Franklin United Methodist Church
Quilters - Praying Piecers
Praying Piecers meet twice monthly - the second and fourth Mondays from 9 until noon in the Activities Building. We welcome all quilters from the community! We work on all sorts of projects...
our own and others. Peggy is our leader; E-mail her with any questions.
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7/14 - We are sad to report that quilter Joanie Baldwin, Terrie Foltermann's mother, has passed away after a heart attack. Her talents and design expertise were very important to our Praying Piecers...we will miss her!
From January through May, 2010, this group of quilters worked to finish a total of five quilts for injured soldiers in San Antonio as part of the Quilters Across Texas led by Amelia Perry, Governor Perry's mother. This is the second year of the program, and our quilts represented 20% of the 25 quilts presented to the wounded warriors on May 12, 2010. Dorothea and Thad made the trip to participate in the presentation. Following is the article written by Thad and Dorothea in June's FUMC Newsletter:
"In January the quilt group received information inviting us to be a part of Quilters Across Texas
making quilts for Wounded Warriors on May 12th. Thad and Dorothea Allen took the quilts earlier
that day to San Antonio to Mrs. Amelia Perry, organizer of Quilters Across Texas. She praised our
group for completing five of the twenty-five quilts to be presented that evening. All of the quilters
were invited to attend the event.
"What an honor to be there among a large crowd of people and honoring approximately 400
Wounded Warriors. Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient Michael Thornton was guest speaker.
He praised these military men and women for serving our country to keep it free.
"The last item on the program for the evening was recognizing a group of women who have made
quilts for some of the Wounded Warriors. Amelia Perry presented the first quilt to one of the
Warriors. Following the program the other quilters presented a quilt to each of the selected men
and women to receive a quilt.
"It was so moving to have the opportunity, one on one, to present a young man a quilt and thank
him for his service to our country. This is a tremendous program called “Wounded Warriors
Organization” with offices in Austin and headed by Lt. General Leroy Sisco (Ret). The Praying
Piecers are already planning to start making more quilts for next year and hopefully more of our
quilters will be able to attend."
Below are photos taken of the quilters' work from the beginning of the work in January.
Above, left, Dorothea and Peggy decided upon the possible designs, and then we all
brought fabrics from our "stashes" to provide the selection.
Below, Barbara irons fabric from the selections.
Joanie and Terrie (mother and daughter), both artists with considerable talent, helped Peggy
select fabric colors which coordinated within the designs.
In February, work began in earnest:
Above, Pat cut shapes according to request. Dorothea made samples at home and
brought them for us to see. Below, left - Flo, Terrie, Peggy, and Cornelia
Below, right - Pat, Dorothea, and Barbara "audition" various fabrics.
Above, left, Terrie shows color patterns to Cornelia. Above, right, Flo assembles pieces.
A great deal of work was completed at home during these months. Finally, the quilts were
bound (above, right) and ready to be delivered. Before they left, though, most were displayed
and blessed during the church service on May 2.
At the celebration in San Antonio on May 12, quilts were displayed and presented to the soldiers by
the quilters. We were thankful to have Dorothea and Thad present at the Night to Honor Our Heroes ceremony. Photos below were taken in difficult lighting by Thad.
