A Quilting Tale

I am still not sure what exactly I will use this blog space for, but today I am going to use it to tell a story. This story is nothing short of a "God-wink," "happy coincidence," and just blatantly cool. I won't pretend to be a quilter. I have not yet experimented in that endeavor. However, I am very proud to come from a family of talented women who specialize in baking, gardening, and quilting along with a modge podge of other creative skills. My grandma has made quilts for every single one of her 17 grandchildren and her 10 great grandchildren.

In fact, several family members love quilting so much that several years ago they put up a quilt on the family barn! The family barn is popular, and you can't miss on it on the busy highway. I love hearing stories about the barn and how my grandma and her siblings would play in it as kids. I opted to get our wedding photos taken in front of it (Thanks Taylor P Photography!) because it is simply beautiful and full of good memories and history.

The cool thing about this barn is that it takes center stage in the story I'm about to tell.

Enter Jim. A 84-year-old man travelling hwy 20 up from Illinois to go visit his son. Jim's wife passed away, and Jim was looking for a home near his son. Jim had a problem. His wife Suzanne had a love for quilting and just about every other creative pastime there is. Suzanne left behind a boatload of boxes full of her fabric and loads of other items. As he drove to visit his son, he happened to drive by a barn with a quilt on it. He didn't know the people who lived in the house, but he drove by several times and decided to stop. Whoever lived there must have loved quilting. Maybe he could give some away?

Little did Jim know, he just hit the jackpot. He drove up the driveway and met my Aunt Sherry- a HUGE quilter. He asked if he could bring over a few of the boxes for her to look through just to see if they had anything she may be interested in. She happily agreed, and told my Grandma Laurel and another family member, Barb. It wasn't long until Jim showed up with some boxes FULL of fabric. It was impressive, but he assured them that these boxes were nothing. He had more.

Just a frame of reference for those who don't quilt (aka me)- on average, a yard of fabric at the store could be between $8-$15 depending on what kind of material it is. He told these quilting ladies that he would take $10 for a whole box of material. His wife had 3 rooms in their house wall to wall with boxes. They realized that Jim didn't know what his wife had. He couldn't possibly sell these boxes for so cheap.

They all came up with an idea that they should have a sale. They thought maybe they could do it at the family pool, however, then Jim came back with trailer full of boxes. There simply wouldn't be enough room. He kept bringing more and more, and by that time they had to have had close to 100 boxes full.

The boxes didn't only contain fabric either. There were cookie cutters, lace, pillows, stuffing for pillows, sewing machines (yes, plural), batting, cutting mats, books upon books on quilting, cross stitch patterns and more. There were also several projects that she had started and not finished. These projects were neatly organized in bags, and within each bag was a scissors dedicated to that project. (Can you imagine how many scissors this woman owned?!)

The quilt sale would be no easy feat. Luckily, our church (Yorkville United Methodist Church) agreed to host the sale. This would give them the space and tables that they needed. With the help of many, they decided to go through every box, measuring out out the fabric. They separated the fabric on the tables, and arranged them by how many yards they were. There were tables dedicated to 1 yd, 2 yd, and 3 yds of fabric. They wanted it to be easy for people to look through. I was lucky to get a sneak peak into the sale, and pick up some cross stitch patterns to test myself on. You have to start somewhere, right?!

They advertised on Facebook, used flyers and contacted quilting guilds. The day of the sale, there were 20 cars in the parking lot waiting for the sale to start. They opened the doors, and the shopping commenced. Jim was there and watched proudly as his wife's estate was praised by so many people. Women were thanking him for sharing this special gift. He also helped to carry their findings to their cars. One woman bought $800 worth of items. Around 300 people shopped. A photo of Suzanne was displayed. They learned a lot about her, including that she was an avid marathon runner. Jim joked that he also spent a lot of time in the Jo Ann Fabrics parking lot waiting for her.

There was a lot of good to come out of this sale. As the women shopped, it was revealed that many of them were shopping for materials for various charity projects. Some were quilting for the homeless, others for veterans, and some for babies. How wonderful for them to find such a treasure. Suzanne's estate benefited so many people that she didn't even know. I know it must give Jim so much comfort when he thinks how many people his wife touched.

The incredible part of this story is that it all started with a quilt on a barn and the kindness of strangers. Jim didn't know any of these people before, and now they were helping him with his wife's estate and much of it was going to a wonderful cause. The material would go to people who would use it and love it. Pastor Sue of Yorkville United Methodist Church summed it up when she said to my grandma, "What a wonderful way to help someone, and in turn help so many other people."

It will be impossible to know how many people this "God-wink" will impact, but it will no doubt be many. You can't tell me that God had nothing to do with this. Afterall, it is no coincidence that a man who didn't realize the amazing collection his wife had would run into the perfect crowd of quilters to help him. It makes you wonder how much more good could come into the world if we just spoke up, helped our neighbors, and looked for quilts on a barn as we are driving down the road.