customer stories

One of the things I love about quilting is the way quilters help each other.  The other day a customer came in with a small oxygen tank, on wheels, and a cane.  We helped her in all the ways we could, concerned that she was fragile, but she needed very little assistance, moving about on her own, and selecting the items she needed.  She finished her shopping before her husband arrived to pick her up, and asked if she could sit in our wicker chair to wait for him.  We agreed, of course, and she picked up a quilt magazine to look at while she waited.
  A short time later a young woman came in the store, looking for hand-quilting thread.  We showed her what we had, and then she asked about why some threads are better for hand-quilting.  I answered her as best I could, but I have to confess that I have done very little hand-quilting.  I enjoy free-motion quilting on my machine, and I have not yet practiced the hand version enough, and so my stitch length is erratic and I find the process frustrating.  As I tried to answer the young woman's questions, the older woman in the chair gently interrupted.
   "I know something about hand-quilting," she said.  
   "What needle should I use?" the young woman asked, after revealing that the planned project would be her first to be hand-quilted.
  "A quilting needle," the other said, and this self-evident response was delivered in a tone that indicated only that the question and answer were both deserving of consideration.  She had just bought a package of needles, and held it up to show us.  "These are very short," she continued, "but I recommend that you, as a beginner, use longer ones."
   I was very grateful to hear this, as my fingers fumble with the short needles, finding it difficult to get one through all three layers of a quilt and pick up more than one or two stitches.
  "Oh," our guru said, when I told her this, "don't worry about how many stitches you pick up at once, when you are starting out.  Find what works for you."
   I was in love.  If I told you how many experienced quilters I've fallen for, you'd consider me promiscuous.  It's all innocent, though, born of a shared joy for knowledge and the craft of quilting.
   The older woman beamed at the younger one, the magazine lying forgotten in her lap.  Her face glowed from the warmth of discovering a shared interest among women of a wide range of ages and experience.  Few new quilters take up hand-quilting, but here was someone for whom the history and the connection to her work meant the longer time required only enhanced the process.
   "I only hand-quilt," the older woman said.  "I've had some arthritis in my hands, but I work as I can.  Last year I made a hundred small quilts for the NICU at the hospital."
   ! A hundred!  A woman who needed oxygen and whose hands hurt had made one hundred quilts.
   "They need quilts," she continued, knowing that we would understand, and she picked up the magazine again.
   I'd never thought about how a neonatal intensive care unit might need blankets for the tiny babies they look after, and I instantly decided to make some.
   The younger woman selected some thread, and soon the other woman's husband arrived to pick her up. 
   As both customers left, I reflected on the incredible gift this interaction had been. We'd all benefited from the connection they'd discovered, and the free sharing of information had gone both ways.  The younger woman had gained information that would help her with her project.  The older had discovered anew that the art she practiced was still relevant in today's world.  She also taught all of us that no matter how our bodies might offer challenges, we can still use our time to give ourselves joy and create something to make the world a better place. 
   It was a reminder, too, of how the joy of a quilt extends far beyond the pleasure in making it, in forming something with your hands.  Quilts represent warmth, but also love and that love creates a web of connections that binds all of us, and brings us together.