That said, I want to tell about a couple of experiences I've had this week.
On Tuesday morning at Blankets, Linda S. asked me if I had any documents related to the beginning of the Blanket Ministry. It just so happened that over the past few weeks I have been cleaning out a couple of spaces in my house that were filled with "things".
One of my quilt guilds is having a Yard Sale next week and I want to try to unload some of the fabric and craft items that Jackie had purchased. Now I'm sure most of you are thinking that I am talking about a few bags or boxes of "things". Well, one room was stacked to eye level on top of a bed and around it on the floor so that you had to walk sideways to get into the room and then you were taking a chance of starting an avalanche. That room now has a bed with a new headboard that is ready for someone to sleep in it if they want to. It has also been repainted. I have just finishedand sorting through and getting about six or seven big boxes ready to donate to a homeless ministry in East Cobb. The other eight or ten boxes will go to the Yard Sale. Whatever I don't sell I will donate on the way home.
Linda came by on Tuesday evening and I gave her some copies of correspondence between Jackie and Karen Barber concerning the Blanket Ministry. You can read a previous post if you want to know more here.
This story clearly describes the sequence of events that led Jackie to ask Agape to start the Blanket Ministry.
So here I am finally cutting to the chase.
Today I came across the sample blankets that were sent to Jackie by the mother of a girl named Sara Regean Walton who inspired a similar ministry in their church. There is a brief story about how Sara received a blanket during her Chemotherapy and then her mother started making blankets for other children going through treatments. Epworth Baptist Church Quilt Ministry
After meeting Sarah's mother Karen at JoAnn's one day she sent Jackie three sample blankets to show her what they were doing so that Jackie might start a blanket ministry at AFUMC. The blanket at the bottom of the box was made of the same fleece as a scarf that Jackie had made herself so that people would comment on it and then she could talk to them about he Blanket Ministry. It was a bright red piece with brightly colored stars on it. The unique thing is that Karen had not seen Jackie's scarf.
Today I came across that blanket as I was cleaning up my mess. It was really interesting to read the label on Sara's blanket. Those blankets had two labels on them. They were laminated and attached with a plastic cord punch like price tags are attached to clothing. They may have changed this but these were made around 2000.
Linda and I talked about the message that is written on our labels. It seems pretty clear by this that our blanket label was inspired by this tag on Sara's Quilts.
My next goal is to try and figure out when the Blanket Ministry was started. That's still fuzzy.
No comments:
Post a Comment