Quilted for Christmas: Quilts of Love Series

About The Book:  New from Abingdon Press’ Quilts of Love series | Quilted by Christmas
A grandmother’s last wish is to communicate God’s love through an Irish chain quilt.  Taryn McKenna believes she’s easy to forget. Abandoned by her parents and left behind when her high school sweetheart joined the army, she vows to never love again and throws herself into her love for the outdoors and the pursuit of a college degree—something no one else in her family has ever accomplished. Her goal, as a young teacher in the hills of North Carolina, is to leave a legacy in the lives of the middle‑schoolers she teaches.  When Taryn’s grandmother Jemma, the only other person who ever held her close, has a heart attack that reveals a fatal medical condition, Taryn is corralled into helping Grandma work on a final project—an Irish chain quilt that tells the story of her history and the love Jemma knows is out there for Taryn. As the pieces of the quilt come together, Taryn begins to see her value. Can she learn to believe that God will never leave her behind even though others have?
Purchase a copy and learn more at the Quilts of Love website.


About The Author:  Jodie Bailey is Tarheel born and bred. After 15 years as a military spouse, she settled with her family back in North Carolina. She is the author of the military suspense novel “Freefall” and is a contributor to a devotional for military families, “Fighting Fear: Winning the War at Home.” While not working on her next novel, she teaches middle‑schoolers to love writing as much as she does.  Find out more about Jodie at http://JodieBailey.com.


My Thoughts On The Book:  I am a softy when it comes to Christmas and decorating for the holidays.  I am a huge lover of quilts and wish I did some.  I truly believe that every quilt has a story.  I have read all the Quilts of Love books and I proclaim that each one is my favorite, but this one really touched my heart strings.  The characters were very real and you just felt you were sucked into the story as soon as you opened the book to the first page.  Bailey weaves a wonderful story of love, hurts, forgiveness, and God.  If you are a quilter you need to read this book.  If you love Christmas and believe in miracles then you too need to read this book.  This was a great book to kick off the Christmas warm fuzzies.  I loved it.


Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Litfuse, as part of their Book Review Blogger Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”  Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you! 

To Quilt Or Not To Quilt

I have been doing book reviews lately that are quilt themed.  The fact that they are brought back some old memories.  You see, I have always thought I wanted to quilt....that is until my mother-in-law's quilting group tried to teach me.  I was very much pregnant with my youngest daughter and the ladies were making a quilt for me.  I wanted to help so they invited me to the basement, gave me a needle and thread, and let me go.  Wrong move!  After I had quilted about six squares the ladies said they were hungry and wanted to know if I would go upstairs and fix them a snack.  I was thrilled to go.  When I finished the snack and headed back down the stairs I heard the ladies say, "Come on Odel we have got to get her away from the quilt.  She is terrible.  I have seen men sew better than she does."  I sat down at the top of the stairs and cried."  I heard them wondering aloud what was taking me so long, so I got up, washed my face, and headed down the stairs.  After lunch, when the quilting began again I acted like my back was bothering me and the ladies seemed ok with my response.  I  went on to do smocking, French hand sewing, candlewicking, needlepoint, cross-stitch....but never quilting.  My grandmother Sasser was amazing with a needle and thread and could quilt anything.  My aunt Shirley was an amazing quilter.  The sad thing is that none of  the younger ones seemed to have the desire to do these old arts.  One day they will be extinct and that will be so sad.  When I look at my quilts they tell me stories, stories about life, stories about family, stories about love.  Maybe one day when I retire I will finally sit down long enough to pick up a needle, thread, and some scraps and start quilting my story.  Funny.....as I write this post I am humming a familiar tune from Carole King's Tapestry album. 

"My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue
An everlasting vision of the ever-changing view
A wondrous, woven magic in bits of blue and gold
A tapestry to feel and see, impossible to hold

Once amid the soft silver sadness in the sky
There came a man of fortune, a drifter passing by
He wore a torn and tattered cloth around his leathered hide
And a coat of many colors, yellow-green on either side

He moved with some uncertainty, as if he didn't know
Just what he was there for, or where he ought to go
Once he reached for something golden hanging from a tree
And his hand came down empty

Soon within my tapestry along the rutted road
He sat down on a river rock and turned into a toad
It seemed that he had fallen into someone's wicked spell
And I wept to see him suffer, though I didn't know him well

As I watched in sorrow, there suddenly appeared
A figure gray and ghostly beneath a flowing beard
In times of deepest darkness, I've seen him dressed in black
Now my tapestry's unraveling - he's come to take me back
He's come to take me back"