Creating a large quilt for Heartland Hospice Moose Jaw was a labour of love and healing that would not have been possible without the support of others, says the quilt’s maker.
Moose Jaw quilter Colleen Oshowy officially presented her butterfly quilt — 110 inches by 68 inches in size — to the hospice organization during its inaugural fundraiser on March 28 at the Mae Wilson Theatre. She made the quilt in honour of her deceased sister, Cindy Coutts.
The evening featured Yorkton couple Greg and Leone Ottenbreit speaking about how the death of their son from cancer affected them and how they relied on their faith in Jesus Christ to overcome their sorrow.
Heartland Hospice will use the quilt to cover patients who have died and are being moved from the hospice unit to the waiting funeral car, honouring them with love, dignity and respect.
It took many hands and hearts to pull the quilt together, Oshowy told the crowd. She gave birth to the idea, while a community of generous, creative, talented and supportive people brought the quilt to life.
The quilt wouldn’t have come to life without the encouragement from Heartland Hospice board director Della Ferguson, Oshowy continued. From the moment she uttered the words, “I would like to make a butterfly quilt for the hospice unit,” Ferguson was fully supportive of the project.
Ferguson followed every stitch made, snapping photos and posting updates to Facebook. This is also where the online community showed its love, encouragement and support for the project. Oshowy joked that you had better be prepared to follow through on your words if you utter a thought out loud around Ferguson.
Oshowy credited Elizabeth Hartman with providing the pattern for the quilt; “quilter extraordinaire” Shelley Wicks with Half Yard Quilting Studio for providing fabric, support and encouragement; and Wendy Findlay for custom sewing the pattern using a long-arm quilting machine.
“Because I used only the butterfly (pieces) from the pattern, a background had to be designed,” Oshowy said. This is where her good friend Jeanne Large stepped into the picture.
Large used paper, pencil, a measuring tape, an outline of the quilt dimensions taped to the floor, the completed butterfly blocks within the taped borders and her innovative thinking to quickly and accurately design the background.
“I would still be sitting with the paper and pencil were it up to me,” chuckled Oshowy.
Together, the two women also sewed the binding by using more than 365 inches of hand stitching material.
More information about Heartland Hospice can be found at www.heartlandhospicemj.com.
