteered their time. Some are members of the Tuesday Quilters Group and usually meet in Machias or in Cooper. Others are St. Anne’s Craft Day quilters.

Sivret, 47, arrived in Calais in February and left for duty in November. His wife, Sherry, said that although her husband hadbeen in Calais only a short time, he has been in contact with his parishioners.

Robinson agreed. What she knows about the orphanage she has learned through her priest. “They all are undernourished, they are from infant to age 5, and they are very small for their age. That is one of the things he does in his spare time; he goes to the orphanage with a Roman Catholic priest,” Robinson said.

The women have nearly completed five quilts, and they plan to make more. They hope to send the quilts to Iraq in about a month. The quilters are picking up the shipping costs.

Last month members of Sivret’s battalion were part of a convoy that was attacked in Mosul, Iraq.

Sivret prayed with the wounded and surviving soldiers, while another minister comforted the family of the soldier who died, Spc. Christopher Gelineau of Portland.

“[Sivret] was the one that responded when Gelineau and others were injured and were taken by helicopter – he was there to pray with them. He was there to stand by their side when they left,” said Sherry Sivret, who is the church’s lay pastoral associate.

While newspapers and television are filled with pictures of exploding bombs and dead bodies, battalions such as Sivret’s are trying to rebuild the country.

“He is involved with several different projects over there,” Sherry Sivret said, including building a school. “Before he left he asked for school supplies, pencils, paper or calculators that [people] could provide for the school. So we’ve done service projects around that.”

One parishioner, Stephanie Ramsey, who is a Girl Scout, chose to collect school supplies as her service project. “So when they build a school they can put pencils and rulers and crayons and glue tips and colored pencils in the classrooms,” she added.

Parishioners also have sent lightweight clothing, including shorts and T-shirts. Then there are the stuffed animals, she said.

After his tour of duty, Sivret will return to his ministry as rector of St. Anne’s Episcopal Church in Calais, Christ Church in Eastport, and St. Luke’s summer chapel in Baileyville.

Anyone who would like to donate a new quilt can call Robinson at 454-2679, or contact her at Box 3080, Cooper 04657.

School supplies and clothes can be contributed by sending them to Chaplain (CPT) David Sivret, HSC, 133rd ECB-H, APO, AE 09334.