Recently I met a fellow guild member whose health has declined rapidly and has a terminal illness. This woman despite her condition is about as upbeat as anyone can be – she even brags she has outlived two of her doctors who gave her little time to live. She has realized that much of her stash will never be worked by her hands. She approached me to sell as much of her stash as possible. If you go to the “Shop” menu and then Fabric, you will see this lady’s fabric being added at least weekly. As I have mentioned before guild members are a sisterhood of well-meaning and charitable individuals. In the late stages of our lives we can find ourselves isolated from our network of supportive friends and family and those we have shared a close bond through arts, church, and other social events.
I have sold the stash of another friend in the past through Etsy, but now with my own site I can offer another persons stash to the general public. Most are out of print (OOP) remnants with some minor, sitting-on-the-shelf-too-long flaws but can still provide a cost effective means to build a scrappy quilt or donation quilt. Being a guild member is about caring and giving back. At the Naples Quilter’s Guild this year, we donated close to $10,000 to Bosom Buddies, a charitable organization for breast cancer research and support. Another group is the Children’s Advocacy Center of Collier County where comfort quilts are made by members and donated.
I am a grandmother of five now, but I have seen how children of domestic abuse light up when they get an opportunity to choose a quilt that becomes theirs. Hopefully a child recipient will grow to remember that there are good and caring people in this world. Right now I am working on a comfort quilt using very low cost embroidery designs from a sale by Designs by Ju Ju so that my husband could watch the embroidery design stitch our for his new Babylock Intrepid. We are using some cute sea life designs for this quilt. Over the years of being a guild member in Texas, New Mexico and Hawaii, our members provided quilts for a variety of purposes but mostly for hospitals and domestic abuse centers.
I am a baby-boomer. I first learned about quilting at the age of nineteen when I caught the bug from my grandmother. Since then, quilting has become the greatest ice-breaker for me as I am somewhat reserved socially. I have never been associated with more great women than I have through the guilds. I have many life-long friends and partners-in-crime. I’ve been to many retreats and had a chance to relax and gossip about all things quilt related over a glass or two of wine. Yet one day, I may too need someone to carry on the tradition and take my stash. There are memories in those fabrics and of plans that may not be completed. Step up and be the next generation that will discover the common thread that can bind us together, regardless of all the things that might keep us at distance. In the end, we all pass on through this world the same as we came into it – with no agenda, no prejudices, etc. We can only be the change we seek in this world and that means to provide a helping hand to both young and old, and one day we might need that hand as well. If you find a remnant fabric here on my site and you purchase one or more, you will assisting a fellow woman in need.