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2009-11-03 issue:

Quilting connects generations of women

Goshen College students join College Mennonite women for quilt project.

by Jodi H. Beyeler

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Usually when Goshen (Ind.) College students attend the annual Michiana Mennonite Relief Sale, they see quilts auctioned off for the good cause of global relief that were made by people who remind them of their grandmothers back home.



Goshen College first-year student Amanda Kwist (right) and Shirley Dyck (left), a long-time quilter and member of College Mennonite Church, work on cutting fabric together. Photo by Jodi H. Beyeler.

But at this year's relief sale in Goshen in late September, a group of students were the creators of number 244 in the quilt program book: a 62-inch -square sampler wall hanging with an international feel of blue, purple, red and yellow Batik fabrics.

The quilt was the culmination of a new program, "Passing on Traditions," which has not only produced contributions to aid in international relief and development but has also built bridges of friendship across generations.

During weekly Wednesday night gatherings after supper together, about 50 college students—both men and women of varying levels of experience—contributed to the quilt during last spring. Though the group participants changed weekly, they cut the fabric, arranged the blocks and sewed them together. And they were joined by about 20 avid quilters—all women—from College Mennonite Church (CMC) to do the framing and quilting over several months. During these evenings together, students also learned how to tie comforters and knit while sharing stories and fellowship as their hands and fingers moved needles and thread to create something new.

Kelly Frey, a sophomore nursing major from Shipshewana, Ind., attends CMC on Sundays while in school and found that the Wednesday night gathering offered a good break from her busy academic studies.

"I learned that quilting and knitting with women equals quality conversation and bonding," Frey said.

Talashia Keim, pastor of young adults at CMC, appreciates this ministry of her church which has been driven and run by members, as she attends and gets to know the students.

"It's fun to work and talk. You get into different kinds of conversations when you are working on a project," she says.

She has also seen friendships develop in that setting that have continued on. Once, she says, a student shared how she missed cooking while in college, and a woman from CMC invited her over to cook in her kitchen.

The CMC women taught by demonstrating techniques and giving feedback, from how to hide a knot to how to make small, even stitches. When Tice found herself in uncharted territory as she was quilting, her elders offered her expert advice to handle some of the trickier moments.

"I learned how to get your needle out of the fabric when it has snapped in half and part of it is stuck in the fabric," she says, with a smile. "I also learned to just tear a tiny piece of the batting off, wet it with your tongue, and use it to get rid of a blood stain that you've just inadvertently created if you don’t have anything else handy."

The group was formed out of the theatrical production of Quilters in May 2008. Goshen College professor of music Deb Brubaker, a quilter herself, was one of the directors of that musical, and in teaching the actresses and crew how to quilt, excitement and interest developed for the lost art. She made connections with her church—College Mennonite, which shares the college campus—and the idea for a longer-term opportunity to learn the art and craft of quilting was developed by Edna Rieth and others from the church’s Mennonite Women group. When “Passing on Traditions” began in the fall semester, the group quickly knotted five comforters to send to refugee camps through Mennonite Central Committee.

When the 2009 Relief Sale quilt auction was over, the Batik wall hanging the students had completed—with varying sizes of stitches—had first sold for $350, and then was donated back to the sale and sold for another $170.

The money raised was important but maybe not the most important outcome. Sommers says: "What I like about it is the big stitches next to the small stitches. I see it as a coming together."

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