Reflect the Light....my Stitching Cosmos journey....

..."Nothing can dim the light that shines from within"--Maya Angelou

Reflect the Lights' journey started January 2017. My friend and partner in quilting crimes--Lois--and I, decided to take the Stitching Cosmos class being offered by Sara at Heirloom Creations. The class is still taught at the store or you can find sewing machine brand specific online versions at Teachable.

"Stars don't shine because they want to be seen. They shine because they are stars."

--Alexander Den Heijer

Low volume quilts--quilts with backgound fabrics that read as a light but have a subtle secondary pattern on them--were just starting to become popular during 2016. The thought of making a Stitching Cosmos quilt using low volume background fabrics and a rainbow of thead colors intrigued me. Would the thread--and in turn the stitching--become the star of the quilt? I was ready to find out.

"The darkness around us might somewhat light up if we would practice using the light we have in the place we are." --Henry S. Haskins

All of the stitching you see on this quilt was done with the decorative stitches in my machine--you know those 10,000 stitches that are so pretty, but you have no idea what to do with??? Stitch them out!! Use them.

Each monthly lesson would focus on a new techinque. Pintucks. Spanish hemstitch. Couching. Metallic thread. Double needles. Bobbin work. Combine them with the decorative stitches to create a thing of beauty!

"We are told to let our light shine, and if it does we won't need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don't fire cannons to call attention to the shining-they just shine."  --Dwight L. Moody

Finding just the right stitches to tell my rainbow story was so much fun!!!

"Ours is the responsibility to keep our lights bright for others to follow." --Thomas S. Monson

More couching. A pleated ruffle sewn into the curve. Bias strip. Flower stitches. Rainbow threads.

"Simply shine your light on the road ahead, and you are helping others to see their way out of darkness."  --Katrina Meyer

Chenille. Stitched words. Narrow hemmed gathered ruffle.

Inset circles. More Couching--I could have went overboard with that--but had so many pretty choices from the "Fiber Exchange" we did in class.

"Small lights have a way of being seen in a dark world." --Neal A. Maxwell

Buttonholes. Rainbow rick rack.

"Be a rainbow in somebody else's cloud."  --Maya Angelou

Umbrella decorative stitch. Mini pom-poms! Rainbow. Striped. Piped. Binding!!!

"Let your light shine today, and let your personality blossom too. You don't have to be a people-pleaser, just a people-lover."  --Beth Moore

And who could resist this swinging on rainbows fabric for the backing!!!!

"In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present." --Francis Bacon

"You are the light of the world. A city 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 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."  Matthew 5:14-16