Quilt Therapy

Friday Night Free for All was a quiet one as two of our best talkers were unable to be there - one was on a business trip and the other, spending time with her dear husband who passed away later that weekend. We all share JoAnne's loss and hope she and her daughters will find comfort.

Quilting helps. I have found personally that quilting is excellent therapy. Friends have told me the same. There's something about the planning of a project, the manipulation of the fabric, and the completion of each aspect that enables the heart to heal.

Whenever my husband has a health issue and I know I am looking at some long hours in a waiting room, I try to make sure I have some hand embroidery with me. Even though I am a voracious reader, I find reading impossible in such times. But doing something with my hands is just distracting enough to make the time pass. Redwork has been my choice several times as it is a bit mindless -- one stitch, one thread color. But, I also did a complete cross stitch with varied colors at the Ohio State Ross Heart Hospital. I bought the kit for 75 cents at a Guild yard sale because I had immediatly recognized it as a kit that my mom completed many years ago, and Mom's finished project hangs in my niece's kitchen. It was quite satisfying to work with the actual colors and flosses that my mom would have used. It's ready to be framed now, and each stitch was taken as I waited in various areas of the Ross Heart Hospital. Recognizing the synchronicity of my stitching and the doctor's stitching on Joe's heart was somehow comforting.

I hope JoAnne and her quilting daughter Becky will find comfort in their craft as time passes.