Empty Sea (AKA MTC)

Why do we send our young missionaries to the MTC (Empty Sea) to become fishers of men? (teehee!)

No better way to celebrate my mom's birthday than going to tour the new additions to the Missionary Training Center in Provo, UT! Heather and I and six of our kids joined us on the tour. 

 We learned that the Provo MTC is one of fifteen centers around the world. We got to see the cafeteria, gym, dorms, classrooms, and study areas around the campus.

 The new building has many beautiful murals portraying scenes from the scriptures. Here's two hopeful future sister missionaries! It was also fun to imagine their cousin, Sister Amanda Severson, now serving in Perth, Australia, walking these halls just a couple months ago.

 Two more missionary hopefuls.  These boys are halfway to missionary age (my goodness, where does the time go??) and they loved exploring the maze of halls and rooms throughout the MTC.

 Xochitl's favorite area was this calm studying area. She loved the decor on the walls and the scriptures on the squares--kind of like a treasure hunt for the scriptures. We waited here for a short film in one of the classrooms.

Heather had many great memories of the MTC to share with us. Here she learned Spanish and many principles of gospel teaching for her mission in New Jersey.  I didn't spend time in the MTC before my mission. Our training involved many hours of rehearsal time with the Nauvoo Brass Band.  However, I did spend many hours in the MTC as a BYU student. My upper level Spanish classes required us to volunteer using our language skills, so I decided to go to the Training Resource Center at the MTC and pose as an investigator for the missionaries learning Spanish to practice with. There were some comical moments in the TRC, but more than anything, no matter the reason, the MTC is always filled with the spirit inviting you to try to preach the word to all the world. I know the missionaries that are trained here are called by Heavenly Father to serve His children all around the world. It's a wonderful place! 

Eight to Midnight

Eight o'clock is bed time for the kids.  Eight to midnight is my time. The time to learn something new, the time to watch Netflix, or the time to take on an insanely large project.

These past two months, my eight to midnight has been a mission quilt for my wonderful in-laws who just returned from their mission in Japan. Jon's mom has/had a tradition of making a quilt for her missionary kids after they returned from their missions.  Jon's quilt is incredible. It includes a tie from each of his companions crafted into a block, an applique map of Mexico and the quilting surrounding it continuing the map with waves for the ocean and grid for the land, and embroidered names of each companion and the area which he served with that companion. It is exquisite.

Then one day it dawned on me: Who will make a mission quilt for mom and dad? Of course! I would! Why did I think I could accomplish such a feat? I dunno... it seemed like a good idea at the time.

So the next day, I searched Google images for "Japanese quilt," "Japanese symbols," and "Japan fonts." Then I drew a picture.  This is the picture:

It was just on the back of a piece of scratch paper.  That's how these things start, I guess.  With an idea on a piece of scratch paper.

And so it began. I shopped, I snipped, I sewed...

One Patch at a time... 

I decided to use applique since I don't have much/any experience with complicated piecing. I cut out each shape, starting with the largest piece and adding each smaller piece on top with fusible webbing. I used several different kinds. For the larger pieces of fabric, it was easiest to use the "one sticky side" style and for the small stuff, like the Japan letters and cherry blossoms, the double sided sticky webbing was the easiest--it made the fabric stiff and easy to get little details out of it, like the hole in the A's and P.

I had some trouble deciding what to put in the middle patch... so it was the very last one I made...

When I got the entire top pieced, I thought I was almost done... HA! Anyone who's hand quilted a king-sized quilt knows that piecing the top is just the beginning... then comes the framing and the HOURS UPON HOURS (for me and my slow quilting, anyway) of following the lines along the quilt.

My frames weren't big enough to do the whole quilt at once, so I framed and quilted the top third and middle, then re-framed to reach the other side

There's a delicate balance in quilting... the more lines you follow, the more details you quilt in, the more beautiful and intricate the quilt looks...BUT... the more lines and details, the more time you spend quilting. Mine was not the most detailed quilt, but I did like some of the small details I added, like the ribs on the fan and the criss-crosses between the patches. 

Mom Koberstein came and helped quilt a couple days, but a lot of quilting days looked like this by dinnertime: kid hurricane happened unobstructed... 

Coming down the home stretch! After completing the quilting at 1am on May 28, It was time to bind! On the denim quilts I've made, I used the backing folded over the top to bind the quilt, but I wanted to use binding tape for this one. I like the way it adds one little splash of color around the edges of the quilt.

 And then finally! On June 4 at 4:15pm, at Bay Aerials Gymnastics, I finished the quilt! The manager there came and asked what I was doing...turned out to be a little missionary moment of my own.

 Larry took pictures documenting the occasion.

At home on the floor all finished... 

And Modeling it on our bed!

 Close-up on the center patch...

 Close-up on one of my favorite details (which I fought hard against for a long time, but at long last, Jon was right about the cherry blossoms... I love them!)

And thus the Japan mission quilt was completed and presented to Elder and Sister Koberstein in remembrance of their excellent service in Japan!