When AJ Grossman feels sad, she sews.
In 2014, worried about the rise in antisemitism, she began a quilt to honor the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust. In 2016, she worked with fellow quilters to create blankets that comforted after the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando. And in 2018, the quilters reassembled to mark the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School attack near Grossman’s home in Parkland.
When Israelis were kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, Grossman took to her workroom and began laying out ideas.
“It was hugely upsetting,” Grossman said of the raid into Israeli territory in which 1,200 were murdered and about 240 kidnapped into Gaza. “The thing that does calm me down is sewing.”
It took over a year, but Grossman has completed her Oct. 7 memorial quilt. It’s an enormous patchwork, 92 inches high and 63 inches wide, consisting of 240 blue six-pointed stars, each representing a hostage, on an assortment of fabric backgrounds.
The work, called “Tikkun Ha-Lev” (Hebrew for “Heal the Heart”), will be displayed at the South Florida Quilt Expo on March 8-9 in Pembroke Pines.
The expo is a biennial gathering of quilters representing nine guilds from Key West to Port St. Lucie. There will be 267 quilts on display. All entries were accepted, but a certified judge will present awards such as “Best in Show,” “Best Machine Quilting” and “Best Hand Quilting.”
Many quilters are motivated not only by colorful and engaging patterns but by social causes, and American quilters have a history of trying to rally their viewers to current events. Over the past 60 years, quilts have opposed the Vietnam War and nuclear proliferation and raised awareness for Black Lives Matter and American Indians.
The groundbreaking AIDS Memorial Quilt, which is larger than a football field, was first displayed on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in 1987. New panels continue to be made; its permanent home is in San Francisco.
The Oct. 7 attack in Israel forced soul-searching among Jews across the world, who have tried to figure out why it happened and whether anything they do will make a difference.
In South Florida, many Jews decided it was time to make a dramatic change in their lives after the attack. Some transformed their careers; others learned to speak out for Israel’s right to exist. Grossman, 62, channeled her emotions into textile and thread, creating a coverlet to express her heartache, agony and anger.
An active member of the South Florida Modern Quilt Guild, she said her mom taught her to embroider. But her biggest sewing influence was her dad, a fabric manufacturer in New York’s Garment District.
Her Oct. 7 quilt was partly sewn by hand and partly by machine. Grossman said she hoped by the time she finished all the hostages would be freed. But that, unfortunately, was not the case.
Grossman wants “Tikkun Ha-Lev” to get a public display in a City Hall, library or community center in the coming months and years. Although some have recommended a permanent home for the quilt in a synagogue, Grossman said she wants this work to reach a wider audience.
“Each star is a body, a human,” she said. “I get emotional talking about it. Is the violence ever going to stop?”
IF YOU GO
WHAT: South Florida Quilt Expo
WHEN: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. March 8-9
WHERE: Charles F. Dodge City Center, 601 City Center Way, Pembroke Pines
ADMISSION: $10 cash at the door or $12 with credit card
INFORMATION: southfloridaquiltexpo.com
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