Author: debrat777

Happy New Year! 2023

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Happy New Year! Welcome to 2023. I hope your year is off to a good start. We have celebrated the new year with a wonderful church service this morning and a glorified Sunday afternoon nap! I love a good Sunday afternoon nap!

This new year finds me more thankful than ever to be alive and having health to do the things I want to do. It is a new chance to do things that are fulfilling and give life meaning. It is a chance to start over. The past few years haven’t been much fun for most of us. But here we are at the beginning of a brand new year once again. This year holds all kinds of positive possibilities that bring us hope that things are going to get better.

A new year. A new start. A “do over” so to speak. I’m all for that!

This is the year I hope to start a king sized quilt for my bed. I have PLANS y’all! This quilt is going to be made from the Nantucket Summer fabrics by Camille Roskelly. I love the blues in that line of fabric (see the picture below). I have done a good bit of dreaming about this quilt but have yet to get going on it. I have most of the fabric that is needed but it is patiently waiting for me to get started.

Some of the Nantucket Summer blues that I plan to use in my king size quilt.

As far as a pattern for this quilt, I am thinking of using the Swoon pattern. I love how other people’s quilts turn out in this fabric. I am afraid it will mean a lot piecing (meaning it will be slow going) and I guess that’s why I haven’t picked it up to get started yet.

I have started another quilt though! I actually have a few other works in progress, all in various stages. Mostly, I am working on some lap sized quilts for the couch. I want to have something new for after all the Christmas decorations are taken down. I am hoping to work on a house refresh tomorrow.

This is my current project. This pattern is named “Sweetcake” in the “Oh Happy Day!” book by Corey Yoder of @Corianderquilts. The Fabric is called “Happy Days” by Sherri and Chelsi from @aquiltinglife.

(above: Sweetcake piecing all cut up and ready to sew!)

Last year, after a serious house disaster, I had to leave the Christmas tree up most of the year (there was no place to put it if I did take it down). My tree was decorated for Valentines day and Easter before I could find a way to take it down. It was a joy to have the lights up for such a long time. Last year’s Christmas tree took on new life the longer it stayed up and it was fun to re-decorate it for each season. We will see how long it takes to get the Christmas tree down this year; I am in no hurry again!

That tree getting extra chances last year reminds me of how God offers us renewal in each season of our lives. He carefully rearranges and redecorates our lives with things that matter most; family, friends, “Framily”, endurance in trials, comfort when our hearts are broken and on and on. And about the time we think it’s over, He gives new babies to remind us that life is still worth living and should be cherished.

I am thankful that the Lord gives us second and third chances. We can have a new start by coming into relationship with Him. He offers forgiveness of past mistakes and wipes the slate clean and keeps giving us chances to start new. Scripture says that He will ultimately make all things new when we get to heaven and I am looking forward to that!

2 Corinthians 5:17 says He also, right now, offers to make us into new creatures. He wants to give us that coveted fresh start. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” The old passes away. What a promise!

Psalm 103:12 says that “as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” We are created anew when we come to Him with an humble faith asking to be made new. That internal renewal is offered and accomplished at the point we choose Him and, thankfully, every day after that forever. If you don’t know who Jesus is, you can read about Him in the book of John in the Holy Bible. That’s a good place to start in getting to know who He is.

We all have a chance to do things differently now that it’s a new year. I hope that you will choose to do it with Jesus in your heart this year.

2023 used to sound like it would be so far off in the distance! But this is where we are today! May the Lord bless you this year as you choose to start anew. And, I hope you are starting the year with fresh desire to create beautiful new things! I plan to do that with quilts!

The Brother Mike Memory Quilt

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The Lord instructed His children to remember the things He had done for them – the WHOLE way. (Deuteronomy 8:2). We are humans with minds that leak. We just forget to remember things we REALLY should remember. 🙂 I use an endless list of to do’s on my phone, sticky notes and alarms and still manage to forget things. When it comes to really important things, I have to be creative.

I hope it won’t sound odd to you, but a quilt can help us remember. Quilts made for me by my grandmothers help me remember them and the love they had for me. Quilts can also bring comforting reminders of those we have lost.

I recently made this memory quilt for a dear friend. The stars in this quilt are made from her husband’s shirts. It was a way to honor his memory. This was her second Christmas without him. I was hoping to send some comfort her way.

This turned out to be a Queen sized quilt adventure. It is my first Queen sized quilt and the first one that I have had long-armed. Which, by the way, is the easiest way to go with a big quilt. So far, I have done a quilt as big as a twin size successfully on my small domestic sewing machine but it is quite the wrestling match. This quilt deserved a better outcome than what I can do with straight line quilting. It was the right choice.

The quilting pattern is called “Baptist fan.”

The quilt pattern is called “Quilty Stars” by Emily Dennis at Quiltyloveshop.com

Lessons I learned from this quilt:

*It takes longer than you thought it would take. Always. But it is worth it in the end.

*Starch those men’s shirts like crazy. This will help them behave the way you need them to. Try to use shirts with 100% cotton or at least a good portion of cotton.

*Men’s shirts are not quilting cotton. It is not as thick. Proceed with care.

*I used a 100% cotton sheet to back this quilt but I won’t likely do it again. I am afraid the sheet is too thin and I am worried about how it will wear over time. To be clear, I had seen my grandmothers use sheets for backings when I was a kid, but I think the sheets made then were a little better quality.

*I learned to persevere with this quilt! Wherever I could find 10 or 15 minutes, I hopped in there and sewed a little more. Every little bit helped get it done. And it was fun.

*Contrast is important; it makes the fabrics in the block pop! I used a white background quilting cotton for the piecing of the blocks which gave it some sturdiness. The white played nice since the shirts I used were mostly blue.

Also I would like to thank Cathy Martin from the Catbird quilts. She has a Youtube channel that is full of great info about how to use men’s dress shirts to make the most fabulous quilts. You can find her: @thecatbird on Instagram. TheCatBird Quilts on Youtube.

The Creator

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Creating things, originally, was God’s idea.  “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1).  He created the sun, moon and stars.  He created plants, trees and all living creatures.  He looked at all He made and was satisfied with it and called it “good.”

And then He created humans in His image.  We are image bearers of God.  He lovingly, carefully, miraculously, with forethought and intention made men and women to bear His likeness.  That blows my mind!  

Have you ever thought about how miraculous the formation of a human body is?   It takes trillions of cells forming into other cells, and all the sequences have to go just right for a human to be produced.  Amazing!

Many of us have a deep desire to create something good with our hands.  It is so much fun to see the end result of the thousand decisions we make when sewing a quilt.  Picking a pattern, deciding which fabrics to use and where exactly they should go for the best outcome.  Picking thread, cutting out the fabric (hopefully in the right sizes the first time), piecing the blocks (my favorite part!), seaming them all together with sashing and borders, layering them with batting, then backing them.  THEN comes the knitting together of the whole thing — the actual quilting where the pieces become one whole beautiful product.  The top, middle and backing get stitched together to make a sturdy yet comfortable quilt that is used to bring warmth to whoever gets to use it.     

It’s a such a satisfying process to me. I look at the end result and (hopefully) say “that’s good!”

If you think about it for a minute, you might realize that we follow God’s pattern when we create a quilt.  Like He took a bazillion nano particles of all shapes and sizes and fuzed them together to form a body with an exterior fleshly appearance, we quilters take fabric, chop it up and sew it back together to make a quilt top (the pretty part of a quilt). Albeit not nearly as complicated as forming a human, quilts can be particularly fussy to put together as each piece has to be added at the right spot or the final product won’t look right.  I suppose that’s true when it comes to making a human too, now that I think of it.  🙂

God added the inner workings (like quilt batting) between the flesh and the spirit. He gave us a heart to beat, kidneys, liver and bowels so that our body would function as intended. He gave us a spirit so that we might know Him.  He then carefully knitted us together in our mother’s womb; you could say He quilted us together to make us a whole human body.  He created us!

Job 10:11 says  “You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.”

Psalm 139:13, “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.”

I have often wondered why God would make the world with humans.  In our flesh we are flawed sinful creatures and we messed up His good creation with poor decision making and downright selfishness.  But He created us with a purpose; He sees and knows things we don’t know.  He made us with all our character traits, physical appearances and quirks— and then gave us the freedom to choose or reject Him.  He loves us and wants a relationship with us.  He is our Father; we are His children if we decide to love Him back.

I am a mother.  It’s a privilege I don’t take for granted.  As I grew up, I always wanted to be someone’s mom.  Children are a gift that teaches about who God is.  In dealing with my children I learned how deep His love for me must be.  Something happened to me when I heard their first cry.  My heart changed, it grew with a deep love for this crying helpless creature.  At that point I knew I would give my life for them. And that’s what I did.  I gave up my preferences, time, effort, money, sleep, and I don’t remember what else.  All that mattered was that they grew up to know God.  That was my mission.  

God looked at the children He created and decided that He would give His life for us.  That’s why Jesus came.  Love was his motivation.  Mercy, grace and redemption was His gift that stitches us together into a complete child of the King.

As a mom, I learned to deeply appreciate the vastness of God’s love for me.  In the letting them go, as they grew up and moved away, I saw how hard it must have been for God to let His Son leave heaven for a mission that would include much suffering.  There is only one explanation for this: it had to be a love “that surpasses knowledge” (Ephesians 3:19), and is as “high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him” (Psalm 103:11).

Today, as you create beautiful things in your home, sewing studio, kitchen, or work place remember that God loves you and created you with a purpose.  May His love fill your heart and fuel you to keep creating good things.

Welcome to Tales of Faith and Thread

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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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