Last June 18, a young neo-Confederate murdered nine people in the sanctuary of the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC. Mother Emanuel, as the church is known, has survived many blows in its long history. But the shock of this crime was severe.
We want to send love and emotional support to the people at Mother Emanuel with something tangible, something that can hang in a fellowship hall as a reminder of friendship and solidarity with people around the country. So we are making a special quilt, full of your loving words.
The Community Quilt Project, started here on Daily Kos and Street Prophets, has been a way to offer words of love and support, sewn into a blanket of caring — up until now for individuals who have suffered something difficult — an illness, a grief, or some other hardship. For the first time, we are making a quilt for a whole group of people — the congregation of Mother Emanuel who have lost their pastor, family members and friends in the massacre. It is a gift of love from one community to another, offering sympathy and solidarity and letting the people of Emanuel AME know that they are embraced by people from one end of the nation to the other.
So far, we have 84 messages of the 200 we need to make a star pattern for this quilt. The messages need to be fairly short (about one sentence) because there is not much room to write in the diamond blocks — and if possible, we would like to include the State and maybe the city or town of the message giver. I cannot list all the message givers as I usually do, because some people gave me their real names rather than their blogging names. But I can tell you that we have messages from the following States: Texas, California, Michigan, Illinois, Florida, Idaho, New York, Delaware, Kansas, Virginia, New Mexico, Massachusetts, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Arizona, Georgia, Ohio, Washington, Oregon, Utah, Maine, Tennessee, Wisconsin, and Kentucky. We also have one from Canada.
This is a big project as star quilts are not easy to make and I will be quilting this entirely by hand. Accordingly, we are suggesting $25/message donation toward the materials and labor needed to make it (rather than the $20/message initially suggested, an appropriate amount for the usual community quilts). A goodly portion of the cost of this particular quilt has been covered by one kind individual who grew up amongst racially prejudiced people and who has roundly rejected those prejudices. Therefor, please don’t feel you can’t leave a message if you don’t donate — trust me, it has been covered by a very kind man! If you do wish to contribute, here is a PayPal link — or message me for an address should you prefer to send a check.
We are 80 messages and $286 short for this quilt. I will keep these numbers updated!
If you leave a quilt message in PayPal, please Kos mail me as well to let me know. The way PayPal is now configured, it is easy to miss attached notes. But the best way to leave a message is in the comments below. I will {{{{hug}}}} you in response to your comment to let you know that I have collected your message. Or send your message by Kos Mail!
Click here for a list of our completed quilts.
See also these three posts about the community quilt project:
KosAbility: A Virtual Quilt for Sara and Ann, from Community Quilt recipients
We Have Something to Say to YOU, Sara R and winglion!
Community Quilt FlashMob Brightens up NN13
Community Quilt Testimonial Videos
remembrance
ramara
paradise50
shanikka
cskendrick
peregrine kate
PAYPAL LINK FOR THE MOTHER EMANUEL QUILT - THANK YOU!
Namaste.