Prayer Rug Ministry

For quite a few months I have been prompted to make a prayer rug for our beautiful friend Sr. Monica. Finally before Christmas I sat down and put the rug together and delivered to Sr. Monica at the hospice in early January. Eileen and I were amazed to see that the St. John of God hospice had patchwork quilts on the wall and also on some of the beds. Our vision is to make these quilts to give to those who have cancer or are very ill.

Eileen and I had a Fabric Warehouse and one of the classes available was a Heritage Quilting Class. I just loved the look of this quilt and the thought of creating a classic piece. It was made up of sampler squares and done in calico. With this in mind I wanted to achieve a smaller version of this but also make it easy so that the rug could be achievable by anyone able to sew a straight line. I went up to Jackson's Art Supplies in the city by train and had 10 different screen prints made. Above is a sample of the different screens and the symbolism of the square. The rug is 1m wide and 1.5m long. It is made up of 15 squares. It is calico on front and backed in polo fleece. The images on the front are screened to match the polo fleece on the back.

We will be making a DVD showing how to make the rug and give to anyone who would like to be part of this project. I have researched online prayer rugs and have found that they are a comfort to those who are given them and that some take them to chemo sessions with them. One lady started this ministry when her son was diagnosed with schizophrenia and she found that in the hospital a lot of the patients were cuddling soft toys or pieces of cloth for something to hold on to. The rugs will be given free of charge.