The Sew & Sews – Quilting and So Much More
On Tuesday mornings, in the midst of the giggles and wiggles of the CLC, severa
l women faithfully meet, quietly living out their faith by word and deed. The word – prayer. The deed – quilting. For women like Patty Frizell and Bambi Byars and others, quilting is a ministry. They have chosen to use their God-given gifts of cutting, measuring and stitching to help others. The thread may hold the fabric together, but it is prayer that holds these women close to their faith.
What is the “prayer quilt ministry?” Here’s a little history.
The Prayer Quilt Ministry began in 1989 with a small boy named Kody who was born with a congenital heart defect. Kody lived with his grandmother and just before his third birthday he slipped into a coma. His doctors did not give the family much hope. Unable to watch her grandson suffer, his grandmother, Carolyn, gathered together several of her quilting friends from Hope United Methodist Church and asked them to pray for Kody and his family.
Still wanting to do more, the women found a skilled quilter who could make a quilt top over night. The women believed that a quilt would be a comforting cover for him. It would, for the women, be a way of having their personal presence surrounding Kody with care.
The quilt top was finished overnight, but it still had to be quilted. Even machine quilting would take longer than they wanted, so the women came together at the church to literally “tie” the quilt top, batting and bottom layer together. With strands of cotton thread, they quietly went about the task of binding the layers with square knots. After moments of silence, the question was asked, “Is anyone else praying?” The response was yes from many of the women. Someone piped up and said, “There’s got to be a prayer in every knot.” The prayer quilt was born!
Kody immediately responded as the quilt, covered in prayers, was placed over him. He began pulling on the knots that had been tied. Kody eventually emerged from his coma and improved. The doctor’s orders on Kody’s chart: the prayer quilt was to stay with him at all times during his stay in the hospital.
As word of Kody’s prayer quilt began to spread, parents of other children in Intensive Care began to ask for prayer quilts. As more and more quilts were requested, a formal prayer quilt ministry, called Prayer & Squares, was formed. Approximately 440 Prayers & Squares chapters are in existence today.
With a worn out heart, Kody finally died at age 14. His grandmother still has his prayer quilt.
Why make quilts? They are visible, tangible, physical evidence of our faith in God, love and prayer. They are a symbol of our faith in one another. As one quilter says, “The prayer quilt is a touchable emblem of human kindness 
and a link to the source of that kindness…God.” Think about your own child or grandchild. When we bundle them up in blankets, don’t we feel like we are bundling up a little gift from God. The quilt may serve the practical purpose of warming, but it is a warming that goes all the way to the heart; the kind of warming that needs to be shared with others.
This kind of sharing is what the women of the Sew and Sews do. Although the Sew and Sews here at Trinity are not part of this national organization, they indeed have a prayer quilt ministry. Cutting, piecing, stitching, quilting or tying, each quilt is created from the heart, crafted by hand and given, with love, in the name of Jesus Christ.
Throughout the years, children of Trinity Presbyterian Church have been lovingly covered with the prayers of Sew and Sews’ quilts. But, this ministry goes beyond the walls of the church. Prayer quilts are created for sick 
children in our local hospitals and for children and adults at St. Andrews Presbyterian Mission. Wherever these quilts travel, they are sent with God’s blessing, Christ’s love and the prayers of the faithful women of the Sew and Sews.
You don’t quilt? No problem! The Sew and Sews invite you to come and learn. Such a meaningful ministry needs new hands from time to time. As Kathy Cueva, president of the Prayer Quilt Ministry says: The quilt is a vehicle for prayer, a vehicle for God’s love. Once you feel the hand of God touching you and you feel the love of Christ working through you, you will want to continue quilting.
If you feel the stirring of God’s Spirit leading you to this ministry where the “fabric of our faith” is tied together with love, prayer and thread, please visit with Patty or Bambi.
