the company of women

I remember the battered old quilting frames filling my grandmother’s living room with fabric and designs. I remember quilting bees where the nourishing smell of coffee and baking and the aroma of female conversation wafted through the air as women gathered around a project, finishing it together. I remember the sound of my grandmother’s Singer Treadle sewing machine, whirring as her feet rocked rhythmically and her hands moved expertly with cloth and thread.

Last Thursday evening, women brought favourite quilts to share for the once-monthly Ladies Night at Strasbourg Alliance Church. Some brought recent projects, some brought antiques; some brought intricate patterns, some brought patchwork; all brought a love of beauty and admiration for the creativity and plain hard work that goes into any quilt.

Guest speaker, Julie J., loves quilting so much that she and her husband renovated an old one-room schoolhouse (Pengarth) for her creative domain. Draped over a chair in the foreground is Julie’s first quilt project, so ambitious that she started it but didn’t finish it for several years—after she had taken some quilting classes and learned easier ways she could have done it! She spoke of her inner transformation through quilting as she took classes to pursue the art and went from distrusting certain groups of women to loving the company of women in the Between Friends Quilter's Guild.

Julie displayed a variety of quilts, some made by her own grandmothers, some made by herself, and some “rescued” from antique stores. None of them are for sale. “They’re my children,” she says. They can be gifts, but there is no way to price them for buyers.

Quilts of old served as a creative outlet, a recycling venue (old pajamas, dresses, shirts, Fortrel, even underwear!), and a community gathering place, all while meeting the deeply practical needs of keeping warm and occupied during the winter.

Quilting is less common these days, and tends to be more solitary, with kits and pre-cut pieces you can buy from quilting stores or WalMart and put together with a television going in the background. Still, the impulse to produce beautiful handiwork is strong. Steve Belll sings the question, “Why do we hunger for beauty?” Could it have something to do with being made in the image of God? I suspect so.

Women still need to gather, for reasons not always tangible and obviously practical. We gather for our sanity and general well-being. We feed each other’s souls with companionship and loveliness. No amount of Facebooking can take the place of meeting face-to-face.

I believe we also need to nurture crafts that have, in the past, been vital to survival. Quilting and sewing bees have given way to classes and retreats that keep traditions alive. Perhaps some day we will actually need this skill again—among others—to survive in a harsh climate.

With or without a project in our hands, women seldom need an excuse to gather. I love a good intergenerational blend of ladies. Pictured above in the middle is Lil Plum, who was my own mother’s pastor’s wife when Mom was a teenager. Lil set the bar very high for Mom’s understanding of what it meant to be a wife, mother, and Christian, and I have heard Mom reference her example many times.

Joyce brought a heavy quilt made by a great-grandmother in the 1800s. Hanging behind Joyce’s left shoulder is an enthralling quilt by Eunace made of silk ties!

 

Betty, who has taken quilting lessons from Julie, brought this star patterned quilt-in-progress because she had some questions.

We need each other. No amount of reading can take the place of in-person expertise and encouragement.

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All photos taken on my Samsung cell phone. Not bad, eh? Someday I’d like something with a few more pixels. But I still want it to fit in my pocket.