LOVING FORWARD by GIVING BACK!
YOU HAVE NOT LIVED UNTIL YOU HAVE DONE SOMETHING FOR SOMEONE WHO CAN NEVER REPAY YOU ~ JOHN BUNYAN
The chorus from one of my favorite songs by the group Commissioned goes as follows:
Love isn’t love
Till you’ve given it away
It’s just waiting to be given
All bitterness erased
By this man
Know that you’re Christ’s disciples
Nothing else can take love’s place
Love isn’t love
Till you’ve given it away
When Charles and I started Love Drops Podcast we decided that we would use our podcasting platform for more than just podcasting. We decided to give love drops in the form of kind acts, gifts, and gift cards. Our Year-End Outreaches began in 2021 as we celebrated our first year and continues to date. We invite you to go check out our Share Love Page for more details! As we are now diving into our 2023 Love Drops Podcast Year-End Outreach, Cookie Washington “Cookie Sews Quilts” and Patricia McLean “Tomorrow Girls” have each donated a gift towards supporting our fundraiser to expand the podcast and our outreaches. There will be two giveaways a gift will be awarded to a lucky donor selected for each drawing.
Our first giveaway will be on November 27th, 2023! The donor selected will receive (5) Mini Quilts by Cookie Washington. These quilts are available for purchase at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. and Charleston S.C.
How Amari-Zuri Cameo Mini Quilts Came to Be
Here’s what Cookie had to say about the inspiration behind her mini quilts: In 1967, my beloved Nola (New Orleans Louisiana) grandma, Olivia, showed me a small shadow box, containing a marvelous cameo pin with a beautiful lady on it, she was pinned to a handkerchief that had been intricately hand embroidered. Granddaddy brought it for her at the end of his service in WW1, and my Poppie, her only son, brought her the handkerchief back from the Korean conflict. She treasured this shadow box.
Visiting in summers, I would beg her to let me hold the box and hear her stories again. Sitting in a high back chair, Grandmother would place a tea towel on my lap and allow me to hold the box. I would hold the Shadowbox and dream of how my life would be. Grandmother said the Cameo Box was magic and would guide me to good dreams.
When I married, Grandma Olivia gave me the cameo shadowbox. It was my most cherished gift. Two weeks later, it became even more dear, as she joined the Ancestors when I was on my honeymoon. She told no one that she had cancer. My Grandmother had never flown on a plane until my wedding. The Cameo Shadowbox had always encouraged me to dream big dreams. It was for me, a talisman. Sadly, during hurricane Hugo the roof of my home collapsed, and the shadowbox was destroyed, I searched for days to no avail I never found the cameo. So, it is in her memory I have created these Cameo Dream Quilts.
AMARI-ZURI DREAM QUILT
Each petite quilt is handmade in rural South Carolina by artisan and master quilter Cookie Washington. Made of 100% cotton African and/or Afrocentric Fabrics and batting, earth-based embellishments with a unique African Queen Cameo resting regally in its center. Let Cookie intuitively selects an Amari-Zuri Dream quilt especially for You.
She is Black Eve, Mother Sophia, Yemaya, the Dark Goddess of All Creation. She sprang from the soil of Africa. She is the mother of nations, a healer of the mind, body, and spirit. She has raised kings, ruled nations, fought to protect her people, and died in the process only to be reborn through the praise song and the griot’s tale. Her existence and beauty have been celebrated and elevated by the hands of artists the world over. She has lighted our way and passed down the truth. Even when stolen from her homeland, the spirit of Africa traveled within her body and soul. This Queen has never forgotten her home, for she and Africa are one.
All donations received by Nov 26th will automatically enter you into the drawing for the mini quilts.
Listen to our special podcast episode below for complete details! There is no “Us” without “U”
Amari-Zuri Cameo Mini Quilt
Each petite quilt is handmade in rural South Carolina by artisan and master quilter Cookie Washington. All five mini quilts are pictured on our Share the Love page! One lucky donor will be drawn November 27th and will be awarded all five mini quilts.
THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR DONATION AND FOR SPREADING THE WORD!