OK Solberg: 00:00

I wanna again welcome you to The 405 Coffee Break. Hang on to your hat. It's windy out there. Go fly a kite and get a cup of coffee. Glass iced tea or bottled water. Let's see what's happening

OK Solberg: 00:10

Spring wheat $5.37 a bushel. A 550lb steer calf $4.41, butcher hog in Iowa, 64¢ a pound, and a 100lb fat lamb in Billings will fetch you $2.21. But, guys, there's more, much more. Okay. I'm gonna start this episode with a bible verse, and the bible verse comes from Colossians 3:14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Love binds them together in perfect unity.

OK Solberg: 00:51

Now I selected that verse because something that gets bound together is a quilt. And I know there's quilters out there that listen and they're kind and they don't tell me, but they often get tired of baseball or engines and what cubic inches even mean, which means nothing to them, but they keep listening.

OK Solberg: 01:13

Just hoping that maybe one day, he'll talk about quilts. Well, today is the day, and I found this delight ful story online, and I couldn't wait to share it. It was written by a lady who answers to the name of Carol. Listen and see if you can relate. Carol's little story is titled Threads of My Life.

OK Solberg: 01:40

My name's Carol, and I write this story for others like me. If you've ever pieced together a quilt, then you already know a little about me. Now I've been quilting for over forty years, longer than I've been doing anything else, really, longer than I've been a wife, longer than I've been a mother or grandmother. Quilting found me before I knew what I wanted to be, and it's never let go. It started with scraps, bits of my mama's old dresses, my daddy's worn out work shirts, and the curtains that used to hang in our kitchen window.

OK Solberg: 02:21

We couldn't afford to waste a thing back then, but somehow those scraps became something beautiful when they were stitched together. I remember the first time I ran my hand over a finished quilt top, feeling the seams rise like a map of my own little world. I thought, this is what love looks like, rough in places, but holding strong. Through the years, quilting became more than a hobby. It's been a kind of prayer for me, a quiet, steady rhythm that keeps time with my heart.

OK Solberg: 03:01

When life got messy, and it surely did, I turned my needle and thread. When my babies were sick, when my husband worked late, when the house was too quiet after the kids moved out, I quilted. Stitch by stitch, I found my way through. Every quilt I've ever made tells a story whether I meant it to or not. Some are bright and bold, full of laughter and springtime colors.

OK Solberg: 03:34

Others are soft and worn, stitched through tears and long nights. Each one holds a little piece of my life. And when I give one away, well, I like to think I'm sending a bit of myself with it. Something warm, something steady, something that'll last. Now my hands aren't as quick as they used to be, but they still remember.

OK Solberg: 04:00

The fabric still feels right between my fingers, and when the needle slips through the cloth, I still get that same small thrill, the one that says, you're making something that matters. So, yes, I've been quilting for decades, and I reckon I'll keep it on as long as I can thread a needle because quilting isn't just what I do. It's how I love, how I remember, and how I stay stitched together. So when I look at the quilts folded in my cupboard, some bright, some faded, I don't just see fabric and thread. I see a life stitched together with love one piece at a time, Thy end.

OK Solberg: 04:49

Now what was that verse that we heard at the start? And over all these virtues, put on love which binds them all together in perfect unity. Colossians 3:14 Now that was nice. That's even as good as baseball.

OK Solberg: 05:06

Until next time, as you go out there, remember now. Don't be bitter.