Every week, friends DaRonda Robinson, Bonnie Connelly, Joyce McDonald and Ruther Anderson meet in the basement of Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church to sew, chat and leave life outside the door for awhile.
“Each of us felt we needed to get out of the house, away from housework, for a few hours a week,” said Robinson.
She and Connelly started the group by planning to sew together at each other’s homes, but then decided to invite Anderson and McDonald to join them.
“We decided to meet at the church, and you should see it when we’re here on Wednesday…It’s a happy mess,” Robinson said.
Everyone described quilting as fun and addictive.
“It’s relaxing for me,” McDonald explained, though she added she has to take breaks from time to time or little mistakes frustrate her.
Club members learned to sew as children from their mothers, grandmothers and school teachers. Anderson began at age 10, and as an adult she supplemented her family’s income with her skills.
“I sewed when I was married because it was my extra money for groceries,” she recalled.
Nowadays quilting is less of a side hustle and more of a passion project — the club explained they never sells their quilts because it would be impossible to recoup costs. Robinson remembers buying cotton fabric for $0.59 per yard in decades past, and now quality fabric costs around $12 per yard.
“It’s a nice hobby, it’s a fun hobby, but it’s an expensive hobby,” she said. Instead, everyone shares their quilts with family and friends.
They are also putting their skills to work for Pleasant Hill’s youth. For the Black History Month exhibit at the church, the Wednesday Therapy Club made quilt blocks in patterns used as codes along the Underground Railroad. They plan to raffle the finished quilt to benefit the Semo Baptist Christian Camp. Next year, circumstances allowing, they hope to teach campers how to quilt and sew themselves.
“We really want to spark the interest in quilting…because it seems like quilting is becoming a lost art,” Robinson said.
The creativity and friendship of the Wednesday Therapy Quilt Club raises everyone’s spirits and gets them through hard times, members said, hence the name. Robinson herself was grieving personal losses when they started meeting. The chance to leave her troubles at the door and share a passion with her friends was invaluable.
“This is a great little sisterhood we have here,” she said. “We love each other, and they love me.”
They welcome others to join the circle as well. Connelly said though they all attend Pleasant Hill, “...we would welcome people who aren’t members to join us.”
The club meets in the church basement from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. every Wednesday. Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church is located at 913 Garfield St. in Poplar Bluff.