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

What a powerful story!! I remember that event and praying for all involved. Quilting can be healing.

I have given several quilts to people who are hurting or sick and as I work on them I pray for that person. I make sure to tell them that when the quilt is given.

At the moment I don't have story to share, I am having an emotional day, we are putting one of our dogs down in about 2 hours and all I can think of is memories of her with my children.

Marcia, what a wonderful story of life after tragedy.
I don't have a particular story but quilting ALWAYS relieves stress for me, even if I'm just in my sewing room cleaning up or shopping for fabric, but most of all, hand quilting.
I love your story :)

I can't put my story into words right now because Macia yours was such an incredible one it really makes mine seem so small of a reason for starting quilting. I will tell it later. Thank you for sharing this with us. God bless you.

Marcia, your story touched my heart and brought tears to my eyes. Thank you for sharing with us and I pray your church family continues to heal. God bless you and all you do for others!

Hi Marcia,
What a touching story. I do not have a story to tell, but for most of us who are retired, doing quilts it is like a therapy. We use our free time(which for most of us is all day) to do something for someone and at the same time we enjoy what we do.

Gayle,
I'm so sorry about your dog. That is such a hard thing
to do. My prayers are with you.
Marcia

Hi CJ,
Please don't ever think your story or situation is small.
When it is happening to you, it is big and important.
I would love to hear why you started quilting. Feel
free to share it whenever you would like.
Marcia

Marcia-
I can't even begin to fully understand how traumatic that was for you, your family and your community.
Mine is a little story compared to that. My dear stepdaughter was going through a very hard time (bad choice in friends etc.) in high school and it was impacting us all. My church was having an auction and I made a wallhanging to donate. It really was comforting to be able to escape for a little while to work on it and gratifying when someone bought it.
lots2do

What a wonderfull story. And what a big impact this is in your life! I do believe in the power of praying, the power of positive thinking and I do believe in the power of a quilt made with love.

Quilting helped me trough a lot of hard times and when my mom heard she was sick and would die within 3 months I rushed to finish the quilt I want to give her for her birthday. I was thinking I have loads of time and didn't hurry at all untill we heard she was diagosed by cancer. I knew I had to hurry finishing her quilt. I did! On the 25th of july this year she unwrapped a beautiful quilt just made for her. She used it a lot and on her funeral the quilt was draped on a high chair besides her.

It is a small story compared to yours but I just want to tell how important quilting is for me and how healing also.

Quilting and being creative with fabrics always help me trough.