Origins of Diabetes Quilt Remain a Mystery

Story originally published by the Newnan Times-Herald.

Last year, Debby Tourville was shopping at Goodwill when she found an unfinished quilt top. The quilt was compiled from dark squares with white hands in their centers. Each square had one, two, or three white hands that look like they had been drawn from actual hands.

Tourville, who has Type 1 diabetes, was immediately reminded of the symbol for the Diabetes Hands Foundation, which has a hand with a red pinprick as its symbol. Tourville was surprised that a quilt with such good handiwork was for sale at Goodwill, and purchased the top intending to finish it.

Sine her purchase, Tourville and her sister have been finishing the quilt. She is sewing a tiny red button to each of the white hands to make the pinpricks of the Diabetes Hands Foundation logo, and plans to embroider each hand with the name of someone who also has Type 1.

They plan to sell it as a fundraiser to help cover her expenses for a clinical trial to cure Type 1 diabetes. Tourville, who regularly travels to Boston for the trial, will raffle or auction off the quilt to raise money for travel expenses. She hopes that by auctioning it off, she may find the original creator of the hands.

"I hope somebody is going to come out of the woodwork and say, 'I recognize that quilt,'" she told the Times-Herald. "I want to know whose hands are there, and I want to give credit to the original designer of that quilt top."

To suggest a name be added to the hands, or if you have information about the origin of the quilt, contact Tourville at 678-582-6017 or dtour620@yahoo.com.

There is also a GoFundMe page to help Tourville with costs associated to the trial. You can visit the page here.