What does Advent mean to you?

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Advent before Jesus birth

Before Jesus was born, many years before Mary and Joseph were born, the Jewish nation was looking for Messiah to come. They were looking for a king. The Jewish nation had been taken over by an oppressive Roman government. They levied heavy taxes which were collected by dishonest men who padded the amount they charged to include money for themselves. Roman soldiers demanded people to stop what they were doing at any time and help carry heavy equipment. The Jewish people did not like the Roman soldiers and rulers. They hoped Messiah would come soon, and as King David once did long ago, they hoped he would again make them into a strong nation who could fight off the Roman government.

Now we have the benefit of history which has been written down in the New Testament so that we can have a better idea about what the new king, Messiah, would be like. If we have read the Holy Scriptures, we know better than to look for the Christ to be our military leader. Rather, Christ told his Disciples that whoever lived by the sword would die by the sword. Then as now, Messiah was more interested in the conquest of the human heart and spirit than in political conquest.

Today we set aside four to five weeks before Christmas to celebrate Advent, the anticipation of Jesus Christ’s birth, the long awaited Messiah. These days and weeks are meant to prepare our hearts and minds to experience anew the birth of Christ, the Messiah, the Imanuel – God living with us and through us.

How are you preparing your heart to experience the birth of the Messiah, the Baby King?

A family-friendly retelling of the first Advent can be found in my Bible storybook, The First Christmas

Beautiful Christmas Bible Quilt

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NPC Nativity Quilt

This beautiful nativity Bible quilt was recently completed by Ellen Miller who made it to go with the Bible Story quilts the women of Northfield Presbyterian Church had already made for the Fellowship Halls (see pictures below). Nine ladies contributed to those quilts, but Ellen noticed that there was not a “story” quilt for the nativity. She made the quilt over the past 2 years and finished it in time to hang in the church this week. Ellen is lending this quilt to the church for special Christmas occasions such as their annual Ladies Christmas tea tomorrow. It is machine stitched. The border fabric was bought on a “girlfriends shopping trip” to the quilt shops of Shipshewanna, Indiana this past fall. (great place by the way). Ellen used “The Adoration”, a pattern from the quilt book, Adoration Quilts, by Rachel W. N. Brown to make this quilt.

“The Adoration” is not the first quilt these women have made. I originally found their quilts a few months ago doing a Google search for Bible quilts. I found the following quilts that day:

   

These quilts were all made from a quilt pattern produced by Magnolia Midnight Pattern Company which has apparently gone out of business. If I can ever get in touch with them I am going to do whatever I can to encourage them to continue creating these awesome patterns. I would love to promote them on this website/blog.

Ellen Miller of Northfield Presbyterian wrote this account describing the labor of love that went into creating the three quilts above:

We started with 10 ladies and a fabric party. Everyone picked out their panel, found fabrics to appliqué, traced the patterns and of course, ate something (smile). Then each took their patterns home to sew. Some hand stitched, some machine, some embellished, some just kept it simple. I think we got it done in about 2 months total. Two of these women then combined and quilted the panels (very simply). We found very colorful border fabric to bring out the panels. We started after Christmas one year and finished in time to hang them for Easter Breakfast.

These women have various quilting events along. They recently created a quilt as a fundraiser for a mission trip. Even the children get quilting fever from time to time. This friendship quilt was created by Ellen Miller’s 4th grade class a year ago:

Friendship Quilt

I pray I will find more quilting churches, and I especially hope to see them making Bible quilts. My prayer and heart’s desire is that this blog will serve to inspire more Christians to see making Bible quilts as an opportunity to share their faith with others.

Embroidered Bible Quilts – Part 2

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Debbie Cornett sent photos of her Bible quilt with pictures her mother (Ilene) hand embroidered and Debbie and Yvonne (mother-in-law) hand quilted. Ilene also helped with the quilting.

Debbie looked long and hard to find just the right fabric to complement the colors of embroidery thread her mother used to create the Bible story pictures. She then began working on a layout for a queen-size quilt. But as Debbie worked on the quilt, her widowed mother moved twice, and with the downsizing she only needed a twin bed quilt. So she had to re-design the layout for a smaller sized quilt.

This quilt was definitely a family project. The quilt and quilters have covered many miles as Debbie lives in Texas, her mother Ilene did the embroidery in her Tennessee home, and her mother-in-law Yvonne did the final quilting from her home in Kentucky, Her sister-in-law Anita Cornett was kind enough to take the photos of the individual blocks after completion.

These embroidery patterns are available as “Aunt Martha’s Hot Iron Transfers.” There is an Old Testament set and a New Testament set available and they can be purchased online from JoAnn Fabrics website.

 

Embroidered Bible quilts (or crayon-colored quilts)

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I have found two examples of embroidered Bible quilts, one still a work in progress, that were made using “Aunt Martha’s New Testament Designs” and/or “Aunt Martha’s Old Testament Designs.” Look for these on Etsy or eBay. The directions are in the package. These pictures could also be used to create crayon-colored quilts.

I’ve been unable to get in touch with the person who created the quilt in the following link, but as far as I know it is legitimate to share a link. Take a peek here. The other quilt pictures I found are to an unfinished quilt. I hope to be able to post the completed quilt sometime in the future.

Rosemary Youngs’ Bible quilts

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New Testament Bible Quilt by Rosemary Youngs

Rosemary Youngs has championed the Bible quilts in my search to this point. She has designed two awesome Bible quilts, one for the Old Testament and one for the New Testament. She created these quilt block patterns about 10 years ago.

Each block is appliqued using fabric pieces to create the unique Bible story pictures.

She taught quilting classes in the town where she lives using her hand applique patterns. Sunday school teachers were eager to take her classes to make the Bible quilts to teach children.


Rosemary says, “It was really fun to design the blocks and to use special charms or buttons to make them three dimensional.”

Rosemary’s quilt patterns are available on her website, Rosemary Youngs’ Quilt Books, CDs and Patterns. UPDATE: This website is no longer available; however, her books are available through several other options such as Etsy, eBay, and more.