I wanted to show this design very last in the book, because I felt like it was a great end-cap for my journey thus far in hand lettering. This design took me over 20 hours to complete, and was much more thought out than my other lettering designs.
Here is a little bit of background on what the design means and where the words came from…
I was born and raised here in Northern Utah. I have been religious my entire life. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. From a young age I was taught good values- how to love God, how to love my brothers, sisters and neighbors, how to be honest, kind, chaste, strong, and to strive to live in a way that God can be proud of me.
The lettering in this piece are the words from what members of the church call “The Articles of Faith”. They are kind of like the cliff’s notes of what members of Christ’s church believes. I remember when I was in grade school learning these 13 articles and doing my best to memorize them and recite them. I hold them very dearly, and they have become a wonderful tool in helping me to be a missionary and invite other’s to come unto Christ and learn about his teachings.
For Christmas of 2018, I created this lettering design and then I order 1,000 copies as a reversible 18×24 inch poster. One side was the above black and white design and the back was rainbow lettering with a black background.
These posters are what we decided to give as Christmas gifts to every single home within our ward boundaries, which was about 250 houses. (A ward is basically a congregation comprised of a designated geographical boundary. No matter where you are in the world, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has a designated church house where you can go, and a ward that would accept you with open arms.)
I still have many of these posters, and I sell them on my website. Many friends and family that I originally gave posters to for Christmas ended up purchasing more copies to share with their friends and family, which was great! My only goal with selling them is to make my money back on what it cost to have them printed.
I really loved this design so much, and I also ended up having it printed onto fabric to make quilts with it. This was a design that I printed onto fabric a few times, and made a few quilts with, with no real plan on where they would end up. It has been amazing as I have felt so prompted to make these quilts just to keep on hand, and give away to families that the spirit directs me to.
So far I have given 2 quilts away with this design on it to fellow members of the church- people who I knew would appreciate the message and have the same belief system I do. The first was given to a close friend of mine, whom I served with in the Young Women’s Presidency. (She the President and I the 1st Counsellor) when her sister unexpectedly passed away, leaving behind a husband and children. It was such an amazing blessing to me to be able to act on promptings from the Holy Ghost because the quilt was already finished, bound and all (and if you know me, you know that I really do not like binding) so this was just a huge testimony builder to me to give her this quilt and be an instrument in God’s hands in bringing her some comfort in her time of pain and grief.
The second time I used this design was for another close friend of ours. They are also a family we go to church with who unexpectedly lost their 17 year old son to suicide. This was a really sad and hard time for our entire ward, but of course especially so for his parents. I was able to give them a quilt with this same design (we did a blue ombre on black color scheme with a really soft fleece backing) and just to provide even a tiny smidgen of comfort in such a tragic time was a real tender mercy.
I find myself time and time again realizing just how much of an impact a handmade quilt can mean to someone. (Although most of the time I fear it is more for me as the maker than it is for them as the recipient.) But when I just feel so helpless, and I know there is no way I can completely take away someone’s pain, I can at least ACT on the Spirit’s guidance to show love where I can. I am not a great comforter, or an eloquent speaker. Nor am I the best hug giver, or qualified therapist. But I can make a darn good quilt. So that is what I will keep doing.
If this design speaks to you and you’d like to order a quilt top for yourself, you can do so by clicking here.
Thank you SO SO SO much for reading.
-Karlee