The Twelve Days of Quilts

Perfectionism has robbed all kinds of joy from my life. I am tossing perfectionism behind me in order to complete all kinds of things I would otherwise have given up knowing I could not do them perfectly. For instance, I wanted to tell a quilt story on each of the Twelve Days of Christmas. Well, that didn't happen. I still have several quilts left, and today is Christmas Day 12. So, I will continue the quilts right on into Epiphany!

A note to those who have asked about the observance of The Twelve Days of Christmas in our home. Because today is Day 12, the wise men from our crèche will make their way from the piano to the dining table. They will not arrive at the crèche until tomorrow, the celebration of the Epiphany. Tomorrow we will celebrate the Star of Wonder and the arrival of the Wise Men in Bethlehem.

Today's quilt brings a smile to my face. I don't know why,

I just love it.

I love to have a dash of beauty on my dining table. However, I do not like to spend crazy amounts of money on tablecloths. My ideal table would reflect the beauty of both the seasonal and liturgical year. Perhaps that is why I love this tablecloth.

Spring 2006 Breakfast

It reflects the brightness of Spring and provides the basis for an explosion of joy at Easter.

I have a delightful satisfaction in its procurement, as well. This quilt was not made for a table. It is a simple, store bought baby blanket. I found it in a pile of baby blankets at a resale for kids' clothing. I think I paid $5.00 for it! It was March when the sale occurred, and my Easter tablecloth jumped right out at me. I was thrilled.

Easter 2007

Spring 2006

This quilt begged for a little naked baby photo,too. Mama loves you, Josiah. I promise I won't show this to your buddies (unless they are reading this blog!).

The Twelve Days of Quilts, Day 9

I guess it wasn't realistic for me to post every single day during Christmas. I will simply take advantage of the days I do have to tell quilt stories!

When I "retired" as Children's Pastor at Church of the Resurrection in December of 2002, the church gave me several beautiful gifts. One of them was a quilt of hand prints. For several months, the hand prints of little ones were collected on fabric squares.

Kathy Richards and her daughter Stephanie Miller sewed the pieces together. The quilting was done by machine with tiny hearts and hands. If you look closely, you can see the quilting pattern over the traced hands and colored squares.

The quilt was the brain child of my friend and Children's Ministry partner, Sara Zimmerman. She selected the colors and coordinated the project.

Here you can see Sara exercising one of her anointed vocations: teaching!

We hung the masterpiece in our entryway. Most people who come into our home notice it and comment on it. It is especially sweet when children come in and search for their hand prints. This quilt is the backdrop to much Fawcett-life.

Here you see the quilt providing a beautiful backdrop for afternoon tea. Charlotte and Josiah are enjoying tea with their Brazilian tea set from Embu. Josiah is doing the sign for "MORE." Charlotte is thinking, "One lump or ten?"

Fawcett Life: Children soaking in the beautiful music.

A precious backdrop for a precious moment of cousins making beautiful (?) music. We miss you, Micah!

In the same way, the people and ministry of Church of the Resurrection are a constant backdrop of love and prayer to Fawcett-life. John and I are grateful for the years of ministry we have received and given there.

Welcoming couples like Jeff and Elsie for Premarital. Hey guys, has the baby come yet?

Thank you Sara. You bring the holy into parenting and teaching. You refresh us with your vision and love. Thank you.

The Twelve Days of Quilts, Day 5

The 5th Quilt from my "collection" is not handmade. In the midst of all this quilting glory, there must be a touch of Fawcett Reality. When we painted our guest room a few years ago, I decided to replace the comforter, too. It was one size too small for the bed, John's cousin could use it, and it had been with me for many years. I wanted to get something that would be appropriate for a play room/guest room and thus accommodate both masculine and feminine sorts of colors and patterns. I bought this comforter on clearance from the Martha Stewart collection. I see it everyday now since I am living in our guest room. I still love it.




Here you see the quilt doubling as a tablecloth for Josiah's 1st Birthday Party!

Our friends Bob and Ita so admired the matching red gingham sheets they started searching for them. Alas, they were purchased on Clearance at K-Mart several years ago. Sorry Ita.

Matching sheets seen here as the second tablecloth at Josiah's 1st Birthday party.


Doesn't that tower of cupcakes looks lovely? They were very lovely until I sat down on the wobbly picnic table and the whole thing fell over. Everyone ate cupcakes off of the ground... and had a great time.

The Twelve Days of Quilts, Day 4

We are blessed to have a wonderful neighbor named Mary. She is Charlotte's best friend. Charlotte says that from the first time she met Mary, she knew they would be best friends. Charlotte runs over to Mary's house almost every day. Sometimes when Mary answers the door, she teases Charlotte saying, "Do I know you?" Charlotte responds, "Yes Mary, I live next door." This little game goes on until Charlotte says, "Just open the door Mary, you know I'm the Precious in this family."

And Mary welcomes Charlotte with love and joy. Mary has taught Charlotte how to roll and make tortillas. She has taught her about sewing and helped Charlotte sew a pillowcase for John as a Christmas gift. Mary is 82 years old. She let me help her make tamales for Christmas Eve. I got to spread the masa on the corn husks and sit back and watch Mary in action.

Charlotte and Josiah at the apple orchard with our neighbor Mary.

When Josiah goes down for a nap, if I am exhausted, I send Charlotte over to Mary's for an afternoon visit. Mary has been a tremendous blessing to us during this stressful season.

Because today is the Feast of the Holy Innocents, I thought I would share two of the quilts Mary has made for our little ones. She quilted each of them by hand over many hours. Our children are wrapped in love by their dear friend Mary.

The Twelve Days of Quilts, Day 1

Today I am going to begin a short series of photos and stories for The Twelve Days of Christmas. For those of you who do not come from a liturgical tradition, you may think of The Twelve Days of Christmas as a holiday song. It is a fun song of the season, but the twelve days of Christmas also mark the time from Christmas day until Epiphany on January 6th. On Epiphany we celebrate the coming of the wise men to worship Jesus.

In a worship cycle that is supported by the church calendar, Advent is the four weeks leading up to Christmas in which we prepare our hearts for Jesus' birth. We typically do not sing Christmas carols, but observe a reverent and penitential season of preparing our hearts for the Lord. On Christmas Eve we light the Christ candle in the Advent wreath, we add Jesus to the nativity scene and play Joy to the Word to our hearts' content. We then take the next twelve days to celebrate the season of Christmas. One thing I am enjoying about this year, is that we decided to spread out the gifts for our children over the twelve days. They opened several things today, but they will get a small something each day during the Christmas season.

Beginning today, I will tell a short story and show a photo of the only collection I have. I have never been a collector of things (except clutter). I have never collected stamps or shoes or vintage napkins or any such thing. But a few weeks ago, I looked around my home and realized I have "collected" a number of beautiful quilts. I never intended to do this, it just happened. Quilts have come to mean a lot to me over the years. They symbolize home and warmth, friends and family, color and artistry.

The first quilt in this twelve-entry series is a Christmas quilt. My friend Pam Toon Akers made this for us as a wedding gift. She is a beautiful woman from Indiana that has learned to quilt and shared her gift with me several times.

The amount of love and time it took her to create this quilt is evident to us each year when we open the Christmas boxes and pull out this lovely blanket. All of the Christmas photos we have taken during our marriage have this quilt in the background.

I met Pam in the fourth grade at MacArthur Elementary School in Indianapolis. We were fast friends from the start. I received a call from Pam just this weekend saying she has been praying for us. Her Indiana twang sounded like home and love as I listened to her message. Thank you for your ongoing gift of love and friendship, Pam.