The African American Quilt Circle stitches together generations

Pictured from left to right: Rubie Lawson, Gretchen Robinson, Jeanette Farmer, Lena Dunston, and Saundra Brooks are all helping Lawson put some final touches on a quilt she made of Hillside High School t-shirts. (Staff photo by Candice Craig)


After losing the love of her life, she pushed away what she most loved to do.

71-year-old Jeanette Farmer’s husband died of cancer just before her daughter’s wedding.

“After I finished sewing my daughter’s wedding dress, I told myself that that would be it,” said Farmer.

Lawson and Robinson, two quilting group members, are helping each other with the start up of their pieces. (Staff photo by Candice Craig)

Rubie Lawson and Gretchen Robinson, two quilting group members, are helping each other with the start up of their pieces. (Staff photo by Candice Craig)

Sewing was something Farmer had loved ever since she was young. Her husband had a sewing room built in their house because he knew how much she loved it.

“I would start sewing and shut everything and everyone out,” Farmer said.

Not a day went by that she didn’t sew. Farmer said not even a long workday would stop her. That was, until her husband’s death.

She said she just wanted to stop. It was becoming too consuming.

Farmer’s sister, who saw Farmer abandon sewing, began trying to find ways to get her back into doing what she loved.

“She would send me quilting books and just kept encouraging me to try it,” Farmer said.

One day Farmer finally gave in to her sister’s pleadings. She joined her first quilting group in 2005: African American Quilt Circle of Durham.

Farmer had her starts as just a member of a quilting group. Now, 11 years later, she leads one.

Every Thursday at 1 p.m., you’ll find Farmer in the art room of the Durham Center of Senior Life, on Rigsbee Avenue, laughing, teaching and helping fellow quilters.

“It’s just some satisfaction and it gives the women something to do,” Farmer said. “A lot of people, once they make something, it seems as if they get hooked. And then there are lots of people who like to do it but they don’t have the patience to do it because it’s just like all other projects. You start something one day and the next day, you know, you just don’t have the same interests.”

The art room is filled with six tables. During the group meetings, each table is covered with different fabrics of all types of designs and lifetime memories, such as old shirts and pictures to be used as pieces in their quilts.

The group members stitch a variety of different kinds of pieces such as quilts, door pieces and pillowcases.

“There’s really good fellowship and it’s very peaceful here,” said quilter Gretchen Robinson. “You come when you want to come and leave when you want to leave. You’re able to bring your stuff, work on your piece and leave. And the teachers are really helpful. You can call them whenever you need to, for example, if you’re at home working on the quilts and may need some help.”

Robinson joined the quilting group over the summer of 2015, and is showing Farmer her most recently finished piece. It is a quilt of all her past family reunion t-shirts that she is going to take and hang up at her upcoming family reunion. (Staff photo by Candice Craig)

Gretchen Robinson joined the quilting group over the summer of 2015, and is showing Farmer her most recently finished piece. It is a quilt of all her past family reunion t-shirts that she is going to take and hang up at her upcoming family reunion. (Staff photo by Candice Craig)

Lena Dunston, who is also a member, comes in every Thursday to help Farmer teach and advise the quilters.

“When you’re retired and there’s nothing to do, you need something to keep you from going crazy,” said Dunston, the quilting advisor. “This is that for me.”

Quilting is not only something to do, but also a stress reliever for some quilters.

“It’s very relaxing,” said Rubie Lawson, who joined the group in November. “Very much so relaxing, and I never would’ve thought so. I couldn’t thread a needle when I started.”

Farmer’s quilting group is for anyone over the age of 55, but she said people of any age can join the African American Quilting Circle of Durham.

One of Farmer’s finished pieces is hanging in the stairwell of the senior center. Farmer is making quilts for everyone in her family.

“When I’m gone, they’ll have something to remember me by,” Farmer said.

Robinson said the quilts represent more than gifts.

“Legacy,” she said as she pulled out the quilt she made for her family reunion filled with t-shirts from her past reunions. “It’s about having something that can be passed down through generations. Something that the kids can look back to.”

The quilters create timeless pieces to be handed down just as their grandmothers did many years ago.

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