I added this new photograph to Creative Journey in my Photography section,Quilting 101
OK ... so this is not an exciting image. But it represents one of the best days I've had in months. Give Away Day!
For the last several months, the St. George's Quilters have been working diligently to create as many quilts as possible. We are a group of 20 to 25 women, ranging in age from 49 (me!) to 93 years old. We gather once a week at St. George's church to make quilts.
Our local food bank asked us to donate as many quilts as possible to their cause. They are hoping to give away one warm quilt with each Thanksgiving food basket this year. The need here is great. We were not sure we could fill their request. But then we learned we were the only church group donating quilts to the food bank Thanksgiving baskets this year.
We pulled out all the stops.
We met for an extra two hours each week for the last two months. And in the final two weeks, we met twice a week instead of just once a week. Some of these wonderful women even took stacks of fabric home to sew together on their own time. Others took quilts and yarn home to tie.
Last Wednesday, almost every member of our group was present — even those who have had surgery recently, those whose chronic illnesses have been acting up, and those who are employed came for a few hours.
We sewed and laughed and tied and laughed and checked for stray pins and laughed and ate lunch together and laughed and packaged up the quilts.
Did I mention that we laughed?
By the time the folks from the food bank arrived, our back room was literally stacked with quilts from floor to ceiling!
Photos were taken. The local paper sent a reporter to capture our story. And then the migration began.
We each grabbed some of the packages and made trip after trip out to the empty van.
We completely filled it up!
So this Thanksgiving, 101 families will be a bit better fed and a bit more warm due to the generosity of these wonderful women who I call my friends. They are a prime example of how women working in cooperation can set a goal and move mountains.
In this case, a mountain of quilts.
8 comments:
WOW! Congratulations! That is amazing work! Tell everyone I said so, and thank you (even though I'm only an observer, it makes me happy that people care so much about others they don't even know).
I'll be sure to give "the old hags" your message, honey. Maybe you can go with me to Quilters the next time you're visiting our home.
~ Mom
In a private e-mail, Ellie wrote:
This is a wonderful idea. I can just picture your group of ladies working on the quilts.
Congratulations to all of you!! One job well done. Keep up the good work!!!
Ellie
Thanks, Ellie!
They are really a great group of ladies. I joined the group after my mom died (almost 10 years ago now). I needed some close contact with women of her generation.
Now I have lots of extra moms, a grandmother, and a bunch of sisters. They helped heal my heart.
The most amazing part of the group is the spirit of cooperation. It helps that we all work together for a cause we believe in.
In a private e-mail, Mary wrote:
That is wonderful! Give yourself and the other ladies a big pat on the back for a job well done!
In a private e-mail, Rita wrote:
Wow, Cameo!! I'm really impressed! And you are right! The power of
teamwork is great! Congratulations to your group at St. George's!
That's AMAZING! I can't believe how many you guys got done! Congrats to you all! I'm so impressed. Does that mean you emptied out the back room and now have to fill it for all the baptisms too?
It is impressive, isn't it! Aren't your proud of our ladies, Julie?
The back room is cleaned out of all but about 3 large quilts. We kept one that we will put in a raffle. We have one or two that we'll take with us to a Chamber of Commerce meeting.
There are some baby quilts left for the baptisms.
Now the push is to make lap robes so we have some to take to nursing homes in the area to make sure residents have a package under the Christmas tree — especially those folks that don't have family in the area or who are not expecting visitors.
I get to go help deliver those lap robes again this year! I did it for the first time last year, and it is an amazingly heartwarming experience.
~ Mom
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