Over 1,000 volunteers offer to stitch quilt a dead woman started at 99

Over 1000 volunteers offered to help a resident of Chicago to stitch together a quilt, which was an unfinished business of a woman who died at the age of 99. Shannon Downey, an artist and craftivist, was at an estate sale last month where she found an unfinished embroidery and quilting project. She found the embroidery project for $5 which was a United States map.

Discovered a massive quilting project

Downey went into the bedroom of Rita, the owner of the house who isn’t alive, and found a box full of fabric.

“There’s no way that soul is resting with an unfinished project left behind,” tweeted Downey.

When she opened it up, she discovered that it was a massive quilting project that had just begun. Downey said that every bit of the project was mapped out and kept in a plastic tub. She bought everything for $6 and after a little research, she found out that Rita had started the massive project at the age of 99.

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Hundreds of strangers volunteered

Downey asked her Instagram followers to volunteer for the project and surprisingly got offers from more than 1000 people. She made a massive spreadsheet, collected mailing addresses and started preparing the squares to ship out to the team when she discovered that Rita had already stitched two of the states.

“What a grand surprise. I’m not saying I cried but I’m not saying I didn’t,” said Downey. 

Some of the volunteers, while waiting for the shipment to arrive, did some research on Rita and found out that she was a Canadian immigrant and a nurse by profession. They also found out her school yearbook photograph.

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Using the completed map to mirror stitching techniques

The stitchers have started receiving their packages and they are “furiously stitching their hexies”, said Downey. “We are using the completed map that I bought (that we can reasonably assume was made by Rita) to try to mirror her stitching techniques and style!” she added. Downey said that over 30 quilters from Chicago are lined up to handle the quilting phase once the hand-stitched hexagons are back. “Humans are amazing. Community can be built anywhere,” wrote Downey.

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