Threads...
“Begin to weave and God will give you the thread”
I have a huge affection for all things sewing related, that's no startling confession for a quiltmaker; but I admit to having an obsession when it comes to thread! I have racks of thread on vertical spools, arranged by color and spool size. I have a clear jar filled with colorful balls of embroidery cotton and another arranged so that I might admire the lovely muted colors of antique thread wound on wooden spools. I have containers filled with modern variegated threads of different weights and a large spool of glow-in-the-dark quilting thread that sits by itself on a shelf... a source of delight to my inner-child! I have stacks of clear plastic boxes lined-up with cones of machine embroidery threads in every hue. All of these bring joy to my senses and are glorious to behold; and yet, the most lovely threads I have ever seen arrived at my home in a broken-down, tattered brown cardboard box three summers ago.
It came in the mail, hundreds of spools! The thread was used, some thread barely made its way around a spool more than once or twice; and some spools were full, still wearing a cellophane outerwrap. Many threads were old, on wooden spools and some were stamped with archaic words such as "mercerized" and "boilfast" bearing equally archaic prices--19 cents and 39 cents (for a large spool!). The box of threads came as an offering, a gift to the Quilt Ministry at our church from a small church in rural South Carolina. It all came about innocently, over pizza. I had been at Lutheridge and found myself discussing Augsburg's Quilt Ministry over our lunchtime meal with the Pastor of a congregation from Walterboro, South Carolina . He and his wife asked how they could help. They didn't have the space or the resources to start their own similar Ministry but they wanted to support ours. All I could think of was thread. Simple sewing thread, we used it for piecing and hemming the quilts and it can get costly over time. They smiled and said, "we'll see what we can do". I completely forgot about that conversation until the box arrived. Of course, it arrived in the most timely manner; just days before our Quilt Ministry resumed its weekly meetings after the summer break! I can only imagine the contents of that box being the result of a request printed in a church newsletter or worship bulletin; as it appeared to be the cleaned-out contents of many machine cabinet drawers and sewing baskets. I'll never forget the feeling I had when I opened that box. It was a gift ... it was grace!
I write this today as we have only yesterday resumed our weekly Quilt Ministry meetings after yet another summer break. We are still using up the thread provided by the saints of Walterboro, and there's no end of thread in sight. This thread is something akin to 'loaves and fishes' on spools; and I am still in awe of it all. Thanks be to God.
Life Is Good!
“Begin to weave and God will give you the thread”I have a huge affection for all things sewing related, that's no startling confession for a quiltmaker; but I admit to having an obsession when it comes to thread! I have racks of thread on vertical spools, arranged by color and spool size. I have a clear jar filled with colorful balls of embroidery cotton and another arranged so that I might admire the lovely muted colors of antique thread wound on wooden spools. I have containers filled with modern variegated threads of different weights and a large spool of glow-in-the-dark quilting thread that sits by itself on a shelf... a source of delight to my inner-child! I have stacks of clear plastic boxes lined-up with cones of machine embroidery threads in every hue. All of these bring joy to my senses and are glorious to behold; and yet, the most lovely threads I have ever seen arrived at my home in a broken-down, tattered brown cardboard box three summers ago.
It came in the mail, hundreds of spools! The thread was used, some thread barely made its way around a spool more than once or twice; and some spools were full, still wearing a cellophane outerwrap. Many threads were old, on wooden spools and some were stamped with archaic words such as "mercerized" and "boilfast" bearing equally archaic prices--19 cents and 39 cents (for a large spool!). The box of threads came as an offering, a gift to the Quilt Ministry at our church from a small church in rural South Carolina. It all came about innocently, over pizza. I had been at Lutheridge and found myself discussing Augsburg's Quilt Ministry over our lunchtime meal with the Pastor of a congregation from Walterboro, South Carolina . He and his wife asked how they could help. They didn't have the space or the resources to start their own similar Ministry but they wanted to support ours. All I could think of was thread. Simple sewing thread, we used it for piecing and hemming the quilts and it can get costly over time. They smiled and said, "we'll see what we can do". I completely forgot about that conversation until the box arrived. Of course, it arrived in the most timely manner; just days before our Quilt Ministry resumed its weekly meetings after the summer break! I can only imagine the contents of that box being the result of a request printed in a church newsletter or worship bulletin; as it appeared to be the cleaned-out contents of many machine cabinet drawers and sewing baskets. I'll never forget the feeling I had when I opened that box. It was a gift ... it was grace!
I write this today as we have only yesterday resumed our weekly Quilt Ministry meetings after yet another summer break. We are still using up the thread provided by the saints of Walterboro, and there's no end of thread in sight. This thread is something akin to 'loaves and fishes' on spools; and I am still in awe of it all. Thanks be to God.
Life Is Good!
2 comments:
That is so cool. I never knew any of that... Too bad I could not have used that on my speech about your ministry last spring...
Kyle, there are blessings bestowed on that ministry too numerous to count.
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