Remember Aunt Mattie’s pea green floral curtains from 1964? How about the outrageously bold plaid your mother outfitted you in for your first day of grade school?
If you’re like many Alabamians, you have a box of the ragged leftover material tucked away somewhere long forgotten. It’s a walk down memory lane of far-gone fabric that you’d probably rather sell for a dime a handful at a garage sale than attempt to piece together.
But 12 women from Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, Carrollton, in Pickens Association are elbow deep in the misfit material — and all agree there couldn’t be anything more beautiful.
Since 1998, the church’s Ugly Quilt Mission Group has tie-tacked together innumerable fabric remnants, blankets and old sheets to make quilts, sleeping bags and throw blankets for recipients in need.
Sharing warmth
And these “material girls” say nothing will keep them from carrying the warmth and love of Christ to anyone.
“We look forward to it all month, and though it’s a lot of work, it’s a lot of fun,” said Lois Bruce, Pleasant Hill’s WMU director and a member of the quilting group.
“My husband always said, ‘Get out of her way, it’s quiltin’ day,’ because rarely is anything important enough to keep us from meeting together to work.” At their meetings on the third Monday of the month, extra hands are always welcome to pick up a corner and tack away on the “ugly” quilts – a title Billy Little, pastor of Pleasant Hill, says is a complete misnomer.
“I haven’t seen an ugly one yet,” Little said.
And neither have the hundreds who have received the piecemeal projects.
Mississippi families whose homes were ravaged by tornadoes, senior adults in Aliceville whose laps are now showcases of love – all are grateful to the women who turned eyesores into heirlooms for the glory of Christ.
“Oh, they love them,” Bruce said. “And we know God has got a hand in it, because when our supplies get low, someone else calls with scraps.”
A house burns down, and a quilt arrives. Six children become homeless, and sleeping bags appear.
The local salon collects fabric for the bedding that has comforted people from Carrollton to Russia.
How many have they helped? “We’re not sure, but it’s been a bunch,” Bruce said. “One person in our group said at the beginning, ‘We’re doing this in love, and love does not keep records.’ We’re always willing to share, and anywhere there’s a need, we’ll send them. It’s a joy for us.”
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