For the quilters of St. John the Apostle, Virginia Beach, each creation is a work of heart.
Since 2015, the group has been gathering every Wednesday afternoon to laugh, trade ideas, and – most of all – to sew carefully-crafted quilts to share with the community.
“They are phenomenal ladies, and they do beautiful work,” said Christina Ramos-Echevarria, who leads the ministry.
Over the years, the group has donated quilts to Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters, Respect Life Ministry, Sullivan House, Connect with a Wish, Sentara Norfolk General Hospital palliative care, as well as nursing homes and veterans’ care homes throughout Virginia Beach.
Father Felix Amofa, pastor of St. John the Apostle, said the quilters have the parish’s support “100%.”
Their unique gifts “bring meaning to people’s lives,” Father Amofa said.
Although the ministry’s records – kept in an old composition notebook – document each of the 1,470 quilts completed, the numbers don’t begin to tell the stories set into each stitch with so much love and care.
The ‘purplest’ quilt
On a rainy February afternoon, Tracey Sampson arrived at the bee ready to work on a Valentine’s Day-themed quilt. As she stitched a patchwork heart in red and pink, she recalled a recent visit to Jones & Cabacoy Veterans Care Center in Virginia Beach – a long-term care and rehabilitation facility nearby.
“A few of us went to deliver quilts,” Sampson said. “We brought them in on an open cart,” so that those who might like one could choose their favorite.
As they came in, they met a resident who said that she would be happy to have a quilt.
“She said she loved purple. First, we found one, and then we found another that even had more purple in it. We found the ‘purplest’ quilt we could,” Sampson said, laughing.
When the woman unfolded the quilt, she was overjoyed to find that it was backed with a fabric emblazoned with butterflies.
“It was extra special because she loved butterflies,” Sampson said. “She hugged me, and then she cried, and then I cried. It seemed as if it was meant just for her.”
A gift ‘like a hug’
“I didn’t know how to quilt before I came,” confessed quilter Pam Williams, as she worked on taking out an old seam.
She had been sewing all of her life, so when she saw the quilting ministry advertised in the parish bulletin, she decided to give it a try.
With the help of the group, she learned new skills, she said, and since then, she has become an avid quilter. She has donated quilts not only to the St. John the Apostle ministry, but also to the Quilts of Valor Foundation, a nonprofit that awards handmade quilts to veterans.
One recipient, she said, told her the quilt “felt like a hug.”
“It’s amazing to think that there are so many people who have gotten so much comfort from what we do for pleasure,” she said.
Sitting across from her, Marianne Kirby spent the afternoon working on a bright quilt in bold tangerine, green, and blue, with blocks depicting whimsical fish, smiling cats, and sleeping moons.
“It would be nice for a child,” she said, contemplating her work. “It’s cheerful. Mostly, we hope that our quilts make someone happy.”
Some of the quilts are donated to the parish’s Respect Life Ministry, Kirby said.
The quilts are placed with other gifts into “blessings bags,” for expectant mothers, explained Barbara Firich, outgoing Respect Life minister at St. John and volunteer for Hope 4 Life, a nonprofit which supports moms and babies in unplanned pregnancies.
“It’s a personal touch,” Firich said. “It lets them know there are people out there who care about you and your baby.”
A beautiful mistake
Iris Zahratka recalled a quilt she made that had started out as a bit of a slip-up.
“I wasn’t paying close enough attention,” she said, “and I cut too large of pieces. I ended up with a 24-inch star.”
Rather than scrap the quilt, she decided to build around the star, with an unexpectedly beautiful result. She gave the quilt to a longtime friend and neighbor, a retired attorney from Boston.
When he was 93, her neighbor entered hospice care.
“One day, his daughter told us that if we wanted to see him, we needed to come,” she said. When she walked into his room, she was stunned to see the quilt she had made for him on his bed.
She’s grateful now that she did not give up on that star-patterned quilt, she said, and is hopeful that it gave him some comfort.
“He was special,” Zahratka said. While she was at work, he was always willing to keep an eye out to make sure her daughter got safely home from the bus stop after school.
“In the end, he was able to squeeze my hand,” she said.
Getting creative
“It gets busy here on Wednesdays,” Connie Murphy said.
She and Nancy O’Toole took advantage of the extra space at a long worktable to lay out a quilt for pinning. Lined with small squares in primary and pastel colors, and printed with everything from bluebells to chemistry beakers, the quilt contained a myriad of details providing a feast for the eyes.
One of the beauties of quilting is that no fabric goes to waste, Murphy said.
“Fabric can be expensive,” she said. “Whatever I have extra, I cut into two-and-a-half-inch squares and then sew them together.”
Everyone at the bee helps to lay out quilts, Murphy said. The quilters also swap fabric and ideas, participate in creative challenges, and work together to complete different tasks.
“My biggest contribution is that I do the binding,” Cheryl Bugelski said, as she hand-stitched a soft white quilt with a sheep motif. “I find it relaxing. You get into a rhythm with it.”
In stitches
Linda Hall, one of the group’s founding members, brought in some materials to teach some of the newer quilters the art of making a grandmother’s garden quilt, using small bits of cardboard to make perfect hexagons in marigold and blue paisley.
“This has been the most productive, friendliest, craziest bee I’ve ever been a part of,” she said. “The first time I came, I never laughed so hard in my life.”
The ministry has become a place of friendship and encouragement, Hall said. Together, the quilters have supported one another through the deaths of loved ones and through longtime illness.
Sometimes, quilters find they cannot attend the bee, Williams said, “and that’s ok. You don’t have to be here. It’s ok not to be ok. The group is always here for you.”
You don’t even need to be a parishioner of St. John the Apostle to attend, she said.
“Everyone is welcome to the sisterhood,” Williams said.
“What happens at the bee, stays at the bee,” Hall said, laughing. “It’s a great place to come if you are living alone, single or widowed. I come for the camaraderie. It’s a beautiful bee.”