In 2019, the Rutherford Source shared the story of Barbara Belle. Then, she had just completed 500 quilts, which she gave away to those needing to be wrapped in their own special warmth and love. It was a mission she began to heal from the loss of her husband.
“If it wasn’t for the quilt ministry,” Bell told the Source in 2019, “the grieving process after my husband’s death would have been much longer. It gives me a reason to get up and make something for someone who is worse off than I am. If I can’t sleep, I get up and sew.”
In 2024, Bell completed quilt number 800, according to a story shared by Adams Place Independent Living, where she lives, in VIP Magazine.
Completely self-taught, Bell started quilting when she decided she wanted to make some quilts for her grandchildren, and then her great grandchildren. Her creations are intricate pieces of art often telling stories or with hidden elements.
“I like to make ‘I Spy’ quilts for the kids,” said Bell. “Each of the quilts has a little game attached to it where the new owner has to look for certain things pictured in the quilt. I figure kids that have gone through [hard times] would enjoy them.”
Her quilts have been donated to cancer wards, children’s hospitals, and preemie units, including currently to Tennessee Oncology and the Domestic Violence Center. She has also made quilted bags, cushions, pillows, aprons and other useful things.
After moving to Murfreesboro from Columbus, Georgia in 2017 to be closer to her family, Bell joined First United Methodist Church. She became friendly with a number of fellow parishioners and she asked them if they would like to help her in her quilt ministry. Now there is a group who help her make the quilts, meeting every Friday. They help with cutting, placing, pinning, and sewing the small pieces for her intricate quilt designs from fabric and supplies that have often been donated.
While Bell gets significant help, much of the work she does herself. She works on the quilts every day in her quilting room. There she has everything neatly organized into color coordinated bins, and her programmable sewing machine can frequently be heard humming along. Here she also teaches those helping her the process she taught herself after reading many books and viewing videos she got from the library.
“We talk and have lots of fun,” said Bell. “You don’t have to be able to sew to join our group. There are lots of non-sewing tasks to get the quilts done. Each of these quilts that I give away takes a minimum of forty hours.”
That is nothing compared to the hours she has put into some of the quilts she made for her grandchildren. Some of them have taken her as much as 300 hours.
Bell has no plans to quit, her goal is to keep going as long as she can. Quilting gives her purpose, and it has brought her lots of friends.
Always looking for new members to join her quilting mission, she can be reached at (615) 617-0342.
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