FDNY Memorial Quilt

My name is Peggy Hessling, and I live in Washington, Illinois, a town of 13,000, located about 3 hours south of Chicago. Like all of you, I remember what I was doing on September 11, 2001... I was canning tomatoes. It is a date that none of us will ever forget. In the days that followed, we all heard countless reports of the bravery shown that day by the hundreds of firefighters who responded to and fought to save so many. I listened intently and with great interest to those stories because our only son, Joe, is a firefighter in Naples, Florida.

A few weeks later, while Joe was at work, a lady walked into his station with information about a project she was trying to launch. She was searching for people who could create a quilt that would preserve and honor the memory of all the victims of 9-11. That lady was Jeannie Arnemann. She is the founder of America's 9-11 Memorial Quilts.

Knowing that I am a certified quilt instructor and the former owner of a quilt shop, it didn't take long for our son to think I might be interested in Jeannie's project. He contacted me and sent the information Jeannie had
left with him. I thought about it for a couple of weeks and then decided that not only was this something I COULD help with, it was something I SHOULD help with. So, I called Jeannie and asked her what I could do. After learning that her son is also a firefighter, I assumed she would want to take on the Firefighter's quilt herself until she quickly assured me that she was "not a quilter, but an organizer." And so it was decided that I would take on the project and head up the Firefighter's Quilt.

Continued...

(The rest of this story can be found in your issue of The Quilting Quarterly. Not an NQA member? Click here!)