Quilts have been made for centuries, and they’ve been made for bringing beauty and color into their makers lives as well as offering warmth and comfort. Often quilts were put together during community gatherings, with all members of a family or community gathering around to add the final touches and celebrate the end result. While we can’t physically come together over the coming weeks, we still want to connect with our #HAMily and Arkansas community at large; and provide a fun activity you can continue to partake in from home during the weeks ahead.
In the quilting spirit, we hope to make a virtual community quilt that will share the beauty, color, and uniqueness of the individual families that make up our HAM community. And while this won’t be a physical quilt, we hope it will still provide warmth and joy to everyone.
Just as individuals and families are diverse and unique when looked upon in isolation, we all contribute to a bigger, more colorful community when woven together. Over the coming weeks, we invite you to create your own family quilt squares and email them to [email protected]. These squares can be made with whatever art supplies you have on hand, the only requirement is that it needs to be in the shape of a square. These squares can tell your unique story, the traditions of your family, or simply whatever you find solace and strength in during these times of isolation.
As our family squares are stitched together, just like a quilt, we will proudly share our diverse stories that make up our #HAMily.
Instructions:
With whatever craft supplies you have, make a square. On this square, illustrate your individual story or your family’s story. Here’s one way to approach this: On a sheet of paper, write down images or words that tell us the story of you and/or your family. These could be simple things like a drawing of your family, a heart, your house, a cross, the family pet, etc. You can even divide your square into four smaller squares. Now illustrate something in each square that shows something unique about yourself and your family. Think about what your family likes to do together, your family history, places you like to visit together, favorite family traditions, etc. You can even simply share whatever you and your family are finding inspiration from and solace in during these times.
Once finished, scan or take a picture of your quilt square and email it to: [email protected]
The quilt square will tell the story of you or your family, but it will also tell the story of how all families have contributed to our community.
We are all part of something greater – just like a quilt.