“They made us feel like family, and they were right there for anything that we needed,” daughter Emily Jones Hudson said. “Our mom was at home with hospice for a couple of days before she moved to the Greg and Noreen Wells Bluegrass Hospice Care Center. Our whole family was able to visit, and that was such a gift.”

The nurses, staff, and volunteers created an atmosphere of comfort and safety not just for their mother, but for the whole family. When the Care Center staff learned Delores loved quilting, they gave her family a quilt from a previous donor. Moved by the care their family received, the Jones family wanted to give back and donated one of their mother's quilts, now displayed at the Care Center.

But they didn’t stop there. Emily and Sandra began a quilting workshop as part of the Southeast Kentucky African American Museum and Cultural Center that Emily had founded in 2020 to explore African American culture in Appalachia.

“I grew up watching our mom quilt, probably even more than Emily did,” Sandra said. “Mom had her own sewing and craft room, and she taught me all those little things: how to iron, sew buttons, and always had something for me to do. Making things together was just part of growing up.”

As part of the workshop, the sisters spearheaded a special project to create a quilt for a patient at the Greg and Noreen Wells Bluegrass Hospice Care Center. Workshop participants chose colorful fabrics, arranged blocks in alternating directions, and incorporated a cross into the design. The quilters used a process called tacking to tie knots that hold each piece together.



“We prayed over every knot and over the quilt as a whole,” Sandra said. “We made the quilt in such a way so that visitors can tie additional knots and say a prayer for their loved one when they do so. We hope that the quilt becomes a living symbol of comfort.”

Through the quilting workshop, Emily and Sandra brought the community together to transform hardship into hope and explore the thread of family, cultural heritage and heartfelt generosity.  

“It's our desire to capture the stories behind the quilts and create something that benefits others,” Emily said. “Quilting may have originally been created as a necessity to keep the family warm, but they are works of art, and our hope is to donate at least one quilt per year.”

The African-American Museum and Cultural Center in Hazard, Ky., explores the stories, contributions and history of African-Americans in Southeast Kentucky to preserve this history for generations to come.

To learn more about the services that BCN provides, visit bgcarenav.org.