Water Quilt: The landscape quilt includes the sunrise/sunset along with the skyline with a river or lake below and African women on the shoreline. The quilt is machine quilted with trees and roots/limbs reminding us of being in Africa. The water is quilted with ripples and waves. The sun is quilted with circles and brings light to the quilt.
Size: 78 by 80 Inches
Available: To Relief Sales in the United States
Made by: Marlys Wiens
Machine Quilted by: Jane Harder Goering and the Bethel Church Worship and Sew of Mountain Lake, Minnesota, donating the funds for the quilt.
As I made this quilt, I kept thinking of the children in this world who are out fetching water for their family or themselves instead of getting an education. The theme of water can be directed in a number of directions and MCC has great pictures and information on their website on "Water".
(The Actual Quilt is a piece of art - the picture doesn't do it justice).
The story of the designing of the quilt:
In the cold of a Minnesota winter, blue, green and some yellow/tan batik fabrics had been purchased. The pattern was a picture of a quilt I had seen at a Quilt Show in Brainered, MN, a year earlier. The organizer of the Quilt Show had helped me locate the owner/designer and maker of the pictured quilt. There was no pattern which was freeing and at the same time, limiting. The quilt did not have a copywright and the designer was so pleased to have the quilt made for Mennonite Central Committee as a Fund Raiser.
Jana's back yard was full of snow and the
cardinals and squirrels would visit us through the window as I would cut the
fabric in strips and Jana would sew what I ever gave her. After sewing a
number of blocks, Jana started to understand the process we were using.
As we quilted we talked about issues she was living with. The prior
Christmas season, Jana had been diagnosed with cancer that was affecting her
pancreas and part of her pancreas was removed and followed by radiation
and chemotherapy. During that process, Jana's kidneys had been affected
and she needed to be on dialysis three times a week. The physicians
were surprised she had survived the procedures.
Looking forward, the physicians also knew that she also has lung cancer
and we needed to enjoy each day we had.
With the appreciation of our own lives, we focused on making the water
quilt for MCC and the children and people who would be the benefactors.
Jana also assisted her adult daughter on
Sunday mornings at a church in Oakdale, Minnesota, and we would talk about the
sermons from her minister, Rev. Greg Boyd.
The sermons were in alignment with the work we were doing for MCC. I kept hearing about Greg Boyd, the minister,
through my other friends as he was also a speaker at Hesston College in
Hesston, Kansas, and other Mennonite places.
The importance of peace and justice was growing in both of our lives.
As we continued to sew, make
blocks, and
lay the blocks out on the living room floor, the atmosphere was very
unique. I could hear Jana sewing in the
room with the wonderful view of the outdoors.
Here I was in the living room and someone was with me or watching
me. I moved around and did not notice
anyone. After several minutes, I had to investigate and I needed to know what was surrounding me.
I looked around and there to my left and then also on the right, was two
of P Buckley Moss prints. One of the
framed pictures was “Community Spirit”.
I stopped Jana’s sewing of the "Water Blocks" and she was confused by my questions/comments and how I knew about P Buckley Moss and that the
name of the print was “Community Spirit”.
I explained that the print was a donation and fund raiser from P Buckley
Moss for MCC. Al, her husband, had
purchased the prints the week before at an estate sale in a suburb of
Minneapolis and they wanted the framed pictures in their living room. Al and Jana had no idea of the story behind
the pictures. Jana looked at me and
said, “you mean the P Buckley Moss picture is a fund raiser for the same
organization we are making this quilt”?
With that we worked on in peace and
contentment. So many unspoken questions
and issues were answered.
The next step was finding a Machine Quilter with the understanding of "Water" with the many definitions of MCC.
With the sponsorship of the Sewing Circle from Bethel Mennonite Church in Mountain Lake, Minnesota, Jane Goering shared her artistic ability in the machine quilting of the quilt.
