Since we've been doing daily scripture writing in our Monthly Bible Quilt Journals for several years now, I thought it might be time to do a summary post so you know what topic lists are available that you may not have quilted yet.
If you haven't tried this version of a Bible Quilt®, I hope this post provides you with a good overview of the process and perhaps motivates you to start one!
Overview of a Monthly Bible Quilt Journal
Note: Every Monthly Bible Quilt Journal released so far has omitted actual dates, so they are flexible to use any year in which you choose for your purposes.
The calendar page is usually where I begin to prepare for each new month, writing in the dates and daily scripture reading/writing plan, as well as marking down BQ/church events.
Each Monthly BQ journal has a set of monthly tabs to help you divide your journal. For the themed journals there's also a set of topic tabs. For the non-themed journals, a blank set of tabs is provided so you can write in your own topics.
I've made several summary videos to show how the daily verses get stitched together on the journal's 2-page spread as I progressed in my devotional time. This may help you see how adaptable the quilt squares are for personalizing in your own style.
Monthly Journals with an Overall Theme
Some of our reference lists are paired with themed journals, such as Drawing Near to God and Building Upon a Firm Foundation.
Each of these journals have a featured template for each month that can be decorated with scriptures from that month's reference list.
Titles and creative elements are included on the 2-page spread for the daily verses that correspond with the monthly topic.
The benefit of diving in to either of these themed journals is that the scripture writing plan is already laid out for you, plus you can look back at examples of how we created with these topics.
Drawing Near to God: 2022 Year in Review
In addition to the formatted pages for daily verses and the featured template, the Monthly BQ Journals have two blank pages per month in which you can create your own freestyle pages or glue in another template design.
Each journal has a different colored coil so it's easy to differentiate between them. As you browse through photos of sample pages on the website or in the FB group, you can identify which journal is being referenced.
Building Upon a Firm Foundation: 2023 Year in Review
Monthly Journals without a theme
In 2021 I experimented with printing a small amount of Monthly BQ journals including some 2-page template spreads designed for daily verses, expanding my in-home shop. When it sold out, I made a printable version which is still available in the online shop.
This one has more generic designs so it is highly adaptable to any given topic. It's flexible for however you want to personalize it!
2021 was also our first year to work collectively on topics that we wanted to pursue together for a year. Members of the BQ community helped curate verses, which were formatted into bookmarks for each quarter of the year.
For 2024 I used a non-themed Monthly Bible Quilt Journal to pursue some scriptures related to my personal #wordfortheyear, Connect. Some BQ community members followed along with me and others explored their own topics or did a mix of both.
The featured templates in the 2024 Monthly BQJ were designed pretty openly so they're flexible for a wide variety of topics.
2020: the back story and kickstart of the Monthly Bible Quilt Journal
In the fall of 2019 I did a 2-page template spread on the topic of Gratitude. When I posted my pages, blog readers and FB group members seemed to really resonate with this idea. So I invited some of the regulars and local friends to join me in brainstorming some topics to focus on each month for the year 2020. You can get the whole list in one download:
We used some blank calendar pages and a few of the 30-day and 31-day generic templates to construct our journals. Through this DIY process, we realized the value of Bible Quilting the same scriptures in community and from that point I developed a Monthly BQJ for us all to use, offering both printed/bound and a printable version.
If you weren't around to do these topics with us, you can easily adapt them to go along with the 2024 Monthly Bible Quilt Journal. (Both just happened to be leap years, so the February set of 29-days works well.)
These single reference lists are available as free printables by using coupon code FREELIST, however, keep in mind that the online shop only allows for one coupon code per checkout transaction.
I've included a #wordfortheyear template with most of the Monthly BQ journals, which provides you with some focus for the full year.
These pages are also available as individual printables:
I hope this post opens up your possibilities to be creative with scripture on a daily basis, providing you with some monthly motivators for an annual scripture writing plan. Although I'm not releasing another Monthly BQJ specifically designed for 2025, one of these can be adapted for your own personal goals.
Application for these Monthly BQ Journals
Personal Enrichment
Flexible format to incorporate sermon notes
Completed journals serve as prayer resources
Topical reference to take photos of pages to encourage others as they face challenges
If you love to send greeting cards to encourage others, it helps to have verses you've quilted available as a quick resource to add a scripture to cards you're sending.
Tip: For at-home printing of templates, I prefer to use 67-lb vellum bristol paper for its texture.
Alrighty, my friends. I've thrown a lot of ideas out there for you to consider. I hope you find this overview helpful and/or inspirational rather than overwhelming. Follow your heart on what topics you feel the Lord is leading you to pursue.
Questions? Ideas?
Please leave in Comments section below.
You're also invited to join our next #zoomchat to discuss and brainstorm along with other BQ community members!
Quick access to current printed journals available:
Printable versions of these are available in the online shop as well as some combos in which I've bundled these journals with other products to help minimize shipping costs.
I'll also be listing some of these with the 2025 BQ Calendar.
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