One evening early in 2023, my son found me in my sewing room. “Annual Session Planning Committee is trying to think of community-building projects,” he said, looking around at my stacks of patchwork-in-progress, “and I was kind of wondering . . . quilts?”
I started wondering too. A couple of years earlier, I had worked in the children’s program at our quarterly meeting. I had taken along an old quilt so that kids who wanted to be quiet would have a place to sit, maybe read books, definitely make it clear that they were choosing to be out of the way of boisterous games. Several kids did seem to appreciate that designated quiet spot. So . . . would monthly meetings and worship groups find such quilts useful? Would Friends like to make quilts for other Friends throughout North Pacific Yearly Meeting (NPYM)?
Within a few hours, I had scribbled out a design for the quilt. Within a day, I had a plan for the project as a whole. Within a week, I was putting together a prototype. Everything came together so quickly and smoothly (dare I say “seamlessly”?) that it all felt truly Spirit-led. The Annual Session Planning Committee asked for details and cost estimates, then gave me a go-ahead.
Like many quiltmakers, I find it exceedingly difficult to discard any piece of fabric “that might be useful someday,” so I already had plenty in my own stash to start with. The Stone Soup Quilters at North Seattle Friends Church donated many – many! – more bits and pieces for the “scrappy” strips in the design. Another Friend donated beautiful yardage for quilt backs. The Annual Session Planning Committee paid for batting, fabric markers, and other supplies.
Our Quiet Quaker Quilts start with nine-inch squares of plain pastel fabric to be decorated. Folks in my home meeting, Eastside, helped decorate the example quilt for me to show at NPYM Annual Session. Our Eastside kids drew wonderful images – peace signs, trees, vines, flowers. Grown-ups wrote out words of love and encouragement. When it all came together, it looked amazing.
During NPYM’s 2023 Annual Session, we set up worktables for the quilt project outside under shade tents, conveniently near the Children’s Program classroom and the main plenary meeting room. Decorating quilt squares was one of the Children’s Program activity options, and quite a few kids were repeatedly and enthusiastically creative. A number of adults also stopped by during mealtimes and between other activities. Altogether, we decorated enough squares for one complete quilt, which we plan to keep with the NPYM children’s program, and two more quilts to give to other meetings. A fine beginning to this multi-generational, multi-year project!
Salmon Bay Friends Meeting was the first NPYM group to “officially” request a Quiet Quaker Quilt. They will receive their completed quilt soon, probably before this issue of Western Friend goes out. We’ll have the Quiet Quaker Quilt project at NPYM’s Annual Session in Missoula this coming July, and I hope that many Friends there will want to decorate a square or tie some knots on a quilt-in-progress, and that representatives from more meetings will request quilts.
Any meeting or worship group in NPYM can request a Quiet Quaker Quilt. (All you have to do is ask me. Oh, and give me a contact person to communicate with.) My commitment is to keep working on Quiet Quaker Quilts with NPYM Friends until every group that wants one, has one. I’d also be glad to talk to any Quaker quiltmaker inspired to plan a similar project in some other yearly meeting.
I envision a Quiet Quaker Quilt as a permanent feature of every Quaker First-Day School space. As one of the “Children’s Meeting” teachers at Eastside, I remind our kids every now and again that our quilt is there for them – they can choose to be at the quilt (or on it, or under it) whenever they want a calm moment away from other activities. I assure the kids that when they choose to be at the quilt, the rest of us in the room will let them be and will “give them space and grace” as much as possible. I make it clear that this includes me as the teacher: the only time I will ask them to leave the quilt is when we get ready to re-join meeting for worship. Another exception would be if some kind of a safety reason required us all to leave the building. In that case, they could take the quilt with them!
As a teacher, I might casually remind a kid that the Quiet Quaker Quilt is available, but I would never insist or even suggest that they go to the quilt. Nor would I ever ask a kid why they have gone to the quilt. It’s their choice, for their reasons. And when a kid has chosen to go to the quilt, I will try to minimize my own direct contact with them. I might remind others about giving the quiet child space and grace. I will of course keep an eye open in their direction, but I will respect their Quiet Quaker Quilt choice as much as I can.
My hope is that going to the quilt can give kids helpful practice in recognizing and reacting constructively when they feel the need to take a pause for whatever reason. I also hope that the other kids get helpful practice in respecting the needs and choices of other people.
As mentioned, the Quiet Quaker Quilt design and the plan for the project as a whole came together very quickly. Many layers of meaning and many layers of community-building became clear as it all took shape. The creation of each quilt is a community-building exercise: each quilt becomes a tool for community-building within a meeting; and the quilt design itself expresses “community.”
Each element in this design carries a meaning, and the meanings interconnect. Each decorated square expresses a message for Quaker kids in other places and other times. And these squares come in a variety of colors—as do we. The many scraps of the side strips, in bright colors and lively patterns, represent all of us as individuals within our meeting community.
The large, decorated squares and side strips are anchored into the design by “corner squares” and a border, all in deep solid colors. These represent the Spirit, always present around us and among us, the strong and solid framework that holds our communities together. ~~~
Photos are by Paul Christiansen and Debbie Townsend, and are used with their permission.
Debbie Townsend is a member of Eastside Friends Meeting in Bellevue, WA, and is currently the clerk of NPYM’s Youth Committee. She has been sewing patchwork for 50+ years. She welcomes questions about the Quiet Quaker Quilt project: e-mail [email protected] or text 206-502-5453.