:: mini quilt monday: salt + light ::

This week, I am super excited to show you my completed mini quilt. I am actually just super excited that I met my my September goal of finishing my mini-quilt within the month and consistently posting each Monday on my progress.

So, do you have any guesses as to what all those circles and rectangles are that I gave you a sneak peak of in photos of the quilt top the past two weeks?

What about now that you can see the whole quilt? Think dot-dot-dash...

That's right—it's Morse code.

Above: Morse code chart from Wikipedia.

Did you figure out what the quilt spells out? Well, obviously I am about to tell you, so don't worry about it if you didn't look it up on the chart.  If you did look it up on the chart, you were probably one of those kids that didn't read through the whole test first like the teacher recommended. Anyway, the quilt spells out:

B

E

S

A

L

T

A

N

D

L

I

G

H

T

This is a reference to Matthew 5:13-14 where Jesus says "You are the salt of the earth...You are the light of the world." The full verses are:

"You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under by people's feet."

"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."

My original intent with this design was to have something to hang up in my house that would somehow remind me of these verses. But I am just not the kind of person that can handle a cute little cross-stitched Bible verse surrounded by pastel flowers tied in blue ribbons hanging up in the guest bathroom. *Shudder* Umm, I also don't feel the need to give my guests a moral lesson just because they have to pee, so I plan to hang this in my bedroom (not my guest bathroom) in case you were wondering.

So anyway, I knew the quilt needed to be modern and clean-lined. Morse code fit my vision perfectly. I also like that the meaning behind the quilt is not immediately obvious to the viewer.

For the quilting, I hand-stitched around the dots and dashes in thread color corresponding to the dot or dash color. I then machine-stitched around the letters to create a maze-like texture. The white and tan striped binding was kind of on a whim. The material was at the top of a fabric stack in my closet, and I decided to go for it. I am really happy with the result. It complements the quilting just right. Plus, I am mildly obsessed with stripes. So, I think they always look good.

That's a wrap on this project—a year and 2 months in the making. Thanks, Faith, for putting that mini-quilt challenge up on your blog. If it weren't for that, this quilt would probably still be living where it had been for the past 13 months—in my sketchbook.