A week or so ago my church held an artist fair after services. There were lots of booths set up in the fellowship hall. I saw paintings, crafts, quilts, sculptures, jewelry...all kinds of things. One table was covered in various quilted placemats. There was an old man standing behind the table. I figured his wife had made these things, but when I asked him about it I found out he had made them. He told me he had been quilting since 2008. That was the year he participated in a research study for a local health group. The study consisted of teaching elderly people a new skill (in his case quilting) for 3 months while observing and measuring their brain activity. The study hoped to find ways of fighting dementia and Alzheimer's. He has been quilting ever since. I fell in love with this intricate turkey placemat he had made. He only had 2 of them, so I asked if he minded splitting the set since I only really wanted one. He didn't mind. Now I have this gorgeous piece of work with a really neat story behind it.
Come to think of it, quilting is the perfect skill to use in a study like that. It involves math, color, texture, design, and manual dexterity. If anything is going to get the brain firing, it's quilting!
I enjoyed getting to know this man and hearing his story. And it felt good to support him as he does something he truly enjoys!
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