Quilting forges bonds between the women of Bainbridge and Mongolia.

Stitch by stich, they have pieced together a friendship through quilting.

Maggie Ball of Bainbridge Island and Selenge Tserendash of Mongolia forged their bond three years ago when Tserendash sought Ball’s help, via email, in establishing a quilting center for women in the Mongolian town of Ulannbaatar.

Ball helped raise funds and sent equipment for the center, and last summer she and her daughter Hazel went to the Asian nation to teach the art of quilting to the women there. Now Tserendash has come to Bainbridge. She arrived last week with lots of quilted aprons and tote bags to sell, made by her countrywomen – whom Ball taught to quilt.

“The women have really improved their lives with the quilting,” said Tserendash, who is joining Ball at the Kitsap Quilters Guild show this weekend, where the Mongolian items will be sold.

The proceeds will provide funds for the New Way Life Mongolian Quilting Center that Tserendash founded in 2003, a gathering place where women can sew, with childcare provided. Ball has supported the effort through fund-raising, teaching, and the donation of supplies, all with the help of fellow islanders.

But it is Ball and Tserendash’s dream to eventually fund the construction of a new quilting center built on land donated by the Mongolian government, which would serve quilters, disabled children, and the elderly. Trained as a lawyer, Tserendash hopes to open an office there to provide free legal advice to those in need. Women at the center will also train other women in the countryside to do quilt work from their homes.

“The women in Mongolia really needed something to do,” said Tserendash, who was introduced to quilting while studying English in Seattle two years ago. “I knew that if they were given the chance to improve, they could grow.”

The traditional felted crafts that many Mongolian women made in the past provided little income, due to a saturated market. And the dyes used in the process were unhealthy to breathe.

But since many Mongolian women have hand-cranked sewing machines and could obtain scraps of fabric from local shirt factories for free, quilt-making seemed the perfect solution. There was nothing to buy to get started.

The center has built a community of quilters, alleviating the isolation and depression among women struggling to survive there, Tserendash said.

To give the quilted items a distinctively Mongolian look, Ball taught the women how to quilt the “olzii” design, hung on the door of Mongolian dwellings for prosperity and to ward off spirits and wild animals.

The background fabric for pillows, aprons and quilts is a heavy linen typically used to construct Mongolian yurts.

The quilted goods have proved popular with tourists. And with unemployment at over 40 percent, they have come to rely on quilting to put food on the table, Tserendash and Ball said.

Rising operating costs and a dip in funding forced the center to close in September. It reopened in a five-room basement in December, thanks to $4,000 in donations from St. Barnabas Church, where Ball is a member.

Now Ball is in the process of establishing a non-profit organization in the U.S. to help the center become self-supporting and is seeking donations and corporate sponsorships. The women hope to raise $20,000 for the effort.

While the pair are spending a good part of their visit working on plans for the new center, they’ve also taken trips to big fabric stores and enjoyed potlucks with other quilters. Tserendash marveled at the huge fabric selections in the United States, all the bright colors and patterns on such big bolts.

“I just want to touch everything,” she said.

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Outerwear Mongolian

Aprons, bags and quilted goods made by Mongolian women at the New Way Life Mongolian Quilting Center will be for sale at the Kitsap Quilters Guild show at the Kitsap County fairgrounds this weekend, and next week at Esther’s Fabrics in Winslow.