Listen to this article
Seasoned quilters at Portland’s Rose Center help a new member finish a 10-year-old project.
By Nancy Dihle , Major
The Salvation Army’s Rose Center for seniors in Portland, Ore., has held a quilting class for many years, attended by a group of women who enjoy crafting and each other’s company. They recently welcomed a new member with an old project.
May Tong, new to Portland from Hong Kong, mentioned she had a quilt she called her “lonely” quilt. She explained that when she lost her husband, her daughter bought quilting fabric for her to sew, hoping it to be therapeutic.
Her daughter’s gift was an odd mix of bright-colored fabrics. Not really knowing what to do with it, Tong took a simple cat patch and made a mix of cut-out cat faces in another pattern. She completed the top of the quilt but it sat unfinished for 10 years.
“Once I put it away,” she said, “I could hardly pick it up again.” She re-discovered it while unpacking in her new Portland home.
Tong brought the quilt top into the class where the women demonstrated how to piece the back and do the batting, and offered to help her complete it.
Everyone stretched, layered and basted. Group leader Gay Walker surged the edges and showed Tong how to close them. Then she did it independently.
The quilting club took an extra day to tie and finish off the edges.
Tong took the quilt home and placed it on her daughter’s bed. When her daughter saw it that night she screamed with delight; she thought it would never get done.
Thanks to the friendship and support of these women, Tong now proudly displays her quilt, and says, “No longer is this my ‘lonely’ quilt; it’s my ‘happy quilt.’”
