Batik's, A Blessing & A Quilt...

The Mary Jo's Cloth Blog community is a wonderful and passionate group of people. These folks love their fabric and the art and process of creating amazing projects from their Mary Jo's Cloth. We receive notes, emails and letters from all over the world. People like sharing their experiences at Mary Jo's Cloth Store and what they have been doing with their fabric. Recently we received a poignant story from a gal who lives in South Carolina. She has an extreme passion for Batik cloth. She and her husband have been through alot in the past several years. I am posting her story, unedited.
Sonja, we love your newest quilt made from that very special Batik fabric. We wish you and your family all the kindness the world has to offer. You deserve it. Be well.
Sonja's Story...
January 12, 2009
Dear MaryJo-
Back in 2003 my husband was diagnosed with an incurable, inoperable cancer. It was a rare form of cancer in the soft tissue of the back. After his 6 mos. of treatments and on March 16th, 2004 we left our home for a weekend anniversary trip to NC. We stopped in at your store and that day he bought me over 600.00 in Batiks alone. That weekend he and I stayed in Hendersonville, NC and we both sewed together on our sewing machines. I can remember like this was yesterday, laying all those beautiful batiks on the
bed and photographing them. Well, that was back in 2004 and now in 2009 those Batiks still sat on my shelf. I was always told I would have to learn how to use Batiks before I could really make something with them. They were so pretty, so I just couldn't bare to cut into them without the knowledge of how to use them, right?
Several times in 2009 I prayed, "G-d please.. if something ever happens to my home, please don't let these Batiks burn up. If they were to burn L-rd, owning them would have been in vain, when I could have just given them away". I prayed that again just before Thanksgiving, not knowing my house would catch fire the day after. But the very same night of the fire, although smoke damaged throughout and family coughing, they helped me to load all my fabrics into boxes and get them out the house. I lost most of my thread and alot of the fabrics had to be washed, but those Batiks.... well they never had a hint of smoke in them. I had them wrapped tightly in bags and stored on those shelves tightly. I felt so blessed and so humbled that G-d allowed me to keep them.

We are basically homeless for now until our lawyer can sue the insurance company to get our home fixed so we can live in it again. (Long Story) We live in my parents home and at the foot of my bed in the room they gave us to sleep in, is a table setup and my sewing machine. I started the Mystery Quilt from Planet Patchwork on New Years Day. I am in the process of expanding the quilt to about a King Size quilt so it's not finished yet. I used the Batiks I bought in your store in 2004 and we called this quilt "FireStorm" for all the trials we faced in 2009 and how G-d continues to bless us and is faithful no matter what the circumstances are. I am happy I found a way to use the Batiks and have had alot of compliments on this top. I will enclose the picture. And by the way.... G-d healed my husband in 2004 and he is still cancer free after all these years.

Thanks for a wonderful store. I love your prices on your Batiks and I hope to be in there really soon to replenish what I've used.
Blessings,
Sonja Noskowiak
South Carolina
Editors note: Sonja finished the Batik Quilt and we are bowled over by its beauty. Sonja, stay upbeat, loving, kind and accepting. Thanks and be well.
Do you have a story to share? We would love to know what fine things you are creating with Mary Jo's Cloth. Send us an email today. Take a moment and check out the sale page, lots of new items are on sale. Save big and create with reckless abandon!