Quilts are a many splendid thing...

Polly Taylor, a wonderful quilt teacher from Jonesborough, TN, visited our guild last week, and we enjoyed doing the splendid "Twice as Nice" Quilt-in-a-Day pattern with her.  The pattern had something for everyone -- easy enough for the beginner, fun enough for old hats like me and some of the other gals! :-D

What amazed me is how different all our tastes were!  As we finished the first of the three blocks the pattern makes out of a strip set of 3 fabrics, Polly displayed them on the board for everyone to see:

It was a day of  experimentation for me.  I used some fabric that all my quilt buddies universally agreed isn't "me."  In fact, I'd submitted several class options for consideration of the Jabez Quilt Conference (coming up in January 2011, check http://ces.ca.uky.edu/rockcastle/ for updated information in the coming months), and the director of the program called me up and asked me if all my quilts were brown!!! (Well, in my defense, brown IS the new black, right!?!)  

I tend to favor a darker, muted color palette! Give me civil war repros and Thimbleberries and Kansas Troubles!  So using the Folklorique line from In the Beginning fabrics, was a REAL departure for me.

I'm thinking the blocks turned out pretty well! In addition to the two blocks pictured, there were also about 12 nine-patch blocks -- all these from 36--2 1/2" strips!  The Folklorique line also had a fabulous folk-art border print that I may use between rows....I'm still deliberating and experimenting on the design wall.

Whoa! COLOR! The brights sang to me! :-)

We had everything represented in the class.... My brights, some Thimbleberries, batiks, civil war repros, '30's repros, fun Moda lines and people using up their scraps. All different and beautiful and inspiring.

It reminded me of a verse I read in 1 Corinthians 15:41.  Paul is talking about the resurrection, and the difference between our mortal and immortal bodies.  As he's explaining the difference, he uses a celestial analogy that expresses perfectly the differences between quilts! :-) 

"The sun," he says, "has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor."

Is that cool or what!!?! My star isn't meant to shine like everybody else's! My star has its own glory, its own splendor, its own beauty.  That's why my quilts don't look like yours.  Your quilts don't look like Suzy Q. Quilter's down the street.  All the quilts we view in Paducah and Podunk and everywhere in between are not for comparison, since they all have their own kind of splendor!  They are our inspiration as we find our own way to shine in the universe.

And while quilts and their creators may have very little in common, we can be sure that the same Creator made us all, and His is the Spirit in the beauty.  He is the Master of color and design and splendor! 

All that glory and splendor are a direct reflection of Him.  I'm so glad I know Him!!

Do you know Him, too?

Blessings!

Mary Lou