Education for Ministry Quilt

I have a special mentor who led me through four years of theological discussions as part of a University of the South (Sewanee) School of Theology program. No, I am not a priest. This is ministry, as in how we live our faith, and . . . do we understand what we believe? Do we believe what we say we believe?

As you can imagine, this is exhausting and sometimes distressing. My mentor is a wise and humorous woman who led our groups fearlessly. Although I am still a part of the program now, in another capacity, I wanted to tell this mentor in a significant way what her mentoring and her fine example means to me.

I had a lot of fun with this quilt. I found a fabulous metallic batik, which had several different colors, so when I cut it into a kaleidoscope. I could make entire squares of different colors.

As usual with my kaleidoscopes, color placement was everything. I wanted the center cross to be the most important part of the quilt. I hand appliquéd the two circles, padding the outermost with two layers of batting and hand embroidering the EfM on the cross, using an EfM lapel pin. Rarely have I been so happy with the entire process.

Except that I was terrified I would ruin it by quilting it. I have a friend with sterling instincts for quilting and she quilted it for me, using some metallic threads and enhancing the cross with radiating lines so the quilt almost vibrates with energy. 🙂 🙂

 

Here you can see some of the metallics and some of my friend’s fabulous quilting:

 

Now it gets even cooler. I had ALMOST enough blocks left over (I always make extra blocks because I am really picky about placement) but I had some fabrics that would fill in and I could make another, smaller quilt for another EfM mentor who had encouraged me through some of the rougher parts and who had generously admired the first quilt. It thrilled me to be able to thank her, too, for her part in leading our group through the heavy weather of theology.

 

I wish you could see these quilts in person. I don’t usually brag, but these thrill my heart.

Cursillo Bags

Another friend in Kuwait taught us to make these bags in various sizes. They are wonderful for traveling, for carrying make-up, jewelry, or charging cords, or medication, and keeping them sorted.

I made two sets of these bags for different Cursillo’s, 70 each time!

That’s my “helper,” Ragnar, in the background. He gets jealous. He bites my cords, my computer cord, my sewing machine pedal cord, my telephone cords. He “helped” me buy a new quilting Bernina, (as I was waiting for a new pedal for my Pfaff) which I love for it’s quiet industriousness. I still also love my old faithful Pfaff, a real workhorse, and my ancient Singer Featherweight.

New Duffle

In Kuwait, a wonderful woman we all called The Bag Lady taught us how to make these wonderful duffels – and also purses, and all kinds of bags. I had some fabulous fabric, with which I made my first duffel, and because I loved the fabric, I used the duffel all the time, in fact so much that this spring, I noticed that the straps on the duffel had become noticeably worn, thready and stringy.

And – I still had some of the original fabric! Enough I could make the pockets on a new bag. Woo hoo!

Here, you can see the old bag and the new bag, side by side. The old bag with its worn straps is on the left, and the new bag is on the right.

I love the old bag so much that I’ve cut the pockets off to make small bags to use for jewelry, cosmetics, medications, charging cords, etc. The fabric I love has a new life!

Baby Quilt

I love these quilts; you applique the star, you sew the blocks together and the right fabrics give it interest and liveliness.

 

As you can see, I also had a lot of fun quilting this 🙂

2018 Charity Quilts

You’ve seen this quilt before in other color ways. I love that it makes the best use of fabric, uses every inch, and goes together relatively quickly. I am not patient with block assembly, but this one is relatively mindless, and gets the job done.

The original star was called a Sloppy Star. I wanted a much larger star, and re-designed it to fill a full 16″ square; when assembled, it comes in about 15″.

 

 

 

 

The kids love the wild colors. The charity loves the wild colors, and displays a quilt for a while before they pass it along to a recipient 🙂

 

Quilt for a Special Mentor

For the last four years, I have been taking part in a theological study program, guided by a very special woman who led us through Old Testament, New Testament, church history and an overview of theological thought.

I am so grateful for her patient leadership though the thorny grounds of theological thinking. She allowed for freedom to explore our doubts and new concepts. I made this quilt for her.

I have a good friend who quilted the quilt for me. It’s a special quilt, so I wanted it to be more perfect than my quilting. I love the way she was able to make the cross radiate.

I totally loved this fabric, the major fabric in the quilt. It shaded from turquoise to green to purple and pink and orange and red, and gave the quilt a movement that delighted my heart.

My friend quilted the metallic sections with a metallic thread, brave friend! Her quilting was perfect for the design.

 

 

Pat’s Quilt

I have a wonderful friend. A year ago, her husband was diagnosed with cancer, the curable kind. Shortly after that, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

This is one of the kindest people I have ever met. She and her husband made fighting cancer look easy. They almost managed to make it look like fun. After successful operations, multiple, and chemo, her husband died from complications related to the chemo.

I wanted her to have a quilt to get through her own chemo, but I am slower than I used to be and not so good at beating a deadline.

I finally finished it this week, and got it to her. She loves that I included a couple blocks with a Florida State Seminole (go ‘Noles!)

If this looks familiar, it is because I made a similar, larger quilt for her daughter when she became engaged to our son. It’s one of my favorite patterns, scrappy heart, but I added a border to this one.

36 Strip Challenge

My quilt group had a thirty-six strip challenge. Nine of us cut four strips each for nine quilters, including one set of themselves. At one of our meetings, we put together identical collections of thirty-six strips, and then we each plotted a quilt which would use each fabric.

It sounds easy. It isn’t.

The fabrics are not at all compatible.

I hesitated, I searched for inspiration, I planned and discarded. Finally, I just plunged in, and the idea didn’t work, but it gave me an idea for something that might work. This meandering approach was new for me; normally I use quad notebooks and plan my quilts to the fraction of an inch.

The big flower in the upper central right part of the quilt is where I started, and where I was able to use eight fabrics. From there, I would look at the panel hanging and the fabric strips remaining, and overnight, another idea would come.

I actually started having fun with the project. It took me all summer, but it was work I enjoyed, much of it hand work, which I haven’t done a lot of lately.

My husband loves the finished project. I don’t love it, but I’m not unhappy with it.

Purple Tiles

I’m still quilting this one, but what happens is that I quilt more to a deadline, and then I finish and it sails away with no documentation. This quilt I made from leftovers of another quilt that I realize I didn’t document. My husband loves these quilts; he says they remind him of the wonderful carpets we spent years buying in Damascus, Riyadh, Kuwait and Qatar.

The red tiles quilt is actually finished, and in use 🙂 I discovered I had enough fabric left over for another set of tiles, slightly smaller, but this is an easy quilt, sort of stack and whack, but what wonderful tiles they make if you find a richly patterned fabric. I am a sucker for richly patterned fabrics, especially if they have a little bit of gold in them.

What surprises me is what a difference the background fabric makes. The burgundy gives it one look, the purple a totally different (in my humble opinion) look.

I have to say, some quilts you love working on. These were quilts I love working on.

Pink is Complicated

Same song, different year – I don’t have the hours to quilt that I once had. Retired husband. Trips to exotic lands. Grandchildren. My quilting time is eaten away.

I remember how with every new move there was, at the beginning,  a time of great loneliness, and quilting was my solace and my therapy. When I start to bemoan my lack of productivity, I also have to a ask myself if I want to go back to a life where I move often, and have to start over making new friends?

I miss the nomadic life. I miss the challenges, the demands for new ways of thinking, new ways to approach problems. And also, I don’t miss it. I don’t miss saying goodbyes to people I really love,  I don’t miss the selecting out and giving away and packing up, really hard physical labor.

A new baby girl is coming, and I wanted to do a quilt for her Mama, also starting a new life in Pensacola. I think about being a woman; some times I am more hopeful than other times. I wish this baby to have more options, more equality, and a strong spirit to face the challenges of being a woman. I chose a wonderful swirly batik pink, with a range of pink, from purples to pale, and then put in cross hatches in a very light pink and a very subtle purple. It’s complicated. Just like we are 🙂