I have some bad news to tell you all, and some hopeful news, too.
Our friend Sara R has had a recent diagnosis of squamous cell oral carcinoma related to a small growth under her tongue. She and Ann called and told me about a week ago.
Sara and Ann have spent over a decade creating what they decided from the first would be called Community Quilts for Daily Kos members who had a medical problem or a life problem or just needed some love and support. Upon those quilts, which they hand-crafted in their own home, Sara would transcribe messages from other members of Daily Kos onto the white/cream muslin squares in the quilt.
I’ve sent them messages for a number of the 165 Community Quilts they have sewn, stuffed, added messages to and delivered to the recipients since the first one, which went to Othniel in September of 2009.
This was the driving force for Sara and Ann, to make these quilts:
I propose to make something for him – as quickly as I can – to remind him of our esteem and love for him while he heals. I am envisioning a simple, tied, lap quilt made from cheerful novelty fabrics interspersed with messages from us. Think of it as a giant get well card that will blanket him with good feeling.
A giant get-well card from all of us to 165 people here or one of their family members (my little sister got one and she’s a kossack of long-standing but only reads, never posts) and one went to Keith Olbermann and one to his father. One went to someone massive numbers of kossacks mourned and still do, even though most of us never had the privilege of meeting exmearden (Kris Froland) in person.
Our beloved Elder, Meteor Blades, once wrote a story about Sara R and these Community Quilts, in an early version of what his Night Owls formatted stories look like. He knew clear back in 2010 just how important Sara and her (and Ann’s) work has been to the wider Daily Kos Community.
A week from now, Sara R will pass a milestone: five years at Daily Kos. In that time, she's proved to be a powerful community builder in a way that is almost shaman-like. Her quilts – both the signature-quilt fund-raisers she has stitched together for Netroots Nation and the spectacular "love catchers" she's made for 30 members of the DK family in need of healing – are tangible expressions of community connection that transcend our workaday political world.
So I thought it only mete that we respond in kind, and I called ericlewis0 up to cry on his shoulder over the phone and discuss the possibility of getting a Community Quilt FOR SARA put together. He was all for the idea. I broached the idea with a member of the DK Quilt Guild members, she wasn’t able to help on this project but she referred to me to another kossack quilter who was — Beadlady.
I’ve never had such a gracious and kind conversation with anyone whom I’d never talked to before, and in just minutes Beadlady and I had the bare bones of a plan.
Eric soon agreed that he, based on his day job work as an industrial designer and cartoonist, could do the transcribing of the messages onto the blank squares of white/cream.
Eric wrote the first Community Quilt story for Sara R, and if you missed it, it’s right here.
Beadlady wrote a second quilt story, you can read it here.
While many (MANY) lovely kossacks left messages for Sara R in those two stories, there are STILL spaces to fill on that Community Quilt which Beadlady, ericlewis0 and maggiejean (who will be binding the quilt) have all helped to create.
So if you haven’t yet heard about this news, haven’t yet sent Sara a message of love and hope, NOW IS THE TIME!
Like all Community Quilts If you leave a comforting message for Sara R in the comments below, we suggest a donation of $20, if you can afford it. (Larger donations and Matching fund offers are also gratefully accepted). However donations are NOT required to send a message! What is most important is that we collect as many messages as we can for this quilt. So if in the past you have never sent a message because you couldn’t contribute funds to help defray the costs of creating it? Don’t let that stop you today!
Please, keep Sara R in your thoughts while she undergoes this medical care, until she is ready to return to creating more “love catchers” for other kossacks in need.
You can send the Message funds to Sara R’s personal paypal here:
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/SaraRCatnipManor
Click Send and on the next page click Friend (they won’t take any fees).
Sara R will be in the hospital a week at least, and her surgery is scheduled for April 19th, just 8 short days from on. Please be sure to leave a link to this story in the Daily Kos stories you read today, to ensure that everyone who would like to be a part of this work is able to contribute their own message to Sara R for her quilt.
💙,
angie
UPDATE:
As of 12:30 pm PST Monday April 12 —
If you would like to send a message PLEASE make your comment (and Sara R can back thru them at her leisure) but ALSO send the message directly to Beadlady (the story is huge now and it’s taking too much time to hunt thru and double check if she has missed anything new).
CLICK THIS LINK and a message to Beadlady page will open right up to fill out!
Thank you so very much for all of this outpouring of love and hope for Sara R
