Having Fun with Peacock Plumes

Hello and welcome to my stop on the Peacock Plumes virtual blog hop, celebrating Tammy Silvers' new signature line with Island Batik. Peackock Plumes is full of rich colours and beautiful prints. For this blog hop, rather than having us make one project each, Tammy asked us to mock up some of our favourite patterns using Peacock Plumes, which was so much fun! Let's start with a peek at the whole fabric line. Aren't those colours fabulous?

These patterns (and more!) are available from my Etsy shop, in both PDF and printed versions. I offer free shipping on the printed patterns. Click on the shop link or on the individual pattern names to go pattern shopping 😊

The first pattern I mocked up in Peacock Plumes was Night Sky. I love the fall vibes of this version! 

For a different seasonal look, I used the Peacock Plumes fabrics and added a white solid for the background in my Divided pattern to create a mod Christmas kind of feel.

I used white again for the background of Level Up. I love those two-tone starbursts and the gold glowing centers of the pluses.

Mix It Up is all about exploring mixing colours with fabric, so it was fun to try it out with the green and gold fabrics, mixing together in the green/gold fabric. These fabrics work so well for it! And those plum orange peels make the perfect frame.

Next up is Flower Path. I love how this looks with the pink and gold orange peels! Have you noticed I have a thing for applique orange peels??

Last, but certainly not least, I mocked up my You're a Star pattern, using a grey solid background and the pink and plum fabrics. Wouldn't that make a great gift for a pink-loving girl? You're a Star is a free pattern, which you can get here.

Which Peacock Plumes mockup is your favourite? I think Mix It Up is my favourite, though Divided comes pretty close. 

If any of the patterns caught your eye, be sure to visit my Etsy shop to pick up a copy!

Visit these other designers for lots more Peacock Plumes inspiration:

Sept 27:        Tammy Silvers - Tamarinis

                      Jen Frost - Faith and Fabric

                      Geeky Bobbin  

Sept 28:         Leanne Parsons - Devoted Quilter (you are here!)

                      Laura Strickland - Orange Blossom Quilt Design

                      Sara Flynn - Offbeat Quilts

                      Pamela Boatright - Pamela Quilts

Sept 29:         Swan Sheridan - Swan Amity Studios

                      Lisa Ruble - Love to Color My World

                      Claudia Porter - Create with Claudia

Sept 30:        Laura Piland - Slice of Pi Quilts

                      Raija Salomaa - Quilter's Treasure Chest

                      Kathryn LeBlanc - Dragonfly's Quilting Design Studio

Oct 1:            Kate Colleran - Kate Colleran Designs

                     Sherry Shish - Powered By Quilting

                     Becca Fenstermaker - Pretty Piney Quilts

Only a Second

 Devotion for the Week...

Paul is a Blue Jays fan, which means I spend a fair amount of time sitting and watching baseball games with him. Usually, when a batter is walked, they put their bat on the ground, then take off their batting gloves and shin guard and put them with the bat, before going to first base. Normally, they leave the bat, etc. there on the ground for the bat boy or bat girl to pick up, but occasionally the bat person reaches them before they're finished removing the gear, so they hand everything over to them. The other night, though, a player on the Minnesota Twins team caught my eye. He finished taking off his gear, gathered everything together and then waited a second for the bat person to reach him before handing everything to them. It was only a second, but the fact that he stood there waiting to pass his gear, rather than leaving it on the ground to be picked up, struck me as a kind gesture. To be clear, the players leaving their gear behind on the ground aren't being inconsiderate; that's actually what they're expected to do so the game keeps moving quickly. This one player's actions just felt extra considerate to me.

It's possible that moment only struck me because earlier in the week I had read Philippians 4:5, which says, "Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon." When I read the verse last week, the words considerate and all really hit home for me. 

Considerate means, "careful not to cause inconvenience or hurt to others" and for me it calls to mind the idea of thinking about the feelings and needs of other people before we speak or act. It also makes me think of small actions, like waiting a second to hand our gear to someone rather than leaving it for them to pick up off the ground. It's little things people might not consciously notice, but that leave an impression of kindness.

Being considerate also makes me think of the idea of living in community, in the sense of trying to make life better for everyone rather than just better for ourselves. It's the opposite of buying six packs of toilet paper to hoard for ourselves when there's fear of a shortage. 

As for the all in the verse...can I just say there's not a lot of wiggle room when we're told to be considerate in all we do? 'Be considerate whenever you're in a good mood' would be a lot easier to live up to. Or maybe 'be considerate when you've had enough sleep' or maybe the most important one 'be considerate when the other person isn't being rude.' But no, we're told to be considerate in all you do. 

Essentially, though, all that really means is that we are to make thinking of others a habit. Will there be times when being considerate is hard? Absolutely! But just a few verses after telling the Philippians to be considerate in all they did, he also wrote, "For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength" (Philipians 4:13). We don't have to do it all in our own strength! The Holy Spirit will help us, if we will listen and follow His little nudges and suggestions.

"Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do." What a revolution that could create in our society!

Consider Carefully

 Devotion for the Week...

Have you ever sat and read the comments on a social media post that was full of people vehemently defending their views, while attacking anyone who happened to disagree with them? It can be very entertaining, especially when the argument is over something trivial and the comments are heated. Zach once read me comments from a post on Reddit about whether or not Canada is part of America, with some arguing that 'America' refer to the entire continent and not just the US. The comments were funny, but there were a surprising number of personal attacks in them. There were people on both sides attacking the intelligence of people on the other side, with sarcasm and name calling showing up in abundance.

We're quick to judge other people on very little evidence, and this is magnified by the anonymity of comments typed in on a screen rather than spoken out loud to a person in the same room. I've seen it time and time again on posts about everything from the phrase 'Black Lives Matter' to the covid vaccine to political policies. Sometimes the most innocuous looking comment attracts dozens of attacks that make me shake my head and wonder how people made the leap from what was written to how they interpreted it.

We can all be quick at times to apply labels to the people who don't agree with us. Maybe we wouldn't actually type in the judgmental comment, but it's entirely possible we'd still be thinking it.

They're stupid. 

They're selfish. 

They're an idiot.

Never mind that we're seeing only one facet of the person. Since they don't see the world the way we do, they are obviously inferior. Let's also ignore the fact that they're probably putting the same labels on us for disagreeing with them.

When I was reading 2 Chronicles a few weeks ago, I was struck by King Jehoshaphat's words. He "appointed judges in the land, in each of the fortified cities of Judah. He told them, 'Consider carefully what you do, because you are not judging for mere mortals but for the Lord, who is with you whenever you give a verdict. Now let the fear of the Lord be on you. Judge carefully, for with the Lord our God there is no injustice or partiality or bribery'" (2 Chronicles 19:5-7). Yes, he was speaking to people who would have been working officially as judges and their judgments would have been legally binding, so it doesn't apply to us in the same way. Even so, I love the phrase, 'consider carefully what you do' in relation to judging others.

Consider carefully that an opinion that differs from ours is not an indication of another person's intelligence. Not only that, but a person's intelligence is not a measure of their value or their dignity.

Consider carefully that we don't know why they feel the way they do or what their experiences have been.

Consider carefully that we might actually be wrong. That's a tough one, for sure, especially because we are often so attached to our opinions that we have a hard time letting them go. But we could be wrong. The other person, the one we're convinced right now is stupid, might be right and we will never see it if we're not willing to consider carefully rather than heaping judgment on them and moving on.

Just as a general rule, considering carefully before we pass judgement would be a good habit.