Jesus and his 12 Apostles peer down over the sanctuary of Mount Olive Lutheran Church.
The image is one of the most recognizable works of art in history — Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper.” But instead of a rendering done in paint, this version was stitched together by hand, with nearly 50,000 squares quilted together to create the iconic image.
The 15-feet-by-5-feet panel hangs high above the seats inside the White River Township church.
The elaborate quilt was made by the Mount Olive Quilt Ministry, conceived and created over more than two years. Done in conjunction with the ministry’s main work of stitching quilts for those in need, both locally and around the world, the project has captivated the Mount Olive congregation and brought a sense of pride to those who took part.
“Having the group work on over a long time, there was some perseverance and following through and not giving up on the project,” said Janine Owen, office administrator for Mount Olive and a member of the quilt ministry. “Most of the church didn’t know that they were working on it. When it went up and they saw it, they were stunned.”
The Mount Olive Quilt Ministry meets every week to use their fabric artistry to bring comfort to those who need it. Cutting, sewing, designing and binding quilts, the group takes their finished products for a variety of missions. Many go to the church’s partnership with Calvary India Mission, a group serving small villages in southern India.
More than 300 quilts have been donated to the mission.
“Whenever we go into impoverished villages, we’re able to bring quilts and give them, especially to older ladies in the communities and bring about tremendous joy,” said Jeff Alexander, pastor at Mount Olive. “It’s a sign of love that people on the other side of the world would put forth time to show their love and show God’s love for someone they’ve never met.”
Ministry members also make comfort quilts for members of the church and their immediate family members who are suffering from terminal illness. The quilts are prayed over and distributed.
Other quilts have been given to organizations such as Johnson County Senior Services; Pando Aspen Grove of Community Heights, a housing group designed for youth aging out of the foster system, and CareNet Pregnancy Centers.
When Horizon House Day Shelter opens its transitional apartment community in Indianapolis to give housing to the homeless, each bed will feature a quilt made by the Mount Olive Ministry.
Mission work is the main focus of the quilt group, Owen said. But the members also pursue other projects — such as “The Last Supper” quilt.
The idea started when two members of the ministry — Linda Humbles and Deanna Richason — saw a wall hanging of the painting in a quilt store in Shipshewana. Intrigued by the image, they found a counted cross-stitch pattern called “The Last Supper” and purchased it.
In late 2020, Humbles asked if anyone in the quilt ministry would like to create a panel for the church. A few stepped forward, and they got to work figuring out how to make such an intricate image manageable. The piece required 52 colors, which ministry members found in their own supply closet and matched to the pattern.
“They blew up the pattern and whatever thread color it said to use, we went through our fabric to find matching colors,” Owen said. “Then they had to determine what size squares do we have to use to make this not the size of a billboard, but be big enough pieces to work with it.”
The group determined they could cut 1-inch squares to make the quilt. After figuring it all out, the project required 47,752 squares. Using a gridded backing fabric, they ironed the squares on first and work in small batches to create the larger piece.
At first, the pieces didn’t seem to work as a whole image. But once the quilt ministry members saw it from a distance, it came together — a useful lesson to learn about life in general, Alexander said.
“It was very metaphorical,” he said. “The pieces and the small parts sometimes don’t make sense, but when you put it all together, it comes into focus.”
Once the panels were done, all of the squares were sewn together using a sewing machine.
“It was an amazing feat,” Owen said.
Because the massive work would be too heavy to traditionally quilt and hang in the church, the finished work is simply pieced together. The project was finished in January.
Over the length of the project, ministry members who helped included Humbles, Richason, Jane Loudermilk, Sandy Drapper, Melissa Bade, Roseann Gary, Phyllis Shutters and Tina Loudermilk.
To help hang “The Last Supper” inside the church, members of the Mount Olive properties board built a frame and stretched the quilt onto it. A group of seven people then raised it to a spot high above the sanctuary, where it hangs currently.
“People were stunned when they saw it,” Owen said.
The quilt has become a focal point of the sanctuary, and Alexander plans to implement it into his sermon for the Maundy Thursday services — the recognition of the meal depicted in “The Last Supper.”
“I’ll be highlighting it, talking about what went into this quilt, the inspiration for it, some of the symbolism that was in da Vinci’s piece,” he said. “I think da Vinci himself would be proud of these ladies.”
