Tales of Faith and Thread

Welcome! This is the beginning. I have been thinking about this for a while. I finally decided to get on with it and just start! I need a place to record my quilting adventures, but not just that, the lessons I am learning along the way. This is not going to start out as a quilt tutorial for sure. Things may change as time goes by, but I plan to start things with recording where I started and how I have arrived at this point with learning to quilt.

Quilting is a soul mending type of activity for me. I have found that it helps smooth out some of the rough spots in my soul. It sounds a little weird, I know, but I have a feeling that it is doing the same thing for many other quilt makers. I know of quite a few that say so openly. The slow process and progress associated with quilting solves a need to be warm but also fills “the work of our hands” as the Psalmist puts it. There’s just something good about being able to produce something beautiful with your hands.

Historically speaking, quilting began out of necessity. Quilts started off quite utilitarian, people just needed to be warm at night. Quilts have certainly evolved since then and I have found all kinds of quilts – from the basic utility quilt to the fancy art style of quilt – your imagination is the limit!

I grew up watching my grandmothers, aunts and mother make quilts. This was before machine quilting was a “thing” that the everyday home-based quilter had access to. I spent many hot summer afternoons rolling around on the floor playing (because that’s where the only fan was aimed) under my Mamaw’s wooden quilt frame that was carefully rolled up and down from the ceiling so she could hand quilt her latest masterpiece. I don’t really remember if she let me do much quilting because she sold those quilts for a living. And she made some of the prettiets quilts I can remember. Since that time, I have grown up with an itch to try to learn to quilt.

When I got the news that my first grandchild was on the way, I knew I had to make this baby a quilt. I hadn’t sewn anything in years. I have had very poor attempts to make small baby quilts before, the last attempt had been a Noah’s Ark themed panel quilt that I made for my son when he was a baby -about 26 years ago! I did that little crib size quilt by hand. It was wonky even though it was a panel and all I had to do was stitch it to a backing somehow and get it bound. The binding was so crooked! That little quilt stayed in the church nursery for many years after my son no longer needed it.

Fast forward to today and I would say I am still quite the beginner quilter. I have begun to realize that it really is love that makes you want to ever MAKE a quilt in the first place. The deep desire, and dare I say “need,” is to bless someone with warmth. It is more than a chance to make something beautiful and useful. It is an event that takes place in the mind – a spark of sorts – that drives you to spend hours and hours, time and money to produce an item that will wrap around your loved ones when your arms no longer can do so! It is a desire to send something into the world to make it a better place; to bring beauty and comfort to YOUR part of the world.

Quilt legacies are a thing. It’s all I have, besides memories, of my grandmothers. This too, brings me great joy to have a tangible reminder of them. These coverings are a way to remember, not so much the person, place or styles, but the way they made me FEEL when they gave me the quilts. As a child, I do not pretend that I understood how much it meant to my grandmothers to give me a quilt, but now that I am “older”it means so much more. I had no idea the amount of effort and time they had spent hand stitching those masterpieces. But I do now, and that makes them more precious to me.

Speaking of legacies, the Bible tells us how, since the beginning of time, the Lord God placed coverings over His people. Coverings are a very valuable thing. Coverings provide comfort, warmth, protection and even identification. Through out the Holy Scriptures we can trace His hand of mercy, grace and protection by covering His children.

God covered Adam and Eve with the skin of an animal.

Noah removed the protective covering off the ark to find dry land.

God covered Moses with His hand in the cleft of the rock so that Moses would be protected from seeing His face.

God instructed Israel to cover the tabernacle with what would have been very heavy quilt like materials to protect the precious contents inside. He made the cherubim wings large enough to cover the mercy seat on the ark of the covenant.

The young and tragically widowed Ruth entreated Boaz to spread his covering over her by taking her into his home as a wife; from their lineage came King David and eventually our Savior, King Jesus.

In the New Testament, head coverings of both hair and hats symbolize the covering of protection from the Lord.

And, best of all, we see that the Lord Jesus covers the sins of all who come to Him by faith. I’m not trying to make a huge leap here, but this to me, my friend, is the connection to the quilt making process. Much like a quilt gives us cover, when we come to Jesus by faith, He will cover us now and in the next life.

The Bible says that when we repent of our sin and turn to Him in faith we will be saved from the effects of what our sin does – separates us from God. Romans 3:23-24 says that we are all sinners in need of a Savior and are made right through His grace as a gift, through redemption that is found in Jesus Christ.

We can be covered by Jesus’ sacrificial death, His burial and glorious resurrection. Jesus made a way for us to go to heaven when we die; his blood covered our sin debt. That is a true comfort and hope for the future. Knowing Him as Savior is foundational to this life and means our ultimate salvation in the next. This is the ultimate comfort.

Thanks for reading! I hope you will come back as we explore more “tales of faith and thread.”

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