The Healing Quilt Read Online Free PDF

to quit chemo and live out the rest of his life trying natural alternative treatments that would hopefully strengthen his immune system. He knew taking supplements and eating right probably wouldn’t cure his illness, but they might make him feel better and possibly give him a little more time on earth. Even if they didn’t, it was his body and his life, and he planned to die
his
way, without family members or doctors telling him what to do.
    “These are really good cookies. What do you call them?” Kim asked, bumping B.J.’s arm as she reached for another one from the plate in the center of the table. “Oops! Sorry about that.”
    “It’s okay. No harm done,” he replied.
    “They’re raisin molasses,” Emma said, pushing a stray piece of gray hair back under her head covering. “They were my favorite cookies when I was a girl, and my mother taught me to make them as soon as I was old enough to learn how to cook.”
    “Well, they get my vote,” B.J. said, licking his lips. “Haven’t had cookies this good since my wife died five years ago.”
    “So you’re a widower?” Noreen’s question sounded more like a statement. Then she quickly added, “Isn’t that a coincidence? I lost my husband five years ago, too.”
    “Sorry for your loss,” B.J. mumbled around another cookie.
    “What did your wife die from?” Jennifer asked.
    B.J. clenched his fingers. He didn’t want to talk about this, especially with people he’d only met. “She had a heart attack a few days after her fifty-fifth birthday.”
    “My husband, Ben, died on the operating table,” Noreen said, dropping her gaze to the table. “He, too, had a heart attack, but the doctors couldn’t save him.”
    Feeling the need for a change of subject, and realizing that all eyes and ears seemed to be focused on him, B.J. looked at Lamar and said, “Would you mind if I stayed a few minutes after class and photographed some of your quilts?”
    “The Amish don’t like people to take their picture,” Erika spoke up, glaring at B.J. as though he had said something horrible.
    “I wouldn’t be taking their picture,” B.J. countered. “Only the quilts.”
    “I have no problem with that,” Lamar said. “And just to be clear, here in Pinecraft some Amish, especially the younger ones who haven’t joined the church, don’t seem to mind if someone snaps their picture, although most won’t actually pose for a photo.”
    Erika folded her arms. “Well, I think it’s rude to take pictures of people who are different than you.”
    “We’re not really so different,” Emma spoke up. “We just dress modestly and live a different lifestyle than some people.” She motioned to her plain green dress.
    B.J. wondered if Erika’s remark had more to do with herself than Emma or Lamar. He had a feeling the young woman felt self-conscious about being in that wheelchair. He was tempted to ask how she’d lost the use of her legs but thought better of it. Just as he didn’t want to talk about his cancer or his wife’s death, Erika might not like talking about her disability.
    “If everyone has finished their refreshments, I think we should get back to our quilting lesson,” Emma said. “I’ll demonstrate how to use a template, and you can begin by marking the design on your pieces of fabric, using dressmaker’s chalk or a pencil. When that’s done, you’ll need to cut out your patterns.”
    “What will we do after that?” Phyllis questioned.
    “In the next step, called piecing, you will stitch the patterned pieces together onto the quilt top, which will also need to be cut,” Emma explained. “Now, the quilt top is usually pieced by machine. Then later, the backing, batting, and quilt top will be layered, put into a frame, and quilted by hand. Of course, we won’t do all that in one day. It will be spread out over the course of six weeks.”
    “Now using the templates,” Emma continued, “I’d like you to begin marking the patterned pieces