United through stitches

Whatever the color or design, there is something soothing, nurturing and loving about pieces of cloth stitched together by hand, a cushy roll of cotton between them to bulk up the body of a finished quilt.

Whether they wrap newborn babies, sick children, traumatized disaster survivors, wounded soldiers, refugees or aging parents whose bodies are on the decline, the comfort of a quilt is recognized almost universally. Maybe love is imbued in the stitches — small or large, expertly placed or randomly scattered — as they pierce the fabric with a thousand needle pricks, making something wonderful from jabs that we usually associate with pain.

In that spirit, a local group of women has organized Quilters Without Borders, an interfaith quilting group dedicated to the premise that friendship can grow among those whose religious views don't match, but can become a patchwork fabric of faith through shared dedication to a common goal.

In doing so, they became part of a growing national trend without even knowing it.

Polly Parkinson, one of three founding members of the group, said it began a year ago when the trio was planning activities for the women in their LDS congregation, the Foothill 6th Ward. They were discussing Utah's religious divide and wondering how they could reach out to women who were not of their faith.

"We wanted to do something to branch out ourselves, to reach out to other congregations in an effort at meeting others and generating greater feelings of goodwill in our area." One woman suggested quilting, knowing that her mother in-law lives in a Salt Lake neighborhood that has a long-standing quilting group chartered not by a religious organization, but by women who simply enjoy a common interest.

Each of the founders identified friends of other faiths to approach about the interfaith group, and several expressed interest. A year later, Quilters Without Borders meets on the first Thursday of each month and includes women from St. Ambrose Catholic Church, Zion Lutheran Church, Wasatch Hills Seventh-day Adventist Church and First Baptist Church, as well as women from other churches who have not yet hosted one of their quilting sessions.

Parkinson said Wasatch Presbyterian Church expressed interest, but had a conflict for their existing women's group that met at the same time. Still, the church was impressed with the effort and word of it ended up in a statewide newsletter. A women's group in Cache Valley learned about it through that newsletter and contacted Parkinson to ask permission to start a similar group of their own, based on the Salt Lake group's format.