The Quilts of Serenity

          

There’s an old proverb that says, “One who sleeps under a quilt is comforted by love.” The many quilts at Serenity Hospice and Home were all made with love and bring warmth and comfort to the patients and their families.

“The quilts were one of the first things I noticed when I arrived at Serenity Home,” said Shelly. “They were on quilt racks outside each room’s door. They were all different and made the place feel like home.”

Serenity’s many quilts are stored in a large, handmade cabinet located right in the main lobby area. The cabinet, which is a commissioned piece of handmade furniture, has glass doors so that the quilts are easy to see. The quilt cabinet was made in the memory Serenity patient Diane Engelbrecht.

Serenity Hospice is happy to accept handmade quilts and recently they were blessed with the donation of two special quilts.  The granddaughter of a patient made one and the other was made by the Petunia City Quilters for Serenity’s special bariatric bed.

The first special quilt donation came from twelve-year-old Joy Zeigler, who was very close to her grandmother Anne Johnson. “My grandmother would pick me up from school at Faith Christian every day and I would stay at her house,” said Joy. “We lived next door to my grandparents and at dark I would walk home.”

One time Joy’s parents had thought about moving and her grandmother said she would move too. “I never forgot that,” said Joy, whose grandmother died in Serenity Home. Joy has made many quilts and she recently donated a special one to Serenity in her grandmother’s memory. Joy wrote an inscription on the inside of the quilt that reads, “Thank you for taking care of my grandma.”

The second special quilt donated to Serenity recently was a bariatric, or oversized, quilt made by the Petunia City Quilters from Dixon. The beautiful quilt was made oversized so that it would fit on the bariatric or larger bed, which is made for patients who need more space.

These new additions to Serenity’s quilt collection join a group of beautiful, timeless treasures, which never go out of style and always bring warmth, comfort and the feeling of being surrounded by love to all of Serenity’s patients.