Friday, March 18, 2011

Piecing Together Our Faith Heritage

Where does our faith come from? From God alone? From an inner mysterious source? Through the study and proclaiming of scripture? Through good works? Wow, this could generate some lively discussion! I am not a theologian and it is not Carrot Top Studio's calling to answer these questions. We see the studio as a vehicle for connecting the visual to the Word through the use of colors and symbols. Something else I know is that there have been a long line of women in my family that the church has been a central part of their life. This photo shows just a few...my grandmother, great aunt, and mother (that's me on the floor.) Many of you probably have very similar photos in your family archives. Coming across this photo and seeing a stash of reproduction fabrics from the 1930's on the studio shelves got our design minds and stitching fingers movin' in the studio this week. Thinking about women (and men) of the 1930's makes me smile. I know it was a time of the "great depression" but I smile because of the lessons we can learn from this time:

  • don't spend what you don't have,
  • don't pay someone else for something that you can learn or do or make yourself,
  • immediate gratification from obtaining 'things' is not as important as relationships with family, others and God.
So the 1930's reproduction fabric we had in our stash has become a statement/reminder of those times where these virtues were embraced. They are virtues that we can hold true today no matter what we believe of where faith comes from. We hope the pieced fabrics are a reminder of some of the best ways to "hold things together" in times of challenge. And that the butterfly will remind us of the promise of the Resurrection and the cross of our faith in the Triune God.


If these stoles interest you....find the one on the left at a special price here on eBay and the one on the right here on the Carrot Top Studio website. 

3 comments:

Mary Beth said...

Great post. My faith comes in large measure from my family and how I was raised in the church. Love those fabrics!!

Dawn Carlson said...

Away from the computer for a few days since I was visiting my mom and only had dial up.... UGH.... anyway, catching up and seeing these for the first time. My great grandmother was a notorious quilter who managed to pay off her farm mortgage during the depression by quilting. She sold these magnificent quilts for $2, making works of art from flour sacks and scraps of material. These remind me so much of her. Beautiful!

Carrot Top Studio said...

The fabrics are special to me also because there are generations of quilters in my family and my grandfather had a grain elevator and mill in Kansas...so some of the quilts have these similar feed sack fabrics in them. It's good to appreciate our history isn't it?