Deuteronomy 28:8 Blessed Obedience
Block Number: 220QUILT BLOCK #220: “DEUTERONOMY 28.8-BLESSED OBEDIENCE”
Richard and Beth Anderson became the newest hosts of a McDowell Quilt Trail block. The 4X4 foot block was installed by Mike Lucas and Alan Scholl on Friday April 14, 2017 on a barn behind their newly acquired home.
Richard was a Chaplain in the Air Force and Flight Medic, served as interim pastor at Cross Memorial Baptist Church and currently is a Chaplain in the Army Reserves as well as Hospice of McDowell County. Beth is a graduate of nursing school and currently serves as the grounds keeper at Ridgecrest Gardens.
Quilting has been in Beth’s entire life as her mother taught her growing up in South Carolina. Her mother would piece together and Beth would finish the quilting, and she learned to love the craft. She has made many of her own quilts, often using whatever material was on hand, including scraps from clothing such as her maternity and her daughter’s dresses. She finds it therapeutic and rewarding.
Beth has a unique way to express her quilting. She compares it to taking the scraps of life, piecing them together to make something beautiful that symbolizes a labor of love. “Quilting is not just a cover for a bed; there are many decisions to make, just as there in life.”
The Andersons have two daughters, one at Gardner Webb and one at Averett University, who have adored horses since they were very small. Subsequently they adopted two rescue animals which they had to pasture some distance from their home, traveling every day to Old Fort for their care.
Both the girls being in college now, the Andersons looked for a more convenient way to maintain the horses. Recently they moved in to a home built in 1917, which has an adjacent pasture and barn so they could have the horses near. There have been renovations to the quaint charming home over the years and the barn needed some work, but it was perfect. The pasture is maintained by a solar electric wire system and the horses seem content with their new habitat.
The quilt block was intended to be a June surprise wedding anniversary gift from Richard to Beth, however she found out about it beforehand, but was just as thrilled to be a part of forming the block pattern. She decided on a colorful “broken star” pattern with a cross in the middle of it.
The name of the block is a bible verse that inspired them to mount it on their barn as it seemed to have relevant meaning to their recent move. “Deuteronomy 28.8” makes reference that the Lord will provide a blessing on you, your barn and all you undertake in the land he is giving you.
Although Richard was away on duty the day of installation, Chairwoman Jill Lucas presented the Certificate of Authenticity to Beth, who was excited with the block and anxious to show him upon his return.
