Encouragement

Ever leave a project hanging? I often do – especially when I bite off one that's more than I can chew. Last week after a church council meeting, Dan brought home a membership letter which reminded me of a promise I'd made months ago to the couple.

In May 2008, they'd asked me to write a detailed history of a decorative-
ly hand-
stitched quilt I'd started the fall of 1996 and finished the spring of 2008 with the encouragement of many people along the way. Here's the piece designed, stitched and written with love for them.

A NORTHWOODS ADVENTURE

Once upon a time, there was a farm girl. Her favorite pastime was walking the wooded trails along the river. There she found serenity. Every summer, the girl and her family vacationed by a lake in the Northwoods. She loved the evergreen forests – even more than her farmland home. That affection grew with the girl. And as a young woman, she went to live in the Land of the Midnight Sun. There, rolling hills, sparkling lakes, rushing streams and pine forests fueled her Northwoods passion and filled her letters home.

Now the farm girl dreamed of becoming a journalist. She returned home to study, gained more worldly experience, graduated with a bachelor's degree and found work on a newspaper – deeper in the Northwoods. There she met her future helpmate. They fished Borderland rivers, hunted evergreen forests, skied voyageur trails and discovered Northwoods passion.

Marriage took them away – south into the cities for career-building work. Before long, she was home fulltime – mothering a toddler and infant. In spite of walks with her brood along wooded trails in nearby parks, this young mom longed for the Northwoods as well as a creative outlet.

One evening she went out alone on errands. She stopped at a fabric shop. There she found a woodsy print that captured her passion. She bought a few yards, sewed small wall quilts and sold them. That led her to design a throw-sized quilt for her mother's log bedroom set. She finished the quilt with decorative hand stitching. The result was her small masterpiece.


Now the young mom and her man dreamed of moving their family to the Northwoods. This inspired her to make a queen-sized quilt for their new home. She triple sewed seams to make a sturdy top and back, laid batting between, bought a portable quilting frame and began hand stitching. The pattern was tedious. The young mom lost heart and packed away the quilt.

Ten years later while fall cleaning her Northwoods home, she and her mother found the unfinished quilt lying in a tote. Staring in awe at the half-finished project, her mother said, "What you need is motivation!"

"What I need is time – a little every week," she replied. Inspiration struck. She vowed to work on the project each week with the church quilters and donate the quilt to the Synod's Silent Auction in the spring. Her mother asked, "Are you sure? That's a lot of work to give away."

"Better to get it done and give it away than to leave it hanging," she said. "God's got a plan."

Indeed! Each week she took the quilt and frame to church. While the ladies tied quilts, sewed baby diapers, packed school kits and rolled bandages, she ran the needle and thread around the quilt blocks. Someone always wandered over to encourage: "How you have patience for that!"

Late that winter, the hand quilting was done. She took the project to her mother who pulled out a bolt of fabric that matched the quilt's rolling-hill pattern. She insisted the farm girl edge the quilt in the checked fabric for a finishing touch.

Two weeks later, the quilt was done.

She showed the church ladies who marveled at the project. One was especially moved. Her job was to present the quilt to the silent auctioneers in a city two hours away.


During the Synod Convention, this church lady and her husband couldn't resist checking on the farm girl's quilt and upping the ante.

On the last day – at the last minute, her husband entered the final bid.

The couple brought home the Northwoods Adventure quilt they'd driven to the convention.

Returning home, they reported the news to the farm girl.

She cried tears of joy over their story about how her determination and love had moved them to make the quilt a family heirloom.



"If your gift

is to encourage,

do it!"

Romans 12:8