When a child comes into the world, it seems that the possibilities are unending as to who they might be. We wonder, “Will they be another famous baseball player, a doctor, or maybe even the president?”

However many questions we ponder, we never usually ask moms, “How far will your child go in life?” It doesn’t even cross our minds. But for a child with special needs, that question is often asked. I heard that question many times, yet it never offended me. I simply replied, “How far will Emily go? As far as God wants to take her.”

It has always been the prayer of my husband and I that God would glorify Himself through Emily and through us as we raise her. So as we approached the near end of Emily’s “teens”, we brainstormed as to how to help her with her future. One night it came.

I was sewing for a ob/gyn office when I needed a creative outlet. I took the scraps of the fabric I was using and quickly sewed a small baby quilt. I hoped to give it to the first baby born at the office’s new location. When I was finished, I realized it had a flaw in it.

As I contemplated that “flaw” (which is known in the quilting community as a “humility square”), the creative juices began to flow.

“Hmm, I wonder if I could teach Emily how to sew? I wonder if we could make quilts with an intentional ‘humility square’ to represent the extra chromosome with which God blessed Emily? Oh! We could bless others who have special needs babies! We could encourage them that the ‘something different’ square would not affect the warmth and comfort their quilt would bring, likewise their baby would bring warmth, comfort and joy, even if all the squares weren’t symmetrical. We could tell them that the ‘Comforter’ is ready and waiting to help them through this revelation of and the raising of a special needs child. Oh! We could offer quilts to any baby, special needs or not!”

And thus, “Masterpiece Quilts” was born.