Pinwheel Irish Chain - March Island Batik Challenge

Note, the fabrics for this project were given to me by Island Batik as part of their ambassador program.

The March Island Batik ambassador challenge is "Vintage Reimagined." I waffled around for a while with what to make, mostly because I wasn't sure if my ideas were reimagined enough to fit the theme. In the end, I decided to go with two of my favourite traditional quilt designs - a pinwheel block and a single Irish Chain.

I used Island Batik's solid white for the background, in part because a white background is one of the things I think of when I think 'modern quilt' and in part because I knew the bright, clean white would show off the other fabrics so well. Here is my finished Pinwheel Irish Chain quilt top, which measures 50" x 74".

Edited to say, I'm working on the pattern for this quilt, so if you'd like to make your own version, sign up for my newsletter so you'll be notified when the pattern is available 😊

I had hoped to get pretty outdoor pictures, but the wind has come up and will be up for the next few days. Quilt tops and wind do not make a good combination for photography! On the plus side, the sun is up longer now, allowing me to get natural light for these pictures after work today 😊

The nine patch blocks and the sashing cornerstones that form the Irish Chain design are made with blues from the Foundations line. I love the depth of colour in these fabrics!

I used six different blues and strip pieced the nine patch blocks. When it came time to lay everything out, I tried to keep the six fabrics separated, but I did notice that I ended up with one spot where two of the grey-blue squares are touching. Oh well, I'm not about to take it all apart now to fix it!

The pinwheels are all made of Paisley Dot Brights and I love how cheerful they feel. Aren't they perfect for spring?

This challenge comes at the same time as Sarah's Hands to Help Comfort Quilt Challenge, so this quilt top is my contribution to her fabulous comfort quilt drive. There's a Canadian charity included this year, Victoria's Quilt's Canada, which provides quilts to people with cancer, and that is where I'll be sending it. They specifically ask for quilt tops only and they say their greatest need is for adult sized ones that are approximately 50" x 70".

I've always loved the Irish Chain design, pinwheels and blue, of course, so this feels like a collection of my favourite things. Actually, now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure one of the first quilt magazines I ever bought was chosen for an all blue pinwheel Irish Chain baby quilt, though I never did make it. I guess this is my version, with plenty of cheerful colour added to the blues 😊

I loved making this quilt top and I hope it brings comfort to someone in their fight against cancer. Thank you to Island Batik for providing the gorgeous fabrics and to Sarah for connecting me to Victoria's Quilts Canada 😊

Logs

Devotion for the Week..

A couple of weeks ago it was my turn to teach the lesson during our Thursday night kids program at the church. I was teaching about Jesus telling His followers to remove the logs in their eyes before trying to help others with the specks of dust in their eyes and to demonstrate the "logs" in our eyes I had to hold a piece of 2x4 lumber up as if it were sticking out of my eye. The kids thought this was hilarious and would burst out laughing every single time!

To be honest, I've always loved this passage of Scripture for the same reason. Talking about logs sticking out of our eyes is such an exaggeration that it really gets the point across. Just in case you're not familiar with it, here's what Jesus said in Matthew 7:3-5, "And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye."

Of course, Jesus doesn't mean we have actual logs sticking out of our eyes. In verses one and two of that chapter, He said, "Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged." The logs Jesus talked about represented the bad things we do, which we are generally ignoring when we are worried about trying to fix all the bad things the people around us are doing. Jesus was telling His followers, including us, to worry about the sins in their own lives and then they could concern themselves with the sins of others.

What I found funny that night at the kids program was that just before we left, we leaders were talking and one of the other ladies started to say something about another person. Then she stopped herself and said, "I'm judging right now. I think I have a log in my eye!" She laughed and didn't bother to finish the story she had been about to tell.

Judging others is such an easy trap to fall into! People around us are constantly doing things we disagree with or things that make us think, "I would never do that." That's the wrong attitude to have for two reasons. First of all, though we may not do the specific thing we are judging the other person for, we can be sure that there are other things we do that are contrary to what God wants for us. I can't find who originally said this, but I've heard a phrase that is so appropriate: "Don't judge me because I sin differently from you." Your sins and my sins may be different, but they're still sins.

The other problem with judging others is that when we are judging someone, we feel like we are better than them, which is most definitely contrary to God's will for us. It makes me think of this parable Jesus told:

"Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else: “Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people—cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’

“But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Luke 18:9-14).

We are never meant to have 'great confidence in our own righteousness,' but that is exactly the attitude we are operating from when we are judging others and it is the perfect example of a log that needs to be removed from our eyes.

In Progress This Week

As always, there are a bunch of projects on the go at once around here 😊 One of them is a computer project for now, but it will likely result in a lot of sewing in the future. Sandra, of Musings of a Menopausal Melon, has started her 30 Quilt Designs 2019 challenge and I've jumped right in again. This is the fourth time I've participated in a 30 designs challenge and I'm still working on finishing projects from all three of the previous ones, lol. Here's my first design, which I created specifically to use the collection of colour-coordinated 4 patches I've made over the years as leaders and enders. Funny enough, Scraps Squared was also designed during one of these challenges to use that same collection of 4 patches, which seems to be never ending!

Of course, I realized after I posted it in the challenge FB group that at the size I've designed it, the 4 patch blocks would need to be 4" finished and mine are only 2"! I guess now I need to start making bigger 4 patches as leaders and enders!

On a completely different note, I'm sure you were as heartbroken as I was about the shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand. The amount of hate some people feel just boggles my mind. If you're looking for a way to show love and support for the people affected by the attack, you can make a 6 ½" heart block (or several) to send. All of the instructions and the address for mailing the blocks can be found here.

I mailed my blocks yesterday and when the postmaster noticed that the envelope was going to New Zealand he made a comment about the sadness of the situation there. He is familiar with the concept of mailing quilt blocks for projects like this as he was the one dealing with the sudden surge of mail into our box two years ago, so I explained I was mailing blocks for people to make quilts for the families. He just nodded and said, "So you quilters are just like one big family then." 😊 Doesn't that do your heart good?

I've also been working on my Island Batik March challenge. The challenge this month is Vintage Reimagined, so we're to take a vintage quilt or pattern and make it more modern. I'm combining a blue Irish Chain and bright pinwheel blocks with Island Batik's solid white to make my quilt. All of the blocks are made, so now it's time to cut all of the sashing pieces and get to the assembly.

This will also be my contribution for Sarah's Hands 2 Help Comfort Quilt Challenge and it will be going to Victoria Quilts Canada. Are you participating in Hands 2 Help? Sarah has a variety of charities to choose from, so there's likely one that you would be interested in supporting and although the official sign up week is past, more participants are always welcome.

I'm also working on these placemats for my MIL. We won't talk about how these are her gift for Christmas 2018 (shhhh!).

I used the Missouri Star Layer Cake Dresden ruler, which I also used for my Dresden Log Cabin quilt back in November. I found I had a little extra fullness this time, so it took a lot of pins to tame the dresden in order to applique it to the background. There's still a bit of waviness, but I think I'll be able to quilt it into submission. When I made the center circle for the mini back in November, I used large basting stitches before pulling the fabric around the template and I found the circle wasn't really smooth. This time I used small basting stitches and the circles are much smoother around the edges.

I've been waiting for some navy Aurifil thread to arrive and it was in my mailbox this morning (along with some friends), so now I can get those center circles appliqued on. The navy thread is 2785, the aqua is 5005 and the cone is a replacement for my 2600 that is almost gone.

That's what's keeping my occupied these days 😊 What are you working on?

Whiteout

Devotion for the Week...

Have you ever driven in whiteout conditions? It's not a pleasant experience, let me tell you. Thankfully, we have only experienced it a couple of times and each time it was only for a brief moment. Believe me, though, that's plenty long enough.

Here's what it's like, in case you've never experienced it for yourself. The most recent time for us, we were driving home on the highway on a day with flurries and a lot of wind. There wasn't a lot of snow falling, but what had fallen was really being blown around. At one point, a car coming towards us flashed its lights in warning a couple of times, so Paul slowed right down and a few seconds later we reached a stretch of road with a lake on one side and a power dam on the other. With no trees to block it, the wind whipped the snow around so much everything around us vanished. We couldn't see the truck that was ahead of us, we couldn't see if there was anything coming towards us and we couldn't see the road. We also knew that anything coming behind us wouldn't see us and we were now travelling much slower than normal for that road, so we had to hope that anyone behind us had also slowed down before hitting the whiteout. It was crazy scary. A few seconds later, we drove out of the whiteout again and when we saw a car coming in the opposite direction, Paul flashed our lights in warning for them.

As we drove the rest of the way home, I kept looking at the flurries that fell and marveling that something so small could so completely block our sight. That led me to think about the parable Jesus told about the farmer scattering seeds (Matthew 13:1-23). It's a long one, so I'll summarize: A farmer went out to plant seeds, but some fell on the path where they were eaten by birds, others fell on rocky ground where they couldn't develop roots, others fell among thorns where they were choked out and still others fell on good ground where they produced a crop. Jesus then explained that the seeds that fell on the path are those who hear the message of God's kingdom, but never believe. The seeds on the rocky ground are those who believe, but never grow deep roots so at the first sign of trouble they abandon their belief. The seeds among the thorns are those who hear the message, but the worries of life crowd it out so they don't do anything with what they've heard. And the seeds on the good soil are those who hear the message, believe it and live lives that help others to also hear the message.

What does that have to do with driving in a whiteout, you ask? For most of us, "the worries of life" (v. 22) are small things, but when there are enough of them we can get so distracted that we lose sight of eternal things. We stop thinking about God much because we're too busy thinking about our worries. Letting our worries block our view of Jesus will keep us from really living for Him.

Driving in the whiteout, we had no control over the snow or the wind. Likewise, we may not be able to change the circumstances of our lives, whatever they may be. They might be swirling around us, distracting and in the way.

Driving in the whiteout, we couldn't change how much we could see, no matter how much we wanted to, but we can always change how much of God we see. We can choose to focus on Him despite the circumstances, by choosing not to focus on the worries.

Yes, we still try to change our circumstances, if we can. No, we don't just give in and accept things that aren't right or that aren't good for us. But we also don't allow those things to block our view of God. We can keep Him in sight through prayer, through reading the Bible, going to church, listening to worship music...whatever it takes to keep Him in our days, even when those days are hard.

We can't make our worries disppear, though that sure would be nice. While we work through them, though, we can make sure we don't allow them to block our view of God.

Medallion Magic QAL - Part 3

It's time for part 3 of the Medallion Magic QAL and it's time to start sewing! If you're just joining the QAL, no worries, it'll be simple to get caught up and start sewing your own Medallion Magic quilt 😊

I'm aiming for this to be a slow, relaxed quilt along, with not so much to do each month that you can't keep up. We're all too busy to be stressing over keeping up with a QAL! Here's the schedule of events:

January 15th - Gather fabrics and pattern
February 15th - Cutting
March 15th - Center star - we're here!
April 15th - Borders 1 and 2
May 15th - Borders 3 and 4
June 15th - Borders 5, 6 and 7
August 15th - Finish party link up opens

If you don't have your pattern yet, you can pick up your copy from my Etsy shop in either PDF or printed versions.

Here's my original Medallion Magic, made with Northcott fabrics. Yep, I still love it!

And here's my new center star, in Island Batik Paisley Park fabrics. It's giving the original some serious competition, don't you think?

I love the rich, elegant feel of the purple and doesn't the teal just seem to glow? I know I've raved about Island Batik neutrals in the past, but I have to do it again for this one. This creamy white is called Almond. It's speckled with tiny dots and it's perfect 😊 I'll take a whole bolt of it, please, and throw in a bolt of the purple while you're at it!

Putting the center star together calls for some flying geese and some HSTs, both of which require drawing diagonal lines on the fabric as guides. I find I get much more accurate results when the pencil I'm using is really sharp, which always makes me think of my junior high shop class. One of the projects involved drawing elevation diagrams and my teacher was insistent on us twirling the pencil as we drew each line to keep the point from wearing down on one side. The twirling was meant to produce the thinnest possible line, though I never mastered the proper twirling technique. I do find myself twirling my pencil as I draw guide lines, though, and it does make for a thinner line, so I gained something from the class, even if I've never again drawn an elevation diagram.

All of that to say, my tip for this month is to try twirling your pencil as you draw your guide lines. Maybe you'll find it increases your accuracy, too. Do you have any tips to share for making flying geese or HSTs?

I do love when points are pointy, don't you?

Now it's your turn! I can't wait to see your center stars 😊

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Night Sky Pattern Release

I'm pleased to get to release a new pattern today 😊 Meet Night Sky.

This quilt uses only two fabrics to make a bold, striking quilt that comes together quickly.

Night Sky includes three size options - a 42" x 42" baby, the 60" x 72" throw size shown and a 90" x 90" queen size. It's good to have options, don't you think? What size quilt do you make most often?

The sample quilt was made with Michael Miller fabrics, a Cotton Couture blue solid and the black sequin print from the Glam Girls line by American Dream House. The sequin print is so fun and I'm sad that I only have a little bit left of it now.

I have to admit that while I love the simplicity of a two fabric quilt, I am curious about what Night Sky would look like if every star were a different colour. Actually, the night I finished the quilt top I sent a picture of it to my friend Michelle, then almost immediately I sent another text saying I wanted to make another one in all the colours! It hasn't happened yet, but working on the pattern to get it ready for this release has really kindled that fire again. I feel like lately I want to make everything scrappy and colourful, lol.

I've been asked in the comments, so I thought I'd edit to answer here - a fat quarter would be enough to make one star, so if you want to go scrappy, then your collection of fat quarters would be perfect for it.

Night Sky is available at its introductory price through March 21st (Nathan's birthday 😊). You can get the PDF through either my Payhip or Etsy shops.

Get Night Sky from my Etsy shop

Get Night Sky from my Payhip shop

What colours would you use for Night Sky? Do you have a favourite stargazer who would love to have it?

I'm linking up with TGIFF and Beauties Pageant.

The Right Words

Devotion for the Week...

I am no good at debating. Though I may know exactly why I think something is right or wrong, the moment I have to counter someone else's arguments, I forget everything I wanted to say. I can't think  fast enough on my feet to keep up with another person who is convinced I'm wrong and has the arguments to prove it.

Two hours later, on the other hand, I know exactly what I should have said to prove my point. It's very frustrating, I can assure you! Thankfully, I've never been in a situation where my lack of debating skills mattered much and the many times I lost my train of thought or otherwise couldn't compete verbally didn't result in anything bad happening. Unless you count my annoyance at not winning, lol.

The Bible tells us, though, that in the end times, "there will be a time of great persecution. You will be dragged into synagogues and prisons, and you will stand trial before kings and governors because you are my followers" (Luke 21: 12). Now, that sounds exactly like the sort of situation where my lack of skills could cause very bad things to happen, don't you think? But Jesus, who is speaking to His disciples in this passage, isn't concerned. He goes on to say, "But this will be your opportunity to tell them about me" (v. 13). I'm sure it would be, if I could remember what to say under pressure!

Fortunately, Jesus and I won't be relying on my abilities should this ever come to pass in my life. "So don’t worry in advance about how to answer the charges against you, for I will give you the right words and such wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to reply or refute you!" (vv. 14, 15).

Isn't that a wonderful assurance? In what would probably be the most stressful moment in our lives, the words we would need in order to tell people about Jesus would be given to us and we would know exactly what to say. Not only that, but our opponents wouldn't even have anything to say back at us, our arguments would be so compelling. I have never experienced that with only my own words!

Of course, we don't have to wait for the end times and the persecution they will bring to tell people about Jesus and He provides the words for those everyday moments, too. Peter is an excellent example. He, out of fear, denied even knowing Jesus while Jesus was on trial, but then after receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, he "stepped forward with the eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, 'Listen carefully, all of you, fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem! Make no mistake about this'" (Acts 2:14). What followed was a powerful sermon about Jesus and God's plan for salvation and "Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all" (v. 41). 3,000!

God will give us the right words to say so we can tell others about Him.

Infinity Pillow - Text It! Blog Hop

Before I launch into today's post, I want to mention that my Blogging Anniversary Sale is still underway, through March 6th, so head on over to my Etsy shop to pick up a pattern (or several!) at 25% off 😊

With that out of the way, welcome to my stop on the Text It! blog hop, sharing the gorgeous and fun projects from Sherri Noel's new book, Text It! If this is your first time here, then an especially big welcome to you! I'd love to have you join in with my Medallion Magic QAL - we're cutting fabric right now, so you're not even behind. 

When I first looked through Sherri's book to see what project I wanted to make, I stopped dead at the picture of her Infinity Quilt. I may have even said out loud, "That one, obviously." I chose to make the Infinity pillow sham, which is included as a variation in the book.

I can't wait to share the quilt on our bed, but it's still not time yet...

The reason this was such an obvious project for me to make goes back to an evening when my husband called out to me from downstairs, where he sat at his computer. When I walked into the room, he said, "I found a tattoo I want to get." I was surprised, until I saw the picture on his screen, at which point I told him that if he was getting it, then I'd get it too. This particular tattoo was perfect for us because when we were dating and writing letters or little notes to each other, we'd always sign them with X's, O's and the infinity symbol. You should know that I had never once considered getting a tattoo until that moment, but a few days later, we had matching tattoos, which was how we celebrated our 15th anniversary.

While thinking about telling the story in this post, I was surprised to realize that we've had the tattoos for almost 5 years now. Where does the time go?? We'll be celebrating our 20th anniversary in August, but I don't think there will be any tattoos involved this time 😊

I debated for a while what colours to use for the infinity symbol. I thought about using the same fabrics that are in the quilt I just finished for our bed, of which you can see a sneak peek in the picture above, but I thought that might be a bit too matchy-matchy and boring. I thought about going crazy with scraps, but I thought that might detract from the quilt too much and I really wanted the two to work together. Then I thought of using all black scraps, with the pieces the letters are on made from the same fabric as the background so it would look as much like our tattoos as possible. As you can see, that's what I went with.

I used Island Batik's Rice fabric for the background, which is so gorgeous, but doesn't really photograph well. There are faint streaks of blue-greens along with tiny dots of colour all over the fabric, which give the fabric a beautiful texture. You can maybe see it a tiny bit better in this picture of the envelope back of the pillow sham.

I used a few pieces of each of the black Island Batik fabrics I have and added a mix of other blacks from my stash for the letters and the EPP pieces that make up the infinity symbol.

I've never done a binding on a pillow or cushion cover before, but I love the way it frames it. This is the first time, but it likely won't be the last.

I used a scrap piece of Warm and Natural batting and the quilting is done with Aurifil 2600. My cone of 2600 is so close to empty now that I used 2024 in the bobbin because I didn't know if I'd have enough for both the top thread and the bobbin. I definitely wouldn't have had enough, so I'm glad I thought to use something different in the bobbin right from the start and saved myself from the stress of losing a game of thread chicken.

I love the texture created by quilted swirl hooks, especially with the way the light comes into our room in the morning 😍 I might need to buy or make pretty pillowcases now so our regular pillows look as nice as this decorative one.

A big thank you to Sherri for having me as part of this blog hop! Text it! is beautiful and I highly recommend it if you like words on your quilts 😊 You can get a signed copy of the book directly from Sherri, or you can order a copy from Amazon.

Before I send you off to see the other quilts and pillows with something to say, I have a giveaway you can enter, with two prizes. One is a copy of Text It!, which unfortunately is only available to a winner who lives in the US. The other prize, 2 large spools of Aurifil thread, will be shipped anywhere in the world. To enter, leave me a comment telling me one special way you've celebrated an anniversary or birthday and be sure to let me know if you're in the US or not so I know if you're eligible for the book prize. For additional entries, follow me on Instagram  or Facebook and leave a separate comment for each. I'll randomly choose the two winners on March 17th and contact them via email, so be sure your email address is either linked to your comment or include it in the comment.

Edited to say - Congratulations to the giveaway winners, wlstarn (comment #7) for the copy of the book and Carol Andrews (comment #83) for the Aurifil thread.

Remember to shop my Blogging Anniversary Sale and thanks for visiting! Feel free to pin this and share 😊

Now here's the schedule of other bloggers participating in the hop. Be sure to check out their versions of Sherri's fun designs!

MONDAY MARCH 4 – BEE HAPPY

PAMELA JANE MORGAN – MYSWEETLITTLESTITCHES.COM                            

SHARON LILABELLE LANE – LILABELLELANECREATIONS.COM

TUESDAY MARCH 5 – INFINITY Quilt

LAURA PILAND – SLICEOFPIQUILTS.COM

LEANNE PARSONS – DEVOTEDQUILTER.COM

KATIE MUTER STARCHER – KATIEMAEQUILTS.COM

WEDNESDAY MARCH 6 – PILLOW TALK

KATE COLLERAN – SEAMSLIKEADREAM.COM

CHERYL DAINES BROWN – QUILTERCHIC.COM

DORIE HRUSKA – FOREVER-QUILTING.COM

THURSDAY MARCH 7 – FREEDOM Quilt

JEN SHAFFER – PATTERNSBYJEN.BLOGSPOT.COM

TARA MILLER – QUILTDISTRICT.COM

FRIDAY MARCH 8 – LOVING YOU Wall Hanging

ELLEN AULT – .HANDMADE3D.ME

SHERRI NOEL – REBECCAMAEDESIGNS.COM

MONDAY MARCH 11 – COUNTING SHEEP Baby Quilt

DEANNE EISENMAN – SNUGGLESQUILTS.COM

RAEWYN BARGE – STITCHINGFARMGIRL.BLOGSPOT.COM

SUSAN PELLAND – SUEPELLANDDESIGNS.COM

TUESDAY MARCH 12 – HOME PILLOW

JOANNE HARRIS – QUILTSBYJOANNE.BLOGSPOT.CA

PATTY DUDEK – ELMSTREETQUILTS.COM

ANDY KNOWLTON – ABRIGHTCORNER.COM

SANDRA STARLEY – UTAHQUILTAPPRAISER.BLOGSPOT.COM

CINDY PIETERS – STITCHINATHOME.COM

WEDNESDAY MARCH 13 – LIFE IS SHORT Wall hanging

BECCA FENSTERMAKER – PRETTYPINEY.COM

KATIE BOCK – SEWINGWITHKATIE.BLOGSPOT.COM

ALLA BLANCA – RAINBOWSBUNNIESCUPCAKES.BLOGSPOT.COM

THURSDAY MARCH 14 – HUSTLE PILLOW

TERRI BANDEN BOSCH –MEANDERINGSALONGLIZARDCREEK.BLOGSPOT.COM

WILLOW OLSON – BEARPAWDESIGNBLOG.WORDPRESS.COM

ERIN SAMPSON – auribuzz.wordpress.com/

FRIDAY MARCH 15 – SEWING MACHINE MAT

LAUREN WRIGHT – MOLLYANDMAMA.COM.AU

SANDRA HEALY – SANDRAHEALYDESIGNS.COM

CHERYL KRISEL LYNCH – cheryllynchquilts.blogspot.com/

SATURDAY MARCH 16 – WRAP UP

SHERRI NOEL – REBECCAMAEDESIGNS.COM

Would I Be Willing to Do This?

Devotion for the Week...

Our boys are usually the ones responsible for bringing in the wood we use in our wood burning furnace during the winter. Since the weather in the winter isn't always great for outdoor work, I have one standard I use for deciding when to send them out to bring in the wood - would I be willing to work outside in this weather? When it's really windy, the answer is probably no because the wind chill would make it too unpleasant. If it's fairly cold, but there's no wind, the answer is yes, I would, so out they go. To be honest, usually when I'm sending them out, I'm also wishing I could join them since I really enjoy bringing in wood! Alas, indoor work usually gets in the way.

'Would I be willing to do this?' is not a bad standard for when you're tempted to ask someone else to do anything. If you're not willing to do it, why are you willing to make them do it?

It would seem God thinks 'would I be willing to do this?' is a good standard, too. Consider this story Jesus told: "When Jesus noticed that all who had come to the dinner were trying to sit in the seats of honor near the head of the table, he gave them this advice: 'When you are invited to a wedding feast, don’t sit in the seat of honor. What if someone who is more distinguished than you has also been invited? The host will come and say, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then you will be embarrassed, and you will have to take whatever seat is left at the foot of the table! Instead, take the lowest place at the foot of the table. Then when your host sees you, he will come and say, ‘Friend, we have a better place for you!’ Then you will be honored in front of all the other guests. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted'” (Luke 14:10).

Jesus often needed to correct His disciples for their inclination to worry about being honoured, which is exactly what He was doing with this story as He saw everyone trying to get the best seats at the dinner party. People aren't much different now, are they? We all want to be 'properly' honoured or given what feels to us like the right amount of attention and prestige. Just think about how easily we can be convinced that we need the 'prestige' version of a credit card or other service. We like to think of ourselves as important and worth the honour.

Jesus tells us that we're going about it all wrong. We should be humbling ourselves, not in a fake way that is really just a ploy to get people to correct us and so give us the honour we already know is due us, but we should honestly "Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves" (Philippians 2:3).

What does this have to do with the question, 'would I be willing to do this'? Well, Jesus is telling His followers to humble themselves, which most would consider a difficult way to live. Would He be willing to do it Himself or is He asking us to do something He wouldn't be willing to do? We find our answer just a couple of verses later in Philippians 2: "Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross" (vv. 6-8).

As in so many other things, Jesus is our model when it comes to humbling ourselves. Think of all the honour that is due Him as the Son of God. Then think of how He came into our world, born in a stable rather than the grand palace He deserved. Think of His life as the son of common people, trained as a carpenter like His earthly father and then ministering to the masses with "no place even to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20). He never sought special treatment or special honours.

Jesus' whole life is an amazing example of humility, capped by the ultimate example when He allowed Himself to be crucified so that He could save us. We have ample proof that He was willing to humble Himself just as He teaches us to do. Now it's up to us to follow His example.

Blogging Anniversary Sale

I can't believe it's my 6 year blogging anniversary! Where does the time go?? Since I don't think anyone was following me way back then, here are the posts from my first month of blogging, complete with my beginner free motion quilting progress. Note that the hexagon quilt in one of the posts is basted, but not yet quilted, lol. Maybe I should try to get that finished.

It has been an amazing 6 years, thanks to your comments and friendship 😊 Thank you for reading my thoughts and for being so enthusiastic about the (many) things I've made over years. Your support and encouragement have meant so much to me! And, of course, the inspiration from reading your blog posts and seeing your pictures on IG is one of the reasons my to-make list is several miles long.

To celebrate, I'm having a Blogging Anniversary Sale, with all of my patterns 25% off from now through March 6th with the coupon code 6YEARS.

Shop the sale now!

Here's to the next 6 years! I hope we get to keep making things and sharing them together 😊