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Published: September 9th 2006
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Boxes Boxes Boxes
At current count there are over 50 Sew Bee It boxes too go to Africa!! The Power of the Printed Word.
We’ve all heard that phrase before … maybe about poetry, the Bible, political debates on the front page of the newspaper, or words of wisdom from a simple children’s book. I have never witnessed such a reaction to something I have written myself until June of this year. Most of you know that the Kensington Woods Church of Christ distributes a monthly newsletter for the TZ2000 work. Several try to pitch in and provide articles for it as we can, and I was excited when my “Sew Bee It” article was printed in the June edition.
In case some of you done receive the Newsletter, let me first say that if you want to be put on the mailing list to receive it (it’s free of course), just let me know and I’ll get your address added.
And since some of you may not have a clue what “Sew Bee It” is here is a very quick explanation.
Most of the women in Tanzania do nothing but cook, clean, wash, gather firewood, tend the garden, raise the children, and then the next morning start all over again. The men have little
By the Truckload!
This is one of a few truckloads donated - these folks came from East Tennessee. to do with the daily activities, and this leaves very little time for the women to do anything that we might consider a hobby type activity. I LOVE piecing and quilting, among lots of other things, but this one in particular seemed to be something I could take to Tanzania with me and pass it on. In our culture, quilting bees were a time where all the women and young ladies got together, taught one another, passed down history to the younger ones, shared their lives, hopes, tragedies, and gave to others their labors of love in quilt form.
This experience is something I want the women of Tanzania to experience. To have a time where they can get together to learn a craft that can benefit their own families and others, share their lives, learn about one another on a more personal level, and have yet another opportunity to talk about our purpose here on this earth.
The getting together is easy, the talking is easy, the sharing is easy … but the piecing and quilting part posed a problem. You see, the concept of taking a perfectly beautiful intact piece of fabric and cutting it into
My First Quilt
I pieced this bowtie quilt when I was in the 7th grade. My mom quilted it for me as a Christmas gifts years later. many smaller pieces only to sew it back together again makes no sense to them. Firstly, due to the fact that typically we would in early history take old clothing and cut it up to use as scraps for our quilts. They may wear their clothes until they are threadbare, leaving nothing useful to use as pieces. To buy fabric to cut up to make a quilt would be very unusual as there are certainly more important things that they would use the small amount of money they did have to buy.
So, in the newsletter I wrote about my excitement of this project and a simple request that if any of you had scraps that you were not going to use, send them to me and I’d take them to Africa with me to give to the ladies, and teach them how to use them to make quilts. Anthony said when I left the article with Ken Upchurch, one of the elders in Hattiesburg, “don’t get your hopes up, in case you don’t get much response.” He was protecting me. I get near theatrical when it comes to something I am passionate about and he did not want
to see my excitement squished like a bug.
NOT TO WORRY! I have been overwhelmed!!! As you can see by the pictures, I have had truck loads, boxes and boxes, and boxes and boxes, sent to me for Tanzania! Fabric, needles, thread, scissors, sewing machines, batting, pins, patterns, and even several projects already started! I can not tell you the number of boxes, because I have simply lost count. But I know it is over 50 at this point! I came home the other day to 6 - 8 on my front porch. They have come from Washington, Alabama, Ohio, New Jersey, Mississippi, Texas, and Arkansas. I have picked up several things from folks here in Tennessee, and still have things on their way to me. In no way shape or form have I been let down by the lack of response, on the contrary - everyone has been stunned by the amount of enthusiasm all of you have given to this project! I just need to make sure I don’t let you down!!!
After we get it all there, which may be in March, and I get the first few rounds of "how tos" out of the
??? Name of this one?????
I have no idea what this pattern is called ... but liked it and made this one for Carla and Mike. way, I intend for our first project to be making lap quilts for the children in the orphanage there in Arusha. What better use of the time, and materials, than for those who have no family to cling too.
I have no idea how long these projects will take, I have no idea how difficult or how easy this project may be, but I can tell you this, I have plenty of time, plenty of energy and now, plenty of fabric to carry it out and I’ll share it with you every step of the way. Thank you soooo much for your help in making this happen! It truly is a dream of mine and you are helping make it come true!
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Aunt Janie
non-member comment
pieces of life
My Dearest Chat, I have just recently gotten to read your journal entries as my old computer decided to retire and I had to "hire" another one. Just as you had visions Joshua and the precious moments of life that our mind always allows us to revisit, I too took a similar trip. I saw not a young woman sharing her plans for moving to Africa, but rather a new born baby being held in her grandmother's arms while sitting in front of the fireplace. I saw a picture of you and Sonia that Aunt Winnie sent me while I was in Vietnam, and laughed when I remembered the story that accompanied the picture. It seems that while packing me a "care" package to send, you said, "Granny, ain't they ever going to let Janie come home?" Truth be told I wondered the same thing during that long year!! My mind revisted the day when I took Mom to the hospital to see Joshua for the first time. As she looked through the nursery window she turned and said to me, "I wish your father had lived to see him." Just as your quilt project will use pieces of cloth to make a beautiful quilt that will provide warmth for the body, the pieces of our memories continue to provide visual images of warmth for our spirit. It will be that warmth that will continue to sustain us with you and AB living in Africa. Although it puts a few more cracks in my heart to know that you will be so far away, it does not lessen the fact that I am extremely proud of you and the woman you have become. Know that I love you very much and am ever so grateful that God "loaned" you to us for a while. Janie