Amazing Grace Community Quilt

The Amazing Amazing Grace Community Quilt is now complete! 

Congratulations to the whole team 

Members of the United Reformed Church, Olney are leading a community-based project to create a quilt for the 250th Anniversary of the writing of the hymn. The design reflects an original quilt from the 1770s, using a similar colour scheme and picking out the English paper pieced hexagons in the design of “grandmother’s garden”. Central to the design is the first verse of ‘Amazing Grace’, written in the original font style.

Over 100 people received fabric, paper hexagons & thread to work on at home, and the completed patterns were returned ready to be sewn together. In May 2022, a Sit & Sew session brought people together for sewing and lots of chat and laughter when many of the 3,500 hexagons were sewn in to ‘flowers’ over the afternoon. During the June session, many of the plain hexagon flowers were ready to be sewn together into lines – and now the full size of the finished quilt could be visualised.

Once finished the quilt will be available to be displayed in venues around Olney & events around the world. Let’s hope it can travel nearly as far as the hymn itself.

Contact Mrs Janette Hopkins, the chief designer & planner of the quilt at the Cowper Memorial United Reformed Church for more information.

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Our Museum building remains CLOSED.  We are opening our gardens on limited entry.  The Cowper & Newton Museum gardens will be open to welcome you on Wednesday 5th August 10.30 – 12.15 and Saturday 8th August 10.30 – 12.15

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