March 27, 2020
June 2016
Thank you for your interest in the work we are doing for Dorcas quilts.
A friend brought me the following to read and I wanted to share it with you all. Despite the old style language I think it sums up my hope that Dorcas Quilts will bring love into people’s lives!
The Patchwork Quilt
The members of a certain church worked well with willing hands.
And useful articles they made to send to distant lands.
A dear old lady sewed with joy: a patchwork quilt she made
And as she joined the gaudy scraps, with ev’ry stitch she prayed.
The chosen garments, large and small, into a box were pressed,
The quilt was merely spread across to cover all the rest.
The missionary received the box and soon its cords untied,
But when he saw the patchwork quilt he placed it on one side.
Just then a stately tribal chief came slowly walking by;
The brightly coloured patchwork quilt attracted his keen eye.
‘O what a regal thing is this! Yes this is very nice!
If you will sell this cloak to me I’ll pay a handsome price’
Before the startled missionary a ready answer found,
The chief said ‘For this lovely cloak I give a piece of ground’
The man of God had prayed for land on which a church to build,
So at this sign of answered prayer his heart with joy was filled.
And in due time the Christian flock met there in sweet accord
To hear the joyful Gospel news and praise their Saviour Lord.
Then suddenly the tribal chief strode down the aisle alone
The patchwork quilt across his back was like a mantle thrown.
With awe he listened as he heard how Jesus died to save,
And conquered power of sin and death by rising from the grave.
And so a native chief was won, a mission church was built,
Because a dear old praying soul had made a patchwork quilt!
By Mabel Palmer
This is apparently a true story and I think as we make the quilts and send them all over the world we should not be worried if our quilts are not used for the purpose for which they were made!!
Some time ago a quilt was donated to Dorcas quilts. It was very heavy and I was concerned about this. It was sent off to the community in the mountains of Kenya. My contact was asked if she could attach a hanging strip on to it. This is the quilt which is now hanging on the wall of a small catholic chapel in Kenya. The quilt was covered in sequins and shiny fabric and now hangs on a wall reflecting the sun and is like a stained glass window!! The whole community are delighted with it!
2016
This year so far we have sent more quilts(92!!) than the whole of last year, so thank you all for all your hard work, it is greatly appreciated. This is where your quilts have gone to!
January/June 2016
We have given 16 quilts to the local ‘Women’s Refuge’ work herein Chichester and some of those are children’s quilts which have been very well received.
January/March 2016
We sent 20 quilts out in January to the Deaf school in Ethiopia. While Jenny was there one of the children from the last year’s intake reminded her that in 2015 we had not sent enough so some children did not receive any! When Jenny returned she told us about this. Some months later we had about 18 quilts in stock and Jenny told us that there was a person who lived in Chester who could take them! However Chester is rather a long way away and time was running out. My husband happened to tell a couple of men in church about this problem and the very next day one of them had to go to Chester and was very happy to take and deliver the quilts so they went to Ethiopia so all the children of the last two years intake have a quilt, so that was an amazing answer to our dilemma!!
March 2016
We were able to send 12 quilts to Cambodia. This is going to be our new regular destination as we are planning to start supporting the work in these two areas in Cambodia. The quilts will be very small as they will be for babies and small children and really are comfort blankets. If you would like more information about Cambodia the links are as follows:
March 2016
This time we sent just 4 incubator quilts to the hospital in Kagando, Uganda. We also sent one larger one which had been made with furnishing fabric out to the lady with the old iron chair (see photo in our first Newsletter!).
April 2016
We were able to send 18 small quilts to a Malnution Centrein Potter’s Village in S. Uganda. 10 of the quilts were for the main ward and 8 were for the overflow ward. We hope that this will be a regular for Dorcas quilts.
The Future for Dorcas quilts
In October we are sending small quilts to Cambodia to the places I have already mentioned. We are also hoping to supply quilts to some Syrian refugees who will be arriving in Chichester in about 6-7 weeks.
If you specifically want your quilts to go to certain place please let me know. We do need some single bed size quilts for the refuge and the refugees. We also need incubator sized quilts which are about 21”x17”. The quilts for Cambodia can be rectangular or square, the ones we have just made measure 36”x26” and 30”x22”. The reason for these sizes is because we have been donated very large quilt tops and have had to cut them down but these are a good size. We have also been sending knitted blankets and tiny woollen hats for the prem babies. In Ethiopia we were asked for double knitting wool and also embroidery silk and binca for the deaf children to learn sewing. If anyone wishes to donate any of these then I will be happy to pass them on.
Thank you again to all the Hillside Quilters in Glasgow, to my faithful Monday am group and to Margaret, for all your hard work and for your interest and support for Dorcas Quilts,
Dot Poulsom
June 2016
