STONINGTON — Once carefully stitched in needlepoint, a run-down kneeler losing its stuffing caught Susan Kelley’s eye not too long ago in the vestry of Calvary Church. Most of the church’s kneelers are hard wooden benches, but parishioners had made and donated about 37 cushioned needlepoint kneelers over the last 40 years.

The one she found was past its prime and in need of some attention, and she decided to give it a hand.

“One thing led to another,” Kelley said, and now 11 new needlepoint kneelers, created by a volunteer group of about 20 people, are ready to be blessed today and added to the pews with the others.

Three of those 11 were made by Kitsie Cooke, whose mother stitched some of the original kneelers.

“I cannot sit and not be doing something,” she said when asked how she did so many. “I guess that comes from being a mother of four.”

Cooke has made one in memory of her son, and another in memory of her father. The third was made in thanks to two little girls for whom she works as a nanny, and she said she’ll start working on a fourth after the first of the year.

An experienced needlepointer, Cooke started on this project after years of knitting, sewing, and embroidering.

“I love to do handwork,” she said.

Others in the group had less experience when they started.

“I was not the person to do needlepoint, or any kind of sewing,” said Alice Conger. “I don’t even sew on buttons.”

However, her 97-year-old mother Hennie Conger, had done several larger needlepoint projects for the church.

“I watched her for years do beautiful, beautiful needlework,” she said, but never got around to asking her mother to teach her how to do it.

To honor her mother, Conger volunteered to make one kneeler. Her proud mother looked over her shoulder a few times, and was even able to add a few stitches. Surprisingly, Conger enjoyed the work so much she has already started on her second one, she said.

Julia Stapleton has also completed a kneeler, in memory of her father.

“It’s a lot of time, a lot of work, and a lot of strain on the hands,” she said.

What impresses Stapleton the most about the project is not so much the finished product but Kelley, who has individually painted each canvas with a different religious icon.

“I just think it’s an amazing talent,” she said.

Kelley said she finds designs in books, and paints what she sees despite a lack of artistic experience.

“I had never painted a single thing in my whole life,” she said.

Every needlepointer gets to pick the design they work on. Cooke had an angel on her first kneeler, Conger has stitched the emblem of the Episcopal Church, and Stapleton is working on an advent wreath. Kelley said she has also painted a dove, a stained glass window in the church, and Jacob’s coat of many colors, among other symbols.

The church would like to have an embroidered kneeler in front of all 185 seats, which is a tall order. Although more kneelers are in the works, Kelley said a lack of funds is a big hindrance. Although she is able to purchase the materials wholesale from a friend, JoAnn Millenson of Niantic (who has a needlepoint business), she said the costs borne by each needlepointer are beginning to add up. She is now looking for people to fund kneelers, in memory or in honor of a loved one.

“We have a lot of stitchers standing by ready to do the work,” she said.

lrovetti@thewesterlysun.com