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JONI WOLF
The Storyteller
At the age of four is when Joni first remembers telling stories. This is mostly thanks to her dad.
Her family was living states away from all relatives, but one aunt made certain Joni would not feel forgotten. Joni's Aunt Virgie purchased a reel-to-reel tape recorder for each of them and then she would record herself reading Bible stories to Joni and mail the tapes to Joni.
Joni enjoyed receiving the regularly sent gifts and listening to the stories, she would later come to know as God's Word. In exchange and thanks for the gifts, Joni's dad would record young Joni telling stories to send back to his sister for her enjoyment. And thus, at the age of four, Joni became a storyteller.
A year later, Joni returned to Indiana with parents and a brand new sister. They moved in with her paternal grandmother. While her father was working to transform an old log home into a home for his family and her mother was busy tending to her new sister, Joni hung out with her grandmother and followed her everywhere. She loved going to church with her grandmother and she fell in love with the hymns: I Love To Tell the Story, Trust and Obey, and In the Garden.
While living with her grandmother Joni was introduced to quilting. Together they would go to Ladies Aid meetings at the church for some all day quilting. The ladies would give Joni her own needle to pull up and down the layers of fabric, and even though her stitches looked nothing like her grandmother's or those of her friends, they let her participate in the making of a beautiful quilt.
Women of the Ebenezer Church Ladies Aid.
Grandma is the one wearing red shoes.
ABOUT IQM
The Call
Her call to make a quilt to honor the name of Jesus and tell His Story came in a dream. God speaks in many ways to communicate his plans, and to Joni, He gave her assignment in a dream.
With the help of other quilters, the quilt was completed in just five months, and immediately following, Joni was out sharing His Story with what has been named by God, The Immanuel Quilt.
Joni founded the Immanuel Quilt Ministry, a non-profit organization, in 2014 the same year the quilt was completed. Later that year, the TribStar caught wind of the story of the Immanuel Quilt and requested an interview. The publication appeared two weeks before Christmas and jump-started the ministry. The following year she had over thirty engagements booked.
The Lord did not only give Joni instructions for the design of the quilt, He requested she get a journal and record its story; write about the place He would take her with the quilt. Long story short, God even selected the journal.
Inside you will find the story of how the quilt came to be and confirmations that from the east to west coast people are talking about the Immanuel Quilt.
Turned out that journaling the story was only practice writing for when she would be called to write the Immanuel Quilt, and later, Faith to Believe.
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THE IQM STORY BUS
A Promise Fulfilled
In the summer of 2022, while out for a sunset drive with her husband, Tom, Joni spotted a purple school bus for sale at the side of the road. As they drove past the bus, Joni heard the Lord say that one day she would have a purple bus for Immanuel Quilt Ministry and . . .it would be gifted to her.
God showed her in a vision that it would be a storytelling oasis, something intriguing to take to festivals, fairs, and more to tell the story of Jesus with the Immanuel Quilt. She took God's word as a promise, and she told many people God was going to gift her a bus.
Well, all God's promises are 'Yes' and 'Amen'. Joni was gifted a bus!
A LIFE OF LOVE
Joni and Tom
Joni, and her husband, Tom, both serve to make Christ known. Tom pastors a small rural church and he is also the driver of the IQM Story Bus.
Joni and Tom, high school sweethearts, have been married 45 years. Long before AI became a thing of creating your love song, your love story, Joni had a husband wife singer/songwriter duo put their story to son to surprise Tom for their 30th wedding anniversary.
BIO
Joni Wolf
Joni calls herself a happy wife, grateful mom, proud grandmother, enthusiastic storyteller, novice quilter, compulsive researcher, vivid dreamer, incompetent blogger, creative crafter, budding puppet builder, nervous traveler, gingerbread collector, and maker, author, and storyteller of the Immanuel Quilt.
Joni and Tom live in Pittsboro, Indiana, and have two married sons and six active grandchildren.