Why I love to quilt

I am an artist at heart. I love to create things that are beautiful and express what is inside myself through the media of paint, charcoal, cloth, furniture, interior decorating or whatever other medium that I discover. It is one way to express that “thing” that God put within me which shows like nothing else can that little glimpse of Him to the world. I like quilting, not because I like to sew (I really don’t like to sew). I actually hate the tedious steps in the process, the endless, monotonous cutting, sewing of tiny pieces together, and wondering if and when I will ever finish it. Most of my quilts take 2-3 years to finish. But I never wonder why I started in the first place; it is to see the end result, which is always so amazing even to me, that I marvel at the fact that something so beautiful came from my own hands. There is something magic about it. I think all quilters would agree. A think what fascinates us all about a quilt is that in many ways it arouses in us an awareness of some hidden truth. A quilt is a picture of a many faceted unique blend of many parts, in many ways one portrait of all the facets of me, which I discover as I gaze upon the finished product. It is at the same time a depiction of God’s unique multi-faceted nature, His creation, and the body of Christ, each with its unique colors, shapes and personalities, each fitting together perfectly when willing to be cut and sewn according to His will and molding, and without which the whole picture would be incomplete.

I love the story “the Josephine Story Quilt” which I read to my children. In it a pioneer family travels westward, having to leave many things behind, but one thing they have kept with them through the whole journey of their lives is the story quilt, the quilt into which they sewed together over many years all the left-over pieces of cloth from various clothing, drapes, and other items in their past, shaping them into pictures of pieces of the “story” each one bringing back a precious memory. A quilt is also a great gift of love to someone else. It takes time and effort, and is a unique gift, with nothing else like it in the world. How many of us have old, sometimes gaudy quilts that a grandmother made once, but with which we cannot part. It is too precious, too sacred, a reminder of the loving hands of grandma, sometimes all we have left of her life and love. I too want to leave behind traces of myself and my family’s life behind to tell the next generation our story, and reveal to the world the little pieces of God’s truth He has put in us as a testimony to the next generation. Quilting is just one little way I can do that. To most people this sounds crazy. To all you artists out there, I know you will understand.