SallyGanoJones

Here I am on the west coast visiting with my son. When he opens the closet in his guest room to show me where to put my things, I saw it! He notices the expression of surprise on my face.

“Hey, Mom, there’s the quilt you made for me!”

Oh my, what a pleasant memory you just stirred! I thought.

Later that day as I unpacked my bags, I looked at that quilt with very happy thoughts and memories of when I was expecting my youngest son. What a great inspiration this quilt was for me in the Fall of ‘81.

I started a quilting class from an Amish quilt teacher that Fall while I was ~4 months into my third pregnancy. I picked a favorite design and under her tutoring began to cut the numerous pieces of fabric.

As my 5th month of pregnancy began, I felt unusual pains and consulted with my obstetrician. “Early labor pains,” he said and ordered me to go on bed rest for a week and consult with him if I had any changes.

Both grandmothers came to my aid to help with my 15 month old son and my 4 yr old daughter. I rested well and the early labor pains subsided.

I returned to my quilting class and continued to work on my quilt’s 580 pieces that would need stitching together before I could actually quilt it. I worked diligently at night on piecing the quilt blocks after my son and daughter were asleep.

I began to think of the baby in my womb and the sewing, stitching, & quilt project calmed me as I sewed and look forward to his arrival. It was an opportunity to pray for my unborn baby as I stitched the blocks of fabric together. By the time of his due date I had pieced all the quilt blocks. I packed them in a box knowing with his arrival expected soon I’d have to wait before I would have time to sew with three little ones.

He arrived precisely on his due date, a beautiful healthy eight pound baby boy!

Later that year a job change for my spouse resulted in a move and somehow the box with my quilt blocks got misplaced. Fortunately, my quilt project was not in vain; I finally found my box of quilt blocks months later. They were sewn together and quilting began.

When my youngest son walked through his college graduation commencement, I smiled proudly on all the years of raising him to be the fine young man he turned out to be. I had wrapped a special gift for him for his graduation celebration.

He opened it and smiled for he had heard the “story of the quilt,” of how the calming nights of stitching the quilt blocks helped me relax, pray, and prepare for a normal delivery.

Special moments and many memories are wrapped beneath the beautiful threads and stitches. And now his second child is on the way in a few months.

I looked at the beautiful quilt last night and even more the beautiful memories of prayers and hopeful stitches woven in his quilt.

Thank You, Lord, for giving me a healthy baby boy all those years ago. Bless his new baby on her way and keep her safe and healthy. Thank you for those woven, stitched memories of moments you calmed my young mother’s heart.