Quilting has long been one of my favorite things to do. There is a deep satisfaction in seeing your child bundled in something you created with your own hands.
My first experience with quilting was with my Mom. She decided when I was a younger teen to take me to a quilting guild with the purpose of trying to create a lap quilt for my Great Grandmother and spending mother/daughter time together. I was not pleased. The last thing I wanted to do was sit in a room full of elderly people sewing something that promised to take a lifetime to finish. Even with my resistance, my Mom persisted. We started our first project…my Mom would tell me each day what I was supposed to be hand stitching to finish my half of the quilt. She would no sooner walk out the door than I would pull out her sewing machine and rush to finish it. I was *VERY* glad to see it done. My Great-Grandmother loved it. We have pictures of her with her lap quilt and I know it was very special to her.
Years later, the church I attended held quilting classes for the women’s ministry. I was so excited and the main picture today is the result of my work on this first quilt. The fabrics are fading and the stitches are far less than perfect but I love this quilt. It will always be special to me. It was a time to sit and work and see something beautiful that I had made with my own hands. It was also the first time I realized that I loved quilting. Every thing from choosing a pattern to purchasing fabrics and cutting out the individual shapes and then sewing them together…it is a process that is soothing at the end of a busy day.
This is Jessica’s heart quilt. I made this one after finding out that they would only allow her to take one thing into the operating room with her. Just like any other Mom would have been, it hurt to let my daughter go and know that I was having to trust her in someone else’s hands. It was after much prayer and thought I decided to create a quilt for her. I quilted day and night and in three weeks had it finished and asked our friends, family and others from our church, to sign her quilt with their well wishes and favorite Bible verses on the back. I knew she was literally “covered in prayer”.
Courtney’s quilt is one of three that I have working right now. It was supposed to be for her 13th birthday and we’re hoping that it will actually be finished this year. Quilts take so long that I like to rotate between a few projects.
Timothy had my first baby quilt. This is a 3D pinwheel…I had never seen one before I stitched this one. It’s looking pretty worn these days. Timothy, still, at age 4, loves this quilt and sleeps with it every night.
Benjamin’s quilt was one of my favorites. Paul and I went to the fabric store together and he really helped me choose the fabrics. I was so pleased with the yellow and blues…they just looked like they would be so sweet wrapped around a new little boy…now, they are just as sweet wrapped around a two year old little boy who loves his “foofy”.
This quilt was made for me by my friends before Emma was born. I know how much time goes into a quilt and I couldn’t believe they had taken so much time to create something so special for me. I actually cried when I opened it! I would have never thought anyone would do something so special for me.
This is project #2 under construction. This one is called “hugs and kisses” for Matthew. He actually asked me if I would make a quilt for him for his birthday and was surprised when he realized that this one was for him. The best thing about this one, is it was Courtney’s first quilt to piece together. She did a great job!
Emma’s quilt included embroidery work. I stitched her name and a Bible verse on it. I love this quilt. It may be my all time favorite. I had such a hard time choosing fabrics for it before she was born…I was even calling on my dear friend Christy to help me with the color selections. I was thrilled to find this lovely hydrangea fabric. I’ve mentioned before, my Great Grandmother had hydrangeas growing in her yard and they are one of my favorite memories of visiting with her. This quilt was very special and I loved it.
Project #3 is the quilt that I’ve been working on for the last several years. I’m not sure why this quilt is taking so long other than it is huge and I am putting a lot of detail work into it. This was from an Amish pattern and is an eye-spy quilt. I found this pattern and thought it would be wonderful for my children to play on in the floor on cold winter evenings with all of us playing eye-spy!
Jacob thought he was going to beat the crowd and ask if he could take it with him when he went off to start his own family ….I was momentarily stunned by this question…I imagine he will be the one to end up with it one day. I was touched it meant so much to him. I am, however, going to be selfish on this one. This blanket matches nothing in my home. It’s huge so I really have no idea where I’m going to store it, but…I’ve poured years of my life into the pieces of this quilt, and I would like to enjoy it in it’s finished form (whenever that may be) before it graces someone else’s home.
Along with my quilts themselves, I really have an appreciation even for quilting tools.
I’ve inherited thimbles of all types from Paul’s Grandmother and collected a few of my own along the way.
Cotton quilting thread is a must as well as “betweens” sewing needles.
My quilt frame is a cheap PVC frame from Walmart. I’ve looked at larger, more expensive ones…certainly with as much quilting as I do, Paul would have never thought twice about providing me with one. I’ve even tried the larger wooden hoops but nothing works like this PVC frame. I love it.
THE PATCHWORK QUILT.
Life isn’t given to us all of a piece,
It’s more like a patchwork quilt –
Each hour and minute a patch to fit in
To the pattern that’s being built.
With some patches light – and some patches dark,
And some that seem ever so dull –
But if we were given to set some apart,
We’d hardly know which to cull.
For it takes the dark patches to set off the light,
And the dull to show up the gay –
And, somehow, the pattern just wouldn’t be right
If we took any part away.
No, life isn’t given us all of a piece,
But in patches of hours to use,
That each can work out his pattern of life
To whatever design he might choose.
~ Helen Lowrie Marshall ~
Prayer Request
Please keep Roberta in your prayers as she awaits test results on Monday.
The Bogdan family are still enjoying their precious son, James. Please keep these parents and this tiny baby in your prayers.
I’m going in to have my oral surgery in the morning.
Today, I’m Thankful For
Paul had a very positive meeting with our business mentor yesterday. Please pray that his phone calls on Monday and Tuesday will be fruitful.
The time I’m going to get to spend with friends this evening, quilting! : )
Lots and lots of laundry finished yesterday.
I’ve almost finished cleaning off Paul’s desk this morning. (I know honey, it was all my stuff!) Anyway, I’m glad to be on this side of the job.
Time spent with my daughter as she sewed a friend’s birthday gift.
Tracy’s Task
We are at the first of August. Remember to watch those back to school sales for unbelievable prices on school supplies and other needed back to school items.
What I’m Learning
We are reading a book that mentions using bushel baskets for laundry. Our laundry baskets are just not holding up to the use that we are giving them since beginning to hang laundry to dry.
This is more a “what I would like to learn”…if there is someone who has a good idea or source for a nice, quality laundry basket that has been tested against loads of wet laundry being carried and stored in them, please send me a source!
Today’s Scripture Meditation
Col 1:10-17
“And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”
(NIV)
In my Father’s arms,
