I would love to hear any stories some of you may have
of how quilting has helped you through a difficult time.
I will start it off with my story.
11 years ago today, Sept. 15th, 1999, we were having
a large youth gathering at our church. There were
about 400 youth in attendance that night. As the
program was getting underway, a gunman came into
our church and opened fire. Before it was over, he
killed 7 (4 teenagers, and 3 young adults), wounded 7,
and then took his own life. Both of my children, ages
16 and 15 were there at the time. Thankfully, neither
one of them were killed or wounded, but as I'm sure
you can imagine, this event changed their lives forever.
Our church and that event was all over the national news
for weeks and months, and for a full year afterward, we
had camera's, news people, etc. at every single service,
filming us, interviewing people and the like. When
all this hit the news, two different groups of quilters from
across the country participated in gathering 6" blocks, and
then someone quilted it and we now have two quilts
hanging in our church that were given out of the kindness
of people we didn't even know, sending their love to
us through the stitches in those quilts. Perhaps some
of you on this board made one of those blocks in one
of those two quilts.
About a year after this happened, some of the ladies knew
that I knew how to quilt and asked me if I would teach a
beginning quilting class at the church. I did, and we had
25 ladies in the first class, and another 25 in the second
class. Everyone who came to learn how to quilt was
grieving in some way or another from the shooting, and
dealing with finding ways to help themselves heal.
We finally formed a group that met every Thursday night and as many as 15 to 20 attended every week, just to sit and sew and enjoy the fellowship. We laughed together, cried together, shared each others stories, and made
many quilts. It was amazing how much therapy came
from those weekly quiltmaking sessions. The group still meets, to this very day.
For me personally, I was able to make many new friends,
and share my passion for quiltmaking. Also, when 9/11
happened, I designed a patriotic sampler quilt called
"America Still Shines". Our group made 20 of those
sampler quilts and then 4 of us took them to NYC and
distributed them to families of rescue workers, firefighters,
police officers, and the widows of some of these workers.
It was amazing to see how touched each one was to get one
of these quilts and how just by receiving the quilt, it seemed
to be some measure of healing, no matter how small.
I am amazed at the power a quilt made with love and
thought and then given to someone special, has for both
the quiltmaker, and the recipient of the quilt. I know
that starting this quilting group at our church after our
tragedy helped so many, me included, and then we were able to help others who went through such a horrific
tragedy by passing on a quilt to them.
Well, that's my story - would some of you share yours?
Have a Great Day!
Marcia