I crawled under the quilt that was stretched tight across the frame. Chair legs scraped across the floor as ladies scooted up close to the edges of the quilt. From my view, I saw the quilt backing and I saw lots of legs – quilting frame legs, chair legs, and legs of lots of ladies. It didn’t take long to discover why this event was called a Quilting Bee. The ladies sounded like a hive of bees as they buzzed about people in the community and their families.
Looking up at the underside of the quilt, I saw needles from all directions poking through the sandwich of layers. The threaded needles left trails of stitches. I imagined roads running across the countryside intersecting one another until they all met at the same destination.
The ladies in the Ola community gathered from time to time at the church annex to quilt. They all worked together to complete the quilt, talk with one another, and of course, to eat. These ladies shared their food, fellowship, talents, and their spirit of community.
Though I only went on one or two occasions with my grandmother, it is something I have remembered and pondered through the years. From the bottom of the quilt, it looked quite different from the top. The bottom was plain fabric. The top created designs and often had lots of bright colors mixed in with faded patches of discarded clothing, flour sacks or feed sacks. It wasn’t until every stitch was in place that the finished work was held up for all to see. Then it all made sense. The top of the quilt was a beautiful work of art but the underside, with every indentation of the stitches, created its own beauty by revealing the detail of the quilted design.
I’ve come to learn that our lives are like quilts and God is the Master Designer of this masterpiece. There is more to us that what is seen on the outside. People come along in our lives and help us add a few stitches. Sometimes those stitches have to be ripped and done again. Some stitches are a little crooked, some longer than others. All of those pieces, new and worn, add character to our lives just as every stitch. God has a plan for each circumstance in our lives. It isn’t until God is finished with us that we see the completed work. But we have to remember to turn the quilt over. The visible part may be colorful and pretty, but the back side, or the inside, truly reveals all the work and character that has gone into God’s masterpiece.
My mother could walk into a fabric store and gather material for her quilts. She looked at the various colors, textures and designs and somehow pictured the finished quilt in her mind. She had a gift for seeing how colors worked together. My mother was also a perfectionist, making sure each seam was flawless and pressed flat. When she was done, it was a work of art!
I do not have the perfection that my mother had in designing patterns, colors and having every minute detail in order. A good friend of mine says those flaws “add character” and make each quilt unique.
So, don’t be discouraged if you have a few dropped stitches in your life or if every “seam” and corner don’t match up perfectly. Those flaws add character and make you into a unique masterpiece created by the Master Designer.