November 11, 2024

Representative

Devotion for the week...

I am Canadian, so I had no vote in the US election last week. Like a lot of other people, though, I was watching coverage of the candidates leading up to it. I looked at the two presidential candidates through the lens of 'who would I choose to represent me?' Meaning, as they went about their work both domestically and on the world stage, which of the two would I be happy to say was speaking for me? This is one of the things our elected government leaders do, after all, no matter which country we are in. We elect them to represent us as "the Canadian people," or "the American people," or "the whichever-country people." They become a stand-in for us with people who don't know us personally.

Unbelievably, God has chosen us to represent Him. Colossians 3:17 says, "And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father." We are a stand-in for God with people who don't know Him personally. You've likely heard it before, but another reminder never goes astray: everything we say and do can be seen by the people around us as a representation of how God Himself would act in those situations. 
God has chosen us to represent Him | DevotedQuilter.com
That should make us stop and think carefully about what we say and do.

Psalm 145:8-9 says, "The Lord is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. The Lord is good to everyone. He showers compassion on all his creation."

Would people say we are merciful? Compassionate? Slow to get angry? Filled with unfailing love? Good to everyone? Showering His creation with compassion? If not, we're not doing a good job representing Him, because He is all of those things.

 If, as is often said, we are the only Bible some people will ever read, what are they learning about God from us? Are we representing Him accurately, in a way that would want to make them know Him better?

Thankfully, we can rely on the Holy Spirit to help us represent Him better. Through prayer and sensitivity to His leading, He will cause the fruit of the Spirit to grow in us. "Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control" (Galatians 5:22-23) are all excellent ways to represent God to the people around us!

November 07, 2024

Stash Artists Doors Are Open!

If you love stash-friendly and scrap-friendly patterns, you'll be happy to know the Stash Artists membership doors are now open for new members!
Stash Artists membership | DevotedQuilter.com

Here's what is included in the Stash Artists membership:

  • 6 new patterns per year, released every other month, with a focus on stash-friendly and scrappy designs. Let's use that stash!
  • monthly virtual Sew Together Sessions. Because sewing with friends is more fun 😊
  • a Block of the Month pattern - new one starting in January!
  • the Reverberate and Twisted Hourglass patterns are available for download right away
  • a library of video tutorials
  • monthly devotions
  • discounts on my patterns, workshops, and QALs outside the membership

Click here to join Stash Artists!


Twisted Hourglass quilt pattern | DevotedQuilter.com
Twisted Hourglass is the newest Stash Artists pattern, just released this week, and it's available for new members to download as soon as they login to their account. The scrappy, twisted strips give the quilt a fun 3D element and fabulous texture!

Go here to learn more and join Stash Artists. I hope to see you inside!

November 05, 2024

Twisted Hourglass

Do you have a list, actually written down or just in your head, of quilts you want to make someday? I've never written mine down, but there's a long list of patterns and techniques I want to try someday. I've crossed one of them off the list with this quilt 😊

Meet Twisted Hourglass! 
Twisted Hourglass quilt | DevotedQuilter.com
Twisted Hourglass is the latest Stash Artists pattern, available to members now 😊 (Pssst...Stash Artists doors will be opening on Thursday, and new members will get access to Twisted Hourglass as soon as they join. Sign up for The Bulletin to be notified when the doors are open.)

Can you guess which technique I finally tried, after wanting to play with it for years?

Twisted strips! I love the fun, 3D element they add to the quilt.
Twisted Hourglass quilt | DevotedQuilter.com
Each strip uses two fabrics, and I had a lot of fun choosing which fabrics to pair together. I love how bright the scraps are against the solid navy background, too.
Twisted Hourglass quilt | DevotedQuilter.com
I avoided the strips when quilting, which gives them an extra bit of pop, and gives the whole quilt such great texture.
Twisted Hourglass quilt | DevotedQuilter.com
I have enough of the navy that I could have used it for the back, but I wanted the quilting to show up more on the back, so I chose a light grey instead. The double loop quilting in navy thread shows up really well! The unquilted strips show up, too, so the hourglass is subtly visible on the back.
Twisted Hourglass quilt back | DevotedQuilter.com
We took the quilt to the beach for pictures, but it was really windy. It was okay for getting pictures of the quilt folded up, so long as I didn't mind smoothing it out again regularly, but there was no chance we'd get full shots of Paul holding it up. Thankfully, by the brook was much more sheltered, so we were able to get the full pictures there.
Twisted Hourglass quilt | DevotedQuilter.com
When I was testing my thoughts on how to make the twisted strip blocks, I didn't have my navy fabric yet, so I made a few with white for the background. I liked them, too, so I kept going and made enough for the mini size that's included in the pattern. It's not quite as vibrant as the navy background, but I'm still pleased with how it turned out. I haven't decided yet how I'll quilt it, so it's just waiting for now.
Twisted Hourglass quilt top | DevotedQuilter.com
The Twisted Hourglass pattern includes instructions for the mini and throw sizes I made, plus baby and queen sizes. Stash Artists members can login now to download the Twisted Hourglass pattern. And if you'd like to become a Stash Artists member, sign up here to be notified when the doors open on Thursday.
Twisted Hourglass quilt | DevotedQuilter.com
I wonder what I'll cross off my "to-make someday" list next!