By Leisa Parsons, Area Media Specialist
Far from being a craft of the past, the popularity of quilting has been steadily growing and is expected to be a five billion dollars a year industry in the next four years. Some young girls became the latest devotees to the growing craft. They got their first taste of quilting through their Church “Activity Days” and loved it. Rosie Jarvis and Susanne Fletcher, from the Bulverde congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, decided to teach their nine and 10 year old girls how to quilt. The Activity Days Leaders decided to take it a little bit further and give the girls an opportunity to share their quilts. They decided to make quilts for twin beds and then give those quilts to newly arrived refugees from Afghanistan.
It was decided that the girls would make three tied quilts. The girls planned the quilts, picked out their favorite colors and designed how the layouts for the blocks would look best. “I love to quilt and thought teaching the girls how to do this would give them a new skill as well as providing a service to others,” said Jarvis. “This was a challenge for them to plan and tie the quilts. As they worked on this project they helped each other.” Jarvis said it was fun to watch the girls work together. She said, “I heard things like ‘this is hard’ others said, ‘let me help you.’ There was a lot of cooperation and laughs as they worked together.”
“This was a fantastic project that gave the girls an opportunity to serve people in need,” said Fletcher. “I was so impressed with their positive attitude. I didn’t think that quilting is still a fun thing to do in today’s world but they were excited to make the quilts because they knew they were going directly to somebody locally.”
But the girls did love quilting. When asked what they thought about the project they bubbled over with comments like, “I felt happy and joyful inside because I knew what we were doing was really good.” Another girl commented, “I think they will enjoy the blankets. We worked hard on them.”
After the quilts were finished they took the girls to go deliver them. Jill Rips, Program Support Manager for the Center for Refugee Services, said, “The CRS is so grateful for the donation of the beautiful handmade twin size quilts made with so much love and care. They will certainly make some members of our new Afghan families thrilled to receive them.”
Rips explained that as of mid-March 2022, CRS has welcomed at least 2,500 new Afghan refugees since the fall of Kabul in August 2021. She added that two-thirds of them are families, most with young children.
The girls took advantage of the opportunity to talk with some CRS volunteers who were members of the Muslim faith. They learned about the common ties between Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Upon hearing that one of the young Primary girls blurted out, “We’re all related to Abraham!” Evidently she had been paying attention to the Church’s “Come Follow Me” lessons.
Jarvis concluded that, “the greatest accomplishment was seeing how proud they were of their hard work and that they were so willing to do this for someone they didn’t know.” Fletcher added, “Getting a small glimpse of the trials that refugees have to go through can be overwhelming, especially to children. These girls not only learned how to make a quilt, but how they, too, can make a difference.”
One of the girls affirmed that by saying, “I think what we did will touch a lot of peoples’ hearts.”