Excerpt

Here’s an excerpt from my book to give you an idea of what it’s about.  Enjoy.

Learning Acceptance

This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. 1 Timothy 4:9

I was still in high school when I decided I wanted to make a baby quilt for my hope chest. Never mind there was nothing else in it, or that I didn’t actually have a hope chest, or that hope chests were supposed to be filled with items a woman would need to beautify herself and her home in the early years of her marriage.

Dishes, hand embroidered dish towels, table clothes, maybe some nice lingerie were the items most frequently stashed in a girl’s hope chest. If a quilt were added it would be a full-size quilt for her and her husband.

No, I didn’t want anything like that. Of course, not to say I would’ve turned it down if it was offered, but those weren’t the items I cared about. I just knew that when I married I’d soon become a mother, and I wanted a quilt for that baby.

Unfortunately, with no one to guide me, knowing nothing about piecing a quilt, or planning, I forged ahead sewing my scraps of material together. When finished it looked nothing like the quilt I’d envisioned, and it didn’t even have the look of serviceability. Disheartened with my lack of success I discarded the quilt and any idea of making future quilts.

Although my love of quilts never abated, I changed my focus to collecting patterns and stories. It was years before I once again attempted making a quilt.

However, in looking back on it I realize that little attempt at a quilt was really quite nice considering its background. I’ve also learned over the years, the flaws I saw in that quilt top could have been quilted out.

That tiny attempt, while discarded long ago continues to teach me. It teaches me not to give up. It teaches me that even when I don’t think I have any value to offer, I do. It teaches me acceptance.

Prayer: Thank you for my talents and skills, and the talents and skills of others.

Tip: When pressing a block remember to lift the iron and press it down in a different area when moving it rather than ironing across the block. This will help it keep its shape and size.