Shepherd's Light: Road to Heaven

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Shepherd's Light
Road to Heaven

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside quiet waters.

He restores my soul;

He guides me in the paths of righteousness

For His name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I fear no evil, for You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me,

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You have anointed my head with oil;

My cup overflows.

Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Listen for the Shepherd's voice: where is He leading you? Sometimes it's difficult to hear Him calling when the world is so very loud. But, even when the world calls it foolishness; when fear urges us to the wide road, the Shepherd's narrow way is the path of righteousness. There are bumps along the way, we occasionally stumble, maybe even get ourselves turned around. But, once we answer His call, we know He has claimed us as His own and will guide us in His path. I am so grateful, both for His call and for companions on this journey: together let us listen for that still small voice that continually encourages, guides, exhorts.

One foot in front of the other, knowing He has a plan for us, trust in His straight paths. Continually seeking to follow the Shepherd, know He is gently guiding us on the Road to Heaven, not for our own purposes, but so that we can bring glory to His Name! Pray for me: I will pray for you. Even if I never meet you in person during this leg of the journey, we will worship Him together when we finally reach Home.

Step 1 Choose fabrics

This block will look familiar to friends who followed the Rejoice! mystery: we included a 6" lower contrast version in that quilt.

Like most "road" patterns, there is a strong diagonal line in this block: the bright A is the light on the path, the surrounding patches are darker. Who among us would have the courage to follow Christ if He showed us everything that lies around and ahead of us? Our sketches above show the darkest fabric next to the road blocks; the diagrams offer an alternate version with the lightest fabric in the D position. Spend a moment or two with your fabric scraps or pencil crayons to find the best placement for your block.

Step 2 Cutting:

Fabric	Patch	First Cut	Then Cut	You will have
Bright	A	1 strip 3 1/2"x 15"	at 3 1/2" intervals	4 squares 3 1/2"
Medium Light	E	1 strip 3 7/8" x 14"	at 3 7/8" intervals	3 squares 3 7/8"
Light	C	1 rectangle 6 1/2" x 7 1/2"	-	1 rectangle 6 1/2"x 7 1/2"
Medium Dark	D	1 strip 3 7/8" x 14	at 3 7/8" intervals	3 squares 3 7/8"
Dark Medium	B	1 strip 3 1/2" x 9"	at 4 1/2" intervals	2 rectangles 3 1/2" x 4 1/2"

Step 3 - 1/2 Square Triangles:
Hint: if you find your finished patches are a bit small, try cutting the squares 1/8" bigger - in this case, 4" square. Trim them to size after you sew.

Draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of each D square. Place a D square right sides together with an E square.
Sew 1/4" away from the diagonal line.
Without breaking the thread, feed another pair of squares under the presser foot and continue sewing. When you have finished sewing all the squares, without breaking the thread, turn the string under the machine, and starting with the last squares, sew 1/4" away from the other side of the drawn line.
Cut along the drawn line, then clip threads, trim dogears and press all the half-square units with seams toward the darker fabric.

Step 4 - "Wing" Units

Paying close attention to the diagram for fabric placement sew an A square to a 1/2 square triangle unit from Step 2. Make 4.
Sew these units together in pairs to make "wing" units. Make 2 units. Set aside.

Step 5 - Shaded four-patch units
I've never been a big fan of sewing bias edges. This method, adapted from Billie Lauder's excellent method for Shaded four-patch units, avoids the problems with bias. As a bonus, you'll make both four-patch units at one time.

Sew a B rectangle to each of the remaining 1/2 square triangles from step 2. Pay close attention to the shading. Press seams toward the B rectangles
Sew these units together to make an elongated 4-patch. Don't worry! The seams aren't supposed to match in the centre! Clip the long seam in the middle almost to the stitching, then press each half of the seam toward the B rectangle. Set this unit face up on the top of your table or cutting board - be sure it looks exactly like the diagram- the 1/2 square triangle units should be on the upper right and the lower left.

Hint: I prefer to use a square ruler for this step, but you may certainly use a long one if that's all you have - just be sure you can identify the 45° line.

Align the diagonal line of your square ruler (or the 45° line if you're using a long ruler) with the short edge of the C rectangle (wrong side up), so that the top corner of the ruler is on the upper left corner of the rectangle.
Using an erasable pen, or a fine pen or pencil, draw a line from the corner to the opposite long side of the rectangle - it won't be on the corner! This will be your stitching line, so be sure you use something that will either wash out or not show through to the front.
Turn the rectangle around, realign the diagonal of the ruler along the other short edge, again matching the corner of the ruler to the corner of the rectangle. Draw another line.The two lines will be almost (but not quite) parallel. (see the sketch.)
Place the rectangle on top of the 4-patch unit, being sure you keep the fabrics in the direction of the diagrams.
Sew ON the lines. Cut between the stitching lines. Lay the 1/4" mark of your ruler along the seam line and sliver trim the seams to an accurate 1/4"
Press units open. You will have two shaded 4-patch units. Square them up to 6 1/2"

Step 6- Assemble block

Sew each wing unit to a 4-patch unit, paying close attention to the direction. Press seams toward the shaded four-patch units. Sew the two units together to make a block.

The finished block should measure 12 1/2" square.

Next block

Looking for more Bible Blocks? A dozen beautiful blocks in three sizes plus hints for starting your own quilt group:

The Word in Patchwork