The following information is an excerpt from the Prayers & Squares, International website www.prayerquilt.org .  Links given in this section are to their site. Please visit them for more information, ideas, stories ( http://www.prayerquilt.org/stories.asp) and pictures ( http://www.prayerquilt.org/photopage.asp )

Prayers & Squares is an interfaith outreach ministry that combines the gift of prayer with the gift of a hand-tied quilt. Unlike many other organizations that make quilts for charitable causes, the purpose of Prayers & Squares is not to make and distribute quilts, but to promote prayer through the use of quilts. Our motto is: "It's not about the quilt; it's all about the prayers."

Each Knot Represents a Prayer

The idea behind these prayer quilts is simple. A heavy thread is used to take stitches through the quilt layers, and the ends are left free to be tied with square knot. As each knot is tied, a silent prayer is said for someone in special need, who then receives the finished quilt.

Through Prayers & Squares many quilts have been distributed, each a special gift of love. They have been made for sick babies, for cancer and AIDS patients, for adults and children facing surgery or personal crisis; for many reasons, but each for someone in special need of prayer.

The Ministry now consists of many individual chapters around the world. Each chapter has agreed to follow three basic rules, which we refer to as the "Three Commandments of Prayers & Squares".

"Three Commandments" of Prayers & Squares:

1. Remember the Prayers & Squares motto: “It’s not about the quilt, it’s all about the prayers.”
   The purpose of your ministry must be to promote an active prayer life among the participants, not just to make and give away quilts. Strive to involve as many people as possible in your prayer efforts.
   
2. You must ASK before you give the gift of a prayer quilt; surprises are not appropriate. Ask if the person to receive the quilt will accept your gift of prayer. Ask what they would like you to pray for. Ask what information about their situation may be shared with others.
   
3. Do not accept any form of payment for a prayer quilt; it is a gift of love and prayer which cannot be bought or sold. Those who request or receive prayer quilts must not be made to feel obligated to Prayers & Squares in any way.

The Ministry began in 1992 at Hope United Methodist Church in Rancho Bernardo, California. The history of Prayers & Squares includes the touching story about the first prayer quilt, made for 2-year-old Kody. ( http://www.prayerquilt.org/about_us.asp )

All About Quilts

Wondering how to make a prayer quilt?  Here are just a few patterns to get you started. The patterns here will make a lap sized quilt about 45" to 50" wide and 55" to 60 " long. Why this size? We have found the ideal prayer quilt is big enough to cover up with, but not so long it will get caught under a wheelchair or a hospital bed rail. It is small enough to transport easily, but big enough to hold all those "knots of prayer" and to snuggle under.

(Prayers & Squares members can access more patterns in the members only section.)

• Rail Fence  This is a great beginner pattern. http://www.prayerquilt.org/infopages/RailFence.pdf
• Mystery Nine Patch  This uses scrap strips; lots of fun. http://www.prayerquilt.org/infopages/MysteryNine.pdf
• Four Patch in a Square  This one uses only fat quarters. http://www.prayerquilt.org/infopages/Four_Patch_Square.pdf
• Cross on the Back  The back of the quilt can feature a cross. http://www.prayerquilt.org/infopages/crossbck.pdf
• Prayer Square Pattern for 14" mini-quilt. http://www.prayerquilt.org/infopages/prayer_squares.pdf
• Baptismal Square  Prayer squares used for baptisms. http://www.prayerquilt.org/infopages/baptismalSquares.pdf
• Military Prayer Squares  Especially for our armed forces. http://www.prayerquilt.org/downloads/Military_Prayer_Square.pdf
• Pocket Prayer Quilts  3" squares for pocket or purse. http://www.prayerquilt.org/downloads/Pocket_Prayer.pdf
• Prayer Pillow Covers  Make your prayer square into a pillow. http://www.prayerquilt.org/downloads/Prayer_Pillow.pdf
  

Before You Join

 If Prayers & Squares sounds like something you're interested in, there are several things you'll probably want do next. Go to the "What's New" page and click on the links to read stories and see photos from our chapter members and to get our latest newsletter.

A good source of more information about Prayers & Squares is our FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) http://www.prayerquilt.org/faqpage.asp. This page that addresses some of the practical aspects of starting the ministry.

This beautiful prayer was written by Louise Lucas from Chapter 78 (Point Loma Community Presbyterian Church, San Diego). Thanks, Louise, for inspiring us at the conference and for sharing your prayer with us.

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Let us pray.

Lord, we are humbled by our riches.

We thank you for the gift of the Prayer Quilt Ministry; for those who conceived it and those who saw its worth; for those who continue to support it and those who will join it in your time.

We thank you for the quiltmakers, for the prayer teams, for the donors, and for the staff and clergy of our churches.

Thank you for the technology that allows us to communicate with each other and to travel safely to this gathering.

Thank you for this place that could receive us and hold us. Thank you for the many hands and hearts working to feed us, teach us, and inspire us.

Those of us who make quilts thank you for the forbearance of our families; for the children who make do without our attention and the spouses who chip in with other chores.

Thank you, God, for cotton in all its sturdy softness. Thank you for batting, for thread, for embroidery floss, and for making these materials plentiful for us.

Thank you for color and the emotion it conveys, from cooling blues to warming yellows to passionate reds.

Thank you for the abilities you give us so that we can imagine and design, and arrange and rearrange these bits of color; so that we can stitch them together into outward and visible signs of your grace, and tie into them our petitions and prayers.

Lord, thank you for the loving people who request our quilts. They see a need and meet it. They follow through for loved ones and—often—strangers. They are the ones who get our quilts into the hands of those who need them.

Most of all, we thank you for the recipients who open themselves up and let us into their lives. By letting us help in our small way, they increase our understanding of your marvelous ways. We remember those recipients who have gone on to your glory, especially those for whom the quilts may not have arrived on time, although the prayers always did.

Finally, God, we remember and lift up to you our brothers and sisters throughout the world who do not have quilts for warmth and comfort. We pray that they will know your loving kindness in other ways.

All this we pray in the name of our treasured redeemer, Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Our first meeting, May 15, 2007

Tying the knots on the first quilt, for Ray and Julie Vasinda's great-grandson, Olin.

Each knot is a prayer.

Checking out the fabric stash and some finished quilt tops.

Members of the Seton Singles Over Forty gathered to tie knots and pray for a member, and then presented her with the quilt they had finished.