I’d like to introduce you to Louise (Wease) Rhodenbaugh. I first met Louise and her husband, Joe, when they came into the interior design studio that I once co-owned. We hit it off immediately, and for many years I was their designer until I left the industry to write a novel. During the time I was writing, Louise and I stayed in contact, sharing occasional stories, jokes, and photographs of our lives. Just recently I learned something about Louise that touched me deeply—so much so that I wanted to feature her here.

Thank you, Wease, for agreeing to tell your story. And bless you for the wonderful work you’re doing and the many lives you touch.  As the heading for this post goes … Brava, darling!

Wease’s story in her own words …

It all started with a phone call from a longtime friend, Heather.  She knew that I enjoyed sewing the Halloween costumes for the kids when they were little and that I had made drapes for my house.  We had recently been lamenting the fact that we no longer saw as much of each other, now that our kids were in college.  “Would you be interested in joining a group I’m starting to make quilts for a charity?” she asked. I didn’t even inquire who the quilts were for—it was more about having the girl-time I was missing.

When I went to the first meeting, Heather shared with us (there are 9 women in our group) that the quilts would be given to women who were being rehabilitated out of prostitution. The program called “Off the Streets” was started by Cincinnati Bethel Union, the oldest social service agency west of the Alleghenies. Active since 1830, the program serves many women, including some who are referred by the very police who arrest them.  “Off the Streets” staff members try to find women who are stuck in an unhealthy lifestyle but are ready to take back their lives. The women are housed at the Anna Louise Inn in downtown Cincinnati. They receive counseling, get drug issues resolved and get healthy. They also receive job training that they can take out into the real world. There are many agencies that work together to help the women, and they try to provide a safety-net going forward that allows the women the very best chance for success.

I joined this group of friends who provide the quilts to the women at their “graduation” from the program—mostly as a comfort item as they emerge into a world that has not always been kind to them.  While working on a quilt, I spend a lot of the time being grateful for the blessings in my life, and I pray for the woman who will receive the quilt. When I was working on my first one, I started thinking that this might be the only thing this woman has ever received as a gift—perhaps the only thing she has ever owned that is brand new and just for her.  It’s very sad to contemplate that fact, but I’m so lucky to have the time and resources to be able to work with the quilting group.

We named ourselves the “Quilting Queens” and we even had tags made to sew onto each quilt (you know, like the “Handmade by Grandma” tags everyone’s grandmother seemed to have when we were growing up).  Before I made my first quilt, I helped out by cutting fabric and ironing seams flat on quilts in progress. We put a quilt together from start to finish, which included a lesson in how to balance the pattern. It was all the best of sharing a skill, a process that is lost to many women in this day and age.  We learned how to take individual blocks of fabric and build a quilt, step by step.  I left feeling confident that I could do a quilt on my own.

For my first quilt I went out and purchased all the fabric, basing it on my favorite colors, hot pink and kelly green. The one I just finished is, believe it or not, made out of two matching Waverly fabric sample books. I loved the plaids and it turned out very cheerful. It will certainly brighten up a bedroom! Many of the quilts have been constructed from used fabrics left over from clothing made for our children or even handed down from our mothers. About 30 hours of work go into each quilt. The hardest part, for me, is matching up the layers (top, bottom, and batting).  They always refuse to cooperate. Thank goodness my husband Joe and my son David are good sports about helping me block out the layers. Most of the work is done on the sewing machine, but each intersection of blocks is hand tacked to keep the layers from shifting. The tag is hand sewn, and the year is embroidered onto the back above the tag. Heather keeps a photo album of each quilt that is given away and we name them.

The Quilting Queens have also given quilts to other worthy causes, such as Good Samaritan Children’s ICU, Ronald McDonald House, Project Linus, First Step Home, and Meals on Wheels.

As I get older and see more of life, I realize that I personally don’t have much power to change the world. However, I’m convinced that each act of kindness, no matter how small, can positively impact someone else’s life. I find personal satisfaction in giving of myself.  My guiding quote is from the Bible, Matthew 25:40  “Whatsoever you do for the least of my brothers, that you do unto me.”

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