This Story is Dedicated to:  Carol, Bette, Kathy and Linda

For sisters are never far from each other's hearts, even if distance keeps them apart.

Quilting can often times be viewed as a passion or an addiction.  In my own personal experience and the story of Patchwork Gracie, quilting is a tradition, a gathering and even a bond that can never be broken.

Where am I going with this...well let me tell you about the story of Patchwork Gracie.  Patchwork Gracie, although formed less then two years ago, was actually created over 70 years ago.  This is the "tradition" I mentioned above.  It was a beginning of a marriage that lead to the birth of four sisters (let's not forget the two brothers!). The mother of the four sisters was my grandmother.  She was a quilter, a seamstress, a knitter and even did needlepoint.

I remember as a little girl going to my grandmother's house and spending hours in the chair next to her.  She always had her gray hair neatly curled on top of her head and wore her usual flowered blouse with a blue polyester skirt.  The skirt had plenty of pockets to hold tiny little needles and threads.  She always sat in the same chair with her sewing basket at hand.  She would quietly maneuve her needle through the many pieces of the fabrics across her lap.  I never knew what she was creating, but when she got up to go to her small, cluttered sewing room by the backdoor, I was right there by her side asking small curious questions about the fascinating tools and stashes of color and printed fabrics. Even the tiniest piece of fabric was stuffed in a corner or box with hopes of one day being able to use it.  As a child being surrounded by all of her fabrics and projects and sitting next to her on  her small want-to-be-recliner with her sewing basket next to her overflowing with loose threads, scissors and pins, there was a sense of comfort and security.

My mother was the second oldest sister.  She carried the "tradition" with her as she grew up and began her own life.  I was not only surrounded by my grandmother's quilting, but I was surrounded in my own house by my mother's sewing.  Quilting and sewing was just what I grew up around and left me with a sense of comfort.  It was the feeling of home to me.  My mom was always busy creating.  Even through tough times she used her skills to create wonderful Halloween costumes when we couldn't afford to buy them at the store, made sure I was wearing the cutest school clothes with tags inside saying "Made by Mom" and even created her own wardrobe for work.  Her sewing machine was always near and always busy.  The sewing projects kept her going through a hard divorce, raising two small children and loneliness.  It was both a necessity and a hobby.

As the years passed and life got a little easier for my mom, but closeness of the sisters separated.  Each moved on with their lives in distant states, created their own families and got into their own routines.  My mom and her sisters lost contact.  With one person wondering what the other person was doing or how they were, there was always little hesitation to make the effort first.  But one day, in a conversation between my mom and I, the idea of Patchwork Gracie started to form.  A hobby that helped her through hard times was now a passionate hobby that served with great peace and pleasure.  I truly believe that God leads us in a direction sometimes that makes us all wonder why, but if we listen and really listen, there is a reason for that direction. 

It was shortly after that discussion with my mom and confirming the idea of moving forward with Patchwork Gracie, that I received a call from one of my mom's younger sisters, Kathy.  Just a random call one weekday afternoon to ask how we were doing.  Although I have communicated with her sisters on several occasions in the past, my mom remained distant.  Based off of that phone call, I took my kids to a long awaited visit to Oregon to finally meet the family they missed for so many years.  We bonded and, I believe, God lead me there for a reason.  It was during this visit I mentioned to her sisters about Patchwork Gracie and the ideas began to flow. 

Needless to say, her sisters continued the quilting tradition just as much as she did with each having their own specialty craft.  Her youngest sister was an excellent appliqué artist and her older sister was a professional seamstress.  The second to youngest was blessed with the gift of design and craftiness.  Each sister also carried the tradition of sewing rooms that will never be big enough to accommodate the massive quilting projects, yards and scraps of fabrics, and fascinating quilting notions and gadgets.  Every project, every stitch they shared came with a story and was created with purpose and meaning.  Although I have not seen them in years, we gathered over stories of stitches, ideas of quilts, and our favorite fabrics.

I couldn't wait to share with my mom the visiting experience. Tell her that she is just like her sisters.  The idea of Patchwork Gracie was mutually shared among them and everyone was so excited to take the next step.  This is the "gathering" part of quilting.  It was shortly after that visit that I was again visiting my mom's sisters, but this time with my mom.  Once we arrived, the distant years faded away.  We shared meals, stories, memories, and hugs.  Once a bud closed for the winter, I watched my mom's relationship blossom into an opened brightly color flower. 

During that visit, one of the sister's pulled out a box of Grandma's unfinished projects.  Bits and pieces of her life held in tiny stitches and faded and tattered fabric. Although she passed many years ago, she was there handing them the box with her gray curled hair still neatly netted on her head to remind them of the "bond" that will always hold them together.  They slowly pulled out each unfinished block from the worn cardboard stored for many years and relived their lives through the stitches that progressively got worse as Grandma aged.  It was Grandma reminding them of the tradition she had created and the gathering she hoped for one day.  

But let's not forget the "bonding" in quilting I mentioned above.  It was the quilting, the pieces of fabric and strings of thread that bonded my mom and her sisters forever.  They didn't know it over the years, but the bond was never broken or lost.  It was just waiting for the right moment to reappear and bring peace back into the lives of four sisters.  Some could argue the bond was created by God.  However, I believe God created the path, quilting and a sister's love created the bond.

So as you go through life as a quilter or not just remember each quilt you touch, you create or just look at, there is a story behind it.  There is a tradition that lead to a gathering and rekindled a bond.

Written By:  Tammie L. Sills

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