When April Friedman became president of the Rotary Club of Scotia in 2024–2025, she was handed a challenge unlike any other: each member gave her a piece of fabric, and she was tasked with turning the 55 pieces into a quilt. At first, it seemed like a whimsical nod to her love of quilting. But as the piece began to take shape, April realized the process would come to mirror her year of leadership in remarkable ways.
She started by sorting the fabrics — cottons, tartans, florals, even two T-shirts and a linen calendar — into color families. The challenge was to incorporate a piece of *every* material so each member was represented.
“It was very much like identifying the skills and interests of each member and figuring out how to use what they had to offer in our projects,” April reflected.
The two T-shirts became corner blocks. To complete the other corners, she learned to use her sewing machine’s embroidery function, stitching in Rotary’s *Four-Way Test* and the motto *Service Above Self* — grounding the quilt, just as those ideals ground Rotary International.
Connecting the corners proved difficult. After research and consultation with experienced quilters, she chose bargello-style “raceways” to join the blocks, all while navigating an annual audit, solving complex questions, and drawing on the knowledge of fellow Rotarians to find solutions.
At the center, April embroidered a block commemorating the club’s upcoming 100th anniversary in 2029. To bridge the center with the outer ring, she added traditional quilt patterns — bear’s paw, birds-in-flight, pinwheel, and nine-patch.
“I realized that incorporating some traditions into our club events was important for keeping long-time members engaged while also drawing in newer members with fresh skills,” she said.
When the top was assembled, its mix of colors and raceways felt “wild and loud.” To calm it, April added a royal blue border, creating balance. Similarly, she discovered the importance of pausing in her presidency — finding moments to rest, think, and trust her leadership instincts.
The quilt was then finished with batting, backing, and long-arm quilting by a friend. April likened that step to engaging members with specialized skills to strengthen a club project. The final binding, with its mix of machine and hand-stitching, reminded her of the president’s role in ensuring projects meet Rotary standards and bring fulfillment to members.
What began as a lighthearted induction challenge became a profound leadership lesson. “I understood more completely that being president did not mean I had to do it all,” April shared. “It meant engaging as many members as I could so we could accomplish our work together. That’s a lesson that will stay with me forever — like a warm quilt on a cold winter night.”