hope anchors the soul | a quilt for Pastor & Mrs. Emerson

Ocean State Baptist Church is the church that I've been going to since I was about five or six years old. Pursuing my faith in God there alongside my mentors and friends has been one of the most formative experiences of my life. Many of my memories feature OSBC as the setting - attending Sunday School with Mrs. Chihowski as my teacher, singing in the children's choir under the direction of Mrs. Hackett, accepting Jesus as my personal savior with Maria DePina to help guide me in prayer, being part of the youth group and participating in every crazy game and activity our leaders dreamed up, getting baptized by Pastor Emerson, going to camp every summer, working in children's church, serving with the teens at various nursing homes in the area, going on a missions trip to New Jersey, singing on the worship team as a young adult, helping to organize a women's retreat, serving as one of the youth group leaders, and dedicating each of our boys to Jesus. There are so many more memories I could share, and I know more to be made in the future. Pastor Emerson and his wife Linda have dedicated their lives to doing the work of Jesus in Smithfield, RI and beyond for the past forty-three years. I have been blessed to have a small part in their work for about twenty-six years. They've decided that the time has come to retire (somewhat - Pastor Emerson is still on staff as Pastor Emeritus) and I asked my mom and my aunt (who are also long time members of OSBC) if they wanted to join me in making a quilt to thank them for their service.

I drew inspiration from one of Denyse Schmidt's quilts for the Stone House Inn in Little Compton, RI. The top is lots of blues and grays, solids and very subtle prints. We paper pieced letters to add a portion of one of Pastor and Linda's favorite scriptures - Proverbs 3:5-6, which says, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." - to the top, and I'm thrilled with how it came out. It's pretty much exactly as I imagined it. The back is just two large cuts of fabric that have a nautical vibe (this is a common theme in my quilts since RI is the Ocean State - we love our coastline!) and a simple handwritten label. As I wrote this post I remembered that I wanted to make a more complex label with an anchor, a cross, and a heart, but obviously I completely forgot about that part of my plan. I quilted horizontal straight lines over the whole quilt, not too dense because it's huge and I was getting tired, haha. Then I passed it on to my mom who added some lines of hand quilting. My aunt made the binding, I attached it, and then she washed it so it would be nice and crinkly.

We gave it to them one Wednesday night before church and I think it's safe to say they loved it. Pastor Emerson posted about it on facebook shortly thereafter (see my screenshot below), and he doesn't seem to use facebook that often so his post made me smile :) I know I say this all the time, but this quilt is one of my favorite makes to date. It's definitely one of the more special pieces. We're so thankful for Pastor and Linda Emerson and and we were honored to make this quilt for them as a small way of showing our appreciation and gratitude.

my baptism, 1998

summer star | a quilt for Spencer

Our friends Mike and Amanda are expecting their first baby, a boy. You know that I think every baby needs a quilt so I started making one for him early on in Amanda's pregnancy. I decided to go with one of my favorite patterns, a sawtooth star. I used blues for the star and low volume for the background. The back is made up of two large cuts, one dark teal (I think it's Carolyn Friedlander, I can't remember) and some bright yellow pearl bracelets by Lizzy House. The yellow is supposed to be a nod to Del's Lemonade, where Mike and Amanda met, but probably no one will get it, haha. It's quilted with straight lines to echo the shape of the star. I bound it in another blue, washed it to get that crinkly goodness, and gifted it along with a copy of The Jesus Storybook Bible at her baby shower a month or two ago. I can't wait to meet the little guy! Another friend for Rory :)

patchwork pop | a quilt for Nova

Our friends Stan and Karissa are expecting their third child later this summer so of course I made a quilt. Karissa told me that receiving a quilt from me is one of the perks of having a baby so I was extra excited to make one for her. I took a color theory class with Anna Maria Horner a few months ago and decided to use the stack of fabrics I pulled in the class to make this quilt. A lot of them were not fabrics I would normally put together but I'm always trying to stretch myself and try new things, and if Anna Maria Horner said they looked good together then I believe her! 

I did add some neutrals (the two taupe fabrics) to tone down the boldness of the other fabrics but I'm not quite sure they did their job. This is the kind of quilt that I loved at first (when I was cutting) and then when I was sewing it together I wasn't so sure about it, but when I decided on backing and then quilted it I came around again and now I'm happy with it again. I think the biggest thing holding me back from loving it in the middle of working on it is the purple. I don't use a lot of purple and even though I like the color purple I have a hard time incorporating it into quilts. That was the point of the class though, to learn to embrace colors we aren't used to using. I accidentally deleted the full view photo of the quilt, oops.

Since the front is so bright and bold I tried to tone it down just a bit on the back. The colors are still really vibrant, but I think the large blocks of color next to the neutral is pleasing to the eye. I love the birds and polka dots on the right, they might be my favorite part of the quilt! 

I went with simple diagonal line grid quilting which I always like - I think the scrappiness of this quilt and the quilting give it a vintage feel - and I bound it in scraps from the quilt, another favorite finish of mine. I gave the quilt to Karissa at her "sprinkle" last week and I think she liked it! I can't wait to see Nova snuggled up with it in a just a couple months.