Set Free

Covid came to visit last week, so the week was almost a complete wash in terms of getting anything done. Thankfully I'm feeling pretty much back to normal, though if someone could stop my sinuses draining, that would be much appreciated.

Anytime I thought about the devotion for today, I thought of this one from a few years back. I know I've shared it a few times, but it's still appropriate, so I thought I'd share it again.

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Over the past couple of years, I've had a handful of times when I was sick over the weekend. Usually my weekends are jam-packed with things I need to do (house cleaning, groceries, etc.) and things I want to do (sewing, usually!), but on those weekends I've been sick I end up just sitting in a chair and accomplishing nothing. It drives me crazy! I feel like I have this huge list of things I should be or want to be doing and I can't do any of it. It feels like such a huge waste of time.

There's a brief story in the gospels about Jesus healing Peter's mother-in-law...well, at this point Peter was still called Simon, so that's what he's called in these verses, but I'll be referring to him as Peter :) Luke records it this way: "After leaving the synagogue that day, Jesus went to Simon’s home, where he found Simon’s mother-in-law very sick with a high fever. “Please heal her,” everyone begged. Standing at her bedside, he rebuked the fever, and it left her. And she got up at once and prepared a meal for them." (Luke 4:38-39). 

That last sentence used to annoy me a bit. It felt like they only want her healed so she could get them something to eat. Isn't it funny how our minds interpret things, sometimes? Now that I'm older, though, I read that last sentence through the lens of those sick, unproductive weekends.

This poor woman had been sick with a high fever for who knows how long. She was stuck in bed, unable to do anything. Like me, she probably had a list in her head of things that needed to be done to keep her household running smoothly, and it was likely a lot longer than mine since she didn't have all the modern conveniences that I have. When I finally get over a cold, the last thing I want to do is just sit and relax. There is stuff that needs to be done and I can't wait to get at it. I imagine Peter's mother-in-law felt the same way as she got out of that bed.

Of course, when she was healed of her fever, she had company. What's the first thing we do when we have company? Offer food and a drink, right? That's exactly what she did, and I think she was relieved to be finally well enough to serve Jesus and her other visitors. She had been set free of the fever to finally get stuff done again!

So what about us? Whether or not we have been physically sick lately, we were all spiritually sick at one point and Jesus healed us by offering us forgiveness of our sins. By faith in Jesus, we have been healed and set free from sin. I think that, like Peter's mother-in-law, the best response to that healing is to get to work and serve Jesus.

Which begs the question, how do we serve Jesus? Is it only when we're doing church things? I don't think that's right at all. God made each one of us differently, with different talents and abilities. Read 1 Corinthians 12, where Paul compares the church to a body, where every part is needed because all of the parts are different. Not all of us can be preachers. Not all of us can be musicians (which you would know for sure if you ever heard me sing!). And not all of us can be children's church teachers. Some people are excellent business people, or good cooks, or good quilters! God can use all of those skills if we decide in our hearts that we are working for 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." 'Whatever'. That's a big word, isn't it? It means everything we do can be done in service to God, if we have the right attitude while we're doing it. And the right attitude is even described in the verse for us...'giving thanks to God the Father through him (Jesus)'. So, because of what Jesus has done for us (offering us spiritual healing and forgiveness of our sins), we are to be thankful to God, and we show that thankfulness by serving Him with everything that we do.

We have been set free to serve Him, just as Peter's mother-in-law was. She served him with food and drink. We serve him with everything we do.

We Don't Know

Devotion for the week...

Have you ever been shocked when you heard that someone had an affair, or that a couple were splitting up, when you thought they were happy together? I have been, more than once. I remember saying to Paul, after hearing about one that was especially shocking to me, that it just goes to show we never really know what's going on in someone else's house.

I thought of that recently when I read 1 Timothy 5:24-25: "Remember, the sins of some people are obvious, leading them to certain judgment. But there are others whose sins will not be revealed until later. In the same way, the good deeds of some people are obvious. And the good deeds done in secret will someday come to light." Just as we don't always know what happens in another couple's marriage, we also don't always know what another person is really doing.

Some people look good from the outside, but inside they're full of stuff they're hiding from the world. They know how to maintain a good image and hide who they really are. Jesus said the religious leaders of His day were like this. "What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity" (Matthew 23:27). Those are harsh words, especially considering they were directed at people who were supposedly living for God. 

On the flip side, some people look like regular people, just doing their best to take care of themselves and their families, while they're really taking care of much more than that. They don't flaunt the ways they help others, but they're always doing what they can. Whether it's large financial contributions to important causes, meals taken to people who are sick, sending encouraging notes or texts, or visits to people who are lonely, there's no end to the possible good deeds being done by people who aren't looking for credit for what they do. These people have taken to heart what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount: "Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you" (Matthew 6:4).

Two things stand out to me as I think about these different types of people. First is that God won't be surprised when the hidden things are revealed. He already knows the hidden sins and the hidden good deeds. Though the world at large doesn't see, He does. "O Lord, you have examined my heart / and know everything about me. / You know when I sit down or stand up. / You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. / You see me when I travel / and when I rest at home. / You know everything I do. / You know what I am going to say / even before I say it, Lord" (Psalm 139:1-4).

The second thing that stands out to me is a simple question: What is hidden behind the image everyone sees of me?

1,999 Hexagons

I almost can't believe this is true... My Rainbow Hexie quilt top is finished! Can you guess how many hexagons are in it (hint, I may have given it away in the post title)?

I've been working on it since November 2016, so that's 8 years! You can see my first post about it here. I did take a break from it through 2020 and most of 2021, when I worked on my temperature quilt instead.

This has been my travel project, accompanying me on a lot of trips all over Newfoundland, to Nova Scotia, Ontario, Alberta, and Massachusetts. For most of those trips, I made sure my stitching was packed before I worried about packing my clothes! Thankfully, Paul would rather drive than be passenger, so he drives and I stitch. I've worked on it while waiting for services to start at our provincial women's ministries conference, and on the sidelines of Zachary's and Nathan's sports tournaments, on airplanes, and in airports, hotels, and Airbnbs. I've also worked on it at home, of course, and it has been a featured project in all of the WIPS-B-GONE challenges I've hosted.

I wouldn't even be able to try to guess how many hours have gone into it. We'll just say a lot! I can tell you there are 1,999 1" hexagons (meaning each side of the hexagon measures 1"), and the finished quilt top measures 63" x 78". The original layout (see it in this post) had the rainbow offset and was slightly smaller. It would have required 1,161 hexies. When it came time to do the purple ring, I decided to center the rainbow and add black all around to frame it, which added the extra 838 hexies. Of course, with 1,999 hexies, I feel like it needs one more! I think I'll applique one to the back after the quilting and binding.

Because I needed so many for the background, I've bought quarter yard cuts of quite a few black or black and white fabrics in order to get a good variety of prints. The center flower of black hexies looks so cute.

For the other colours, though, I used whatever was in my stash and scraps, along with some that were given to me by friends. As with any scrap quilt, it's fun to look at all the different prints. I love these jack-o-lanterns! There are three of them scattered around the orange ring.

And I bought this blue with white flowers to make myself a skirt years ago. Quilting cotton doesn't always work well for clothes, but this was a circle skirt, so the cut of it kept it nice and flowy.

I love looking at the back, too!

As I've been getting close to the finish the past few months, I've been thinking about how I want to quilt it, and I've decided I want to do big stitch hand quilting. That means I'll get to spend a lot more hours working on it before it's a true finish. I'm quite happy with that, to be honest. I ordered the Aurifil 12 wt colours I needed to supplement the ones I had on hand, and they arrived today. Now I just need to get it basted so I can start the quilting!

In case you're worried that I now have no travel project, let me set your mind at rest 😂 I have another EPP project that has been waiting for attention, though for this one all the EPP is finished and I'm attaching the stars to their backgrounds. In fact, I apparently abandoned those stars in favour of the Hexie Rainbow, as they were started back in 2014, but had to be put in time out when I wasn't happy with the way it was going. Then I came up with the current plan for them, but the hexies had already taken over. I've picked up the stars off and on over the years, and now only need to add a few more to their background squares before the hand stitching part will be finished.

You might say attaching a few stars to their backgrounds doesn't sound like much, and you'd be right. It takes about 45 minutes to stitch one star to its background, so it's only a few hours of stitching left to go. It's okay, though, because I have a plan for a brand new EPP project. Of course I do! I may have also already stitched a test sample and be itching to really get going on it. You can be sure I'll share about it soon!

For now, I'm excited to have my Hexie Rainbow quilt top finished, and I'm looking forward to starting the big stitch hand quilting. I used to hand quilt all my quilts, but I've never done the big stitch version. The question is, can I finish the quilting before this is a 10 year project? I have two years...

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. 

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!

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!

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 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!

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 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.

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.

I avoided the strips when quilting, which gives them an extra bit of pop, and gives the whole quilt such great texture.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I wonder what I'll cross off my "to-make someday" list next!

The Woman at the Well

Devotion for the week...

I'm starting to prepare for the Easter 2025 QAL, which had me thinking about the Moments with Jesus devotions, so I'm sharing one of them today.

You’re probably familiar with the story of the woman at the well. She had been married four times and, at the time of her meeting with Jesus, she was living with a man who was not her husband. Her reputation among the people of Sychar was so bad that she chose to draw water at noon rather than going at dawn when it would have been cooler, but she’d also have to face all the other women. On top of that, she was a Samaritan and Jews never associated with Samaritans.

Yet, with all that, Jesus "had to go through Samaria on the way" (John 4:4) from Judea to Galilee. Except He didn’t have to, because Jews would purposely travel the long way around, adding miles to their journey, just to avoid going through Samaria. The reason Jesus 'had to' go through Samaria had nothing to do with the route from one place to another and everything to do with meeting this unnamed woman.

When she came to the well where Jesus was sitting, even she was surprised He would bother to speak to her, let alone ask her for a drink of water. "The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, 'You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?'" (v. 9). You can almost hear her surprise and confusion, can’t you?

"Jesus replied, 'If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water'" (v. 10). That’s not really a straight answer, is it? But it is a hint at what Jesus plans for this conversation. This unnamed woman, one who preferred to avoid the company of others so she could avoid their judgement, she was the one to whom Jesus said, "I am the Messiah!" (v. 26).

This woman wasn’t accepted by her neighbours, but she was accepted by Jesus. Society says our sins make us unacceptable, worthy only of judgement, shame, and scorn. Jesus seeks out the people who are shunned for their past. He said Himself, "For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost" (Luke 19:10). He talked with this woman, answered her questions, and treated her kindly, something her fellow townspeople weren’t in the habit of doing. He didn’t pretend her sins didn’t exist, but He accepted her anyway. In fact, when she went to tell everyone to come meet this extraordinary man, she said, "Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could he possibly be the Messiah?" (v. 29). The fact that He knew everything about her and still accepted her was amazing to her.

When we are weighed down by our sin, Jesus still accepts us. When society says what we’ve done is shameful and terrible, Jesus offers us forgiveness if we only believe in Him. That He knows everything about us and accepts us anyway is no less amazing now than it was to this woman in Sychar back then.

Jesus’ time with this woman brings a question to mind: are we more like the people of Sychar, or more like Jesus? Do unbelievers try to avoid our company because we make them feel full of shame, or are they drawn to us because they feel love and acceptance from us? If our default is one of judgement, how can we change that so we are more like Jesus?