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Sunday, February 25, 2007

Starting the Old Testament Women Blocks

Here are the first three blocks for the women of the Old Testament. I started with the new group, WOTB2, to study and make the blocks I missed when I started WOTB4 late.

The Garden of Eden block is for Eve, who is to blame for all our troubles (we have to blame someone), "The Devil made me do it". The story of Eve is pretty well known by most of us, she was made, by God, from Adam's rib, to be a helpmate to him. She was tempted by the serpent and ate the forbidden fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and then gave it to Adam who also partook. They were driven from the Garden to earn their food by the sweat of their brows and women would bear children with pain. Her story can be found at Genesis 1:26-31; Genesis 2 - 4

This pieced block looked to me like a formal garden plan of intersecting paths dividing 4 diamond in a square beds. Light gray green was chosen for the path; green for lush foliage; rose and orange for flowers; the red center square for sin; and gold for the light of God. This is Eden after sin entered. The red also represents the promised salvation to come.

Week 2 we studied Sarah, the wife of Abraham, and her block is the Sarah's Choice. Sarah followed Abraham to the unknown land of Canaan, that God promised to them and their offspring, who would become a great nation who would belong to God as no other people had. I wanted a joyful look for Sarah's block and chose the light salmon red fabric first because it looked like desert colors. I then chose the red to represent Sarah's love, courage, and strong will. The yellow gold represents her happy laughter on hearing she would bear a child in her old age. The gold lines symbolize God's plan for the salvation of mankind through her child, Issac, and the family nation that would rise from his seed. This block was traditionally pieced.

Sarah's story is located at Genesis 12:1-20; 16:1-8; 17:1-22; 18:1-15; 21:1-13; Galatians 4:22-31

Week 3 was the study of Hagar, the Egyptian slave of Sarah, she was given to Abraham to have a child for Sarah, when Sarah gave up hope of having a child of her own. She gave birth to Ishmael and "let pride overtake her when she became Abraham's wife. A lonely women with few resources, she suffered harsh punishment for her mistake. She obeyed God's word as soon as she heard it and was given a promise that her son would become the father of a great nation."
Read her story in Genesis 16; 21: 8-21; Galatians 4:22-31

For Hagar's Wandering Foot block I chose the blue green to symbolize that her life and that of her son was saved through the intervention of God. The red represents her love for her son Ishmael. The light blue green of the background is for the water in the well provided to them in the desert. The gold as always shows forth the light of God in their lives. This block was fused and machine appliqued with gold thread.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

beautiful choices all around. I was resting to try to get ahead of my arthritis all weekend, and was not able to get started on mine. I mostly sat in the recliner and knit.

Rian said...

Beautiful blocks, all three. I just love this series.

Deborah M. said...

Very beautiful as usual. This will be such an interesting quilt.
If I didn't respond previously, thanks for the kind words on my FEb. 12(3) Challenge Quilt block.

SeamRippstress said...

Is this my favorite? I can't decide they are all so moving and wonderful. Can hardly wait to see your finished quilt!