What is a HUG

Stolen from the archives by Miz Sairy:
What's a HUG?

I've been on long enough, folks (although NOT since the earth cooled, as
some might think :-) ) to jump in here. Until recently, I thought I'd
received the very first HUG-quilt (which is indeed ENORMOUS, and
breathtakingly beautiful, and the source of a number of really close
friendships). I wasn't, turns out. I was the recipient of the first
quilt CALLED a "HUG", and the name stuck, somehow (well, it FITS!).

Magic Mike received the first quilt of the genre, and that's fitting,
too. Mike has been under the weather of late (noticed the question
about how he and Dave are doing tonight), but he's one of the true
GIVE-ers or the Universe. And it's a lovely thing, that Mike received
the first HUG-quilt.

Now. Although HUG-quilts are USUALLY because someone's having a hard
time of it, one way or another (and each HUG is different, and for
different reasons) (and after all, that's when HUGs are perhaps most
important), there have been some just-for-fun ones, too.

And as I recall, first came Magic Mike's HUG (not called that, but the
same principle) -- folks got together and made blocks (more often than
not, we sorta do this "behind people's backs"), and gave Mike a quilt --
in his case (I don't think he was ill, then, but I'd not got here,
then), mostly to show just how much he was loved and appreciated.

Mine was next.

And then, one of our favorite people, Ruth Evans (others will have the
links to this one -- I'm not the link-meister), who was one of
everyone's favorites (and one of the really quiet ones -- she mostly
hosted swaps, and didn't join in on the ng banter, although many, many
of us corresponded with her, privately) posted that she had cancer.
And we got together and made blocks for a HUG-quilt for Ruth,
for her to take to chemo with her, and the like. This one wasn't a
secret. We ASKED what colors she liked (hunter green, burgundy, and
navy). And so many blocks poured in that there were simply too many for
one quilt. The "Atlanta Bunch" (where the heck have Jean and Cher and
the rest of that bunch been, lately, come to think of it?) assembled the
blocks, into just a beautiful, beautiful quilt top.
BUT. Before we even reached the deadline for submitting the
blocks,Ruth Evans died. She was terribly young. She was a teacher, and
she was a delight.
We finished the quilt (Ruth's Quilt I (RQI)which has been given
to her family), and finished the second quilt (RQ2), which we raffled on
this newsgroup, and made over $3500 to donate to the charity Ruth barely
had time to designate before she died (proceeds from RQ2 go to teachers
for advanced education in Caldwell, Idaho).

Since then, there have been many HUGs. Some are complete quilts. Some
are blocks for quilts. Some are very public (the James Byrd
Reconciliation Quilt was one of those, as was the Columbine Quilt; both
have links you can find). Some are very private.

And so. What is a HUG?

A HUG is bits of fabric put together with love and understanding -- and
sometimes, a serious case of stitching-out-the-pain, for some of us who
cannot BE there to administer the real, personal HUGs. A HUG is one way
(sometimes the only way we have, in this chunk of cyber-space, this big
quilting bee many of us have depended on in ways we can never fully
explain) to put our arms around someone (and each other); to reach out
and say "I wish I could be there with/for you, in person, but I can't,
and this will just have to do, at least for now."
A HUG wraps the absolute Caring that goes on in this newsgroup
into a tangible package for someone to touch, and feel, and cuddle down
into when times are tough. Sometimes, a HUG is all we have, when words
aren't enough.
Now, don't think for an instant that HUGs are ALL sadness and
tragedy. Not by a long shot, they aren't. There's almost always a lot
of LAUGHTER stitched into each HUG, and a lot of shared good-times.
Lots of puns get worked into many of the HUG-blocks, and lots of the
things we've just LEARNED about each other, from time to time. Lots of
rainbows and butterfly wings and sunshine and flowers and just
downright-silly-giggles, too.
There is an astonishing amount of POWER in a HUG, folks.
Lightning and thunder and some really sharp edges and planes. Anger,
sometimes, in a HUG. A good, clean kind of anger.
A HUG is for Friendship and Family. A HUG helps with fear and
pain. A HUG is for Laughter and good times and spinning around the room
in a happy-dance.
A HUG is all the things quilters do, for all the reasons they do
the things they do. But because mostly, quilters do what they do
because they CARE so very deeply, and simply understand the perfect
beauty of a HUG, the quilters here on RCTQ just HUG, from time to time.

Happy Trails, and many HUGs,
Sairey