Journaling Through the Word Bible Quilt® Project: Genesis
- Dianna
- Feb 1
- 6 min read
Updated: Mar 23
Genesis is the first book of the Old Testament and is part of the Pentateuch. It is about God creating the world and choosing a special people.
I recently finished reading it as part of my reading plan for this year and thought I'd share with you some ways I'm capturing its message in my Bible Quilt Journaling.
I started a summary BQJ page on Genesis by stamping "In the beginning..." then placed blue and green sticker letters to make the title at the bottom of the page. I lightly traced a circle to reserve a space for notes about the book itself (author, date written, etc.)
The first column is a summary of creation and the next column covers the story of Adam and Eve, transitioning quickly to Noah and then on to Abraham. The concept of COVENANT is introduced and is an ongoing theme throughout the Bible, so I highlighted it as part of Noah's story.
Bible Quilting Genesis
I capitalized the names of the people and added color to the block letters to highlight them. Sometimes I changed the color of the pen I was using to help visually delineate between people.
Once I completed the #scripturewriting, I reviewed the whole page and added some more color in the background of the quilt squares.
Color blocking seemed an efficient way to differentiate between topics and characters.
When I reached Joseph, I used the same color palette throughout and dedicated the second half of the page to his storyline. I used some multicolor washi tape around his name as a visual reminder of his "coat of many colors." (I'll be doing a separate page on Joseph using another template.)
Caveat: I began working in this larger WORD journal with only blank pages years ago and did the Genesis summary on just 2 pages. Note that I can write really small. I adapted as I went along, trying to estimate how much of each chapter I could represent while aiming to finish the last chapter at the end of the 2nd page.
You'll need to adapt for spacing in the 8.5 x 11 Journaling Through the Word BQ journal materials, allowing for additional blank/template pages to do your Bible Quilting as fully as you would like. Notice that I didn't write everything verbatim, but tried to capture the flow of events succinctly. Whenever there was a topic shift, I often added a stitch line or embellishment. I also changed colors of my pens and shaded the backgrounds differently to delineate changes in the storyline or to emphasize certain phrases. You'll learn your own style as you go along.
With 50 chapters, Genesis has a lot of territory to cover on our BQ pages yet it is full of such rich history!
I'm taking additional notes in my Journaling Through the Word BQJ, using the Genesis template out of the Old Testament packet linked below.
Reminder:
Add washi tape to the top border of your templates before hole punching.
Use the sticker sheet below to help you with illustrations.
Pulling all this together has been a rewarding process that has kept me saturated in the miraculous creation story and God's desire to DWELL with His people.
Here's a brief summary video of the multiple ways YOU can capture Genesis using Bible Quilting techniques and materials, too:
Genesis is full of interesting characters such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. You may want to study one or two more in-depth. Here's a sample BQ page I did a while back on Eve that may give you an idea regarding mixing study notes with Bible passages. video overview
I'm also cross-referencing female characters of Genesis I've done in my Women of the Word BQJ. I'm grateful to have explored these stories in-depth last year, which allows me to view them in context (and not get too sidetracked on them as I proceed with this project).
Since Genesis has several stories that are characteristically "Sunday School" material, you may invite your kids/grandkids to do some BQ pages on familiar stories such as Noah's Ark.
"God said, Let there be light: and there was light." Genesis 1:3
The variety of themes in Genesis may inspire you to create pages on specific topics, such as Light, Creation, and the Flood.
Throughout your exploration of Genesis, you may encounter verses that you'd like to add to your ABC Journal. You can simply add the keyword and reference to your ABC flip cards or may want to immediately add that verse onto the specific letter page as you go.
As you read through Genesis in your Bible, you may want to highlight keywords or phrases that impact you. Or you may even be inspired to embellish passages with hand drawn illustrations or stickers. Go for it!
All these overlaps of reading, scripture writing, and illustrating will reinforce our learning as we make connections between characters of the Bible and long ago events that ripple forward into our experiences, too.
Additional Resources:
Video Overview of Genesis, part one from The Bible Project
Video Overview of Genesis, part two from the Bible Project
I'm printing the BibleProject poster on the back side of my Genesis template and adding a sticker of the QR codes of the Genesis overview videos. I like having the video easily accessible without having to search for it each time.
I formatted a set of these video QR codes for all of the Old Testament books as a free printable for us to use throughout our project. I printed mine on full label sheets (clear) to make it into a sticker page.
Adam to Noah - series in the Bible Project Classroom
"So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them." Genesis 1:27
Digital options:
Alrighty, that gives you a WHOLE lot of ideas to pursue!
I'd encourage you to percolate on the various avenues you'd like to explore with the content of Genesis. Consider doing this in layers over time.
One entry point could be to start with Bible reading and jotting details on flip cards.
Another layer could be entering notes on the Genesis template. If you're doing the Bible Recap or the Bible Project reading plans, you'll be gleaning plenty to fill this out, utilizing it as a foundation for your Bible Quilting summary pages.
Probably the most time consuming will be the BQ scripture writing, especially if you want to incorporate embellishments into it. Perhaps this is what appeals to you the most right now because it's strictly engaging with scripture upon scripture. You might be in an emotional place of just wanting to absorb the Word, not make it an intellectual endeavor of identifying details or note-taking. This is basically how I started years ago and it was a very calming process for me.
A parallel sidestep into a character study would align with the Women in the Word BQJ if you've done some of that.
Earlier in this post were ideas about other BQ versions or Bible journaling. Synthesis what bits and pieces resonate with you.
🙏 Consider you current season of life, what the Lord's direction is for you... then plan something as a "starter" for now, and a "next step" to take in 2027. This will help adjust your expectations of how much you can get done and individualize your path forward to allow for pacing that fits the best for you.
Join us to discuss further at the next BQ Zoom
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