Carol Helmuth Honderich ('68) and
Wendy Yoder Nice ('97)

Though quilting is not inherently a faith practice, Bethany alumni Carol Helmuth Honderich (’68) and Wendy Yoder Nice (’97) have found that it can be, and their passion for quilting and faith recently brought them together as teacher and student at a Menno-Hof quilting class.

Wendy Yoder Nice (front) with her mother Ruthie Yoder (left) and Carol Helmuth Honderich.The class grew out of Carol’s consulting with Menno-Hof, an Anabaptist-Mennonite interpretation center in Shipshewana, Ind., to identify a traditional quilt design that relates to Anabaptist faith and that would work well for its annual quilt garden. This year Menno-Hof also asked Carol to teach a class on how to create a wall hanging using this year’s selected design: Anabaptist Cross. Carol, who enjoys finding ways to build community and share stories of faith around quilt activities, added those aspects to the class as well, as participants ate an Amish meal, listened to stories of early Anabaptist women, and shared their own personal stories of growing up in Anabaptist homes and communities, while working on creating their own wall hanging.

This combining of faith and community centered around quilting is what attracted Wendy to attend the class. Wendy, who learned to quilt from her grandmother, Maggie Yoder, and attended the Menno-Hof class with her mother, Ruthie Yoder, says, “I love that quilting is an activity that so many generations of women before me have participated in. I enjoy meeting quilters of all ages and loved the idea of working with other women on a piece at Menno-Hof—and after seeing Carol’s work in other places, I wanted to work with her.”

For Carol quilting and her faith in God have been important to her for many years. Carol, who serves as event facilitator for Mennonite Church USA, began connecting the two more intentionally when she asked God to use her gifts for his purposes. One of her favorite scripture verses is Psalm 90:17, which asks God to “bless the work of my hands.” She says, “when you pray that prayer, you need to be ready to respond, because God will provide many opportunities.”

Her web-based quilt pattern store, patternsoffaith.com, grew out of her creating a Women of the Bible quilt—52 blocks that each connect to the story of a woman in the Bible—as a legacy for her children and grandchildren. What Carol didn’t envision was the quilt would lead to a ministry in her lifetime that has connected with women across the United States and taken her to Mongolia.

After the Women of the Bible quilt was finished, some of her quilting friends asked her to start an online group in which they could make the quilt together and study the Bible women represented. She says, “At first I resisted, until I realized that this was actually an answer to my prayer.” Carol imagined a group of 10-12 quilters whom she knew, but God had a different plan. She has offered the study nine or ten times—sometimes leading two groups at once—and currently has 850 participants. She says, “I don’t personally know 850 women, but God does.”

Carol’s online quilting/Bible study projects have grown to include other series such as “Quilting the Psalms” and “Praying the Name of Jesus.” And in December she will be leading a spiritual/quilting retreat on abundance at Amigo Centre (Sturgis, Mich.). The quilt projects and retreats challenge these women as quilters and studying the Bible from the perspectives of biblical women provides new faith insights. Carol says, “Each woman in the Bible has an amazing life-changing encounter with God. We can see God’s care, protection, and guidance in these stories, and realize that God still provides for us today in the same ways.”

Wendy’s interest in quilting began about 12 years ago, when Grandma Maggie made a quilt for Wendy, as she did for each of her granddaughters. Wendy picked out the design for her quilt and helped her grandmother with the quilting. She got hooked and soon started her own projects: making aprons, bags, stockings, pillowcases, and blankets, and personalizing them with an embroidery machine. A recent project has been making L’il Bruin tee-shirts for infants of Bethany alumni. She also has dabbled in knitting, wool-spinning, and made a couple of rugs, but quilting is what she enjoys most. “There’s something about 100% cotton, carefully selected and handcrafted that I just love. I can’t really explain it,” she says.

Wendy with her son Orion and the Anabaptist Cross wallhanging that she pieced.Wendy, a stay at home mother and sign language interpreter, regularly participates in quilting projects with the Mennonite Women group at Pleasant View Mennonite Church. In addition to the joy of fellowship she finds there, she values sharing her gifts with others—quilts and other needlework the group makes are donated to church organizations like the Mennonite Relief Sale, which raises funds for service and mission work. And she practices that same spirit of giving with her personal projects. “I like giving away the things I make. Over the years, I’ve been the recipient of some wonderful quilts—and they are among my most cherished possessions.”

She believes her creativity and passion for quilting is God-given and often feels most at peace when working on a project. “Imitating our Creator God by working with my hands is something that resonates with me. At times I can’t sleep because I’m thinking of a new project. That kind of enthusiasm must have been created in me,” she says.