Ticker Tape Heart Block Challenge

You're invited to join a 3 day block challenge! From May 31-June 2, dig into your favourite scraps to make a Ticker Tape Heart block with the free pattern and daily emails to walk you through each step. These blocks are so much fun to make!

Register here for the challenge

The Ticker Tape Heart block is a combination of piecing and applique. The piecing goes together pretty quickly (that's day one!), then comes the fun of playing with your scraps to find the perfect pieces to applique to fill in the heart (day two) and stitching them down to secure them (day three).

I couldn't decide what colour heart to make while preparing for the block challenge, so I made a rainbow of them! These 9 blocks are perfect for a baby quilt, with the addition of some 2" sashing and a 4" border.

My Mother's Day flowers made good photo props!

To fussy cut, or not to fussy cut, that is the question!

Once the hearts were pieced, I started digging through my various scrap boxes to cut the applique pieces. It was fun to see what scraps I had that could be fussy cut to add an extra element of surprise to the block.

I particularly like this little snowflake.

And these flowers.

And these clouds.

Fussy cutting isn't usually my thing, but it was fun to do just a little of it for these blocks. If it's not your thing, either, you can totally skip it. Most of my pieces aren't fussy cut, as you can tell from the other pieces in these pictures.

What can you do with your Ticker Tape Heart block?

The first time I made Ticker Tape Heart blocks, in January 2022, I added a border to one block, to make a mini quilt. The instructions for this mini quilt are included in the pattern you'll receive on day one of the challenge.

I also made a table runner with three blocks, and those instructions are included in the pattern, too.

And as I've already mentioned, this time around I've made 9 blocks for a baby quilt. You decide if you want to make just one block so you can join in the fun or if you really want to play with your scraps and make enough for a throw quilt, or anything in between. Whatever you decide, I can't wait to see your Ticker Tape Heart block(s)!

Join the challenge here

To Him

Devotion for the week...

I mentioned last week that I'm reading the book of Acts during my morning devotions lately, and today's devotion comes from that book again. Last week I read about Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus, which I had also read several times while preparing the devotions for the Moments with Jesus QAL and Devotional Journey. That story led to two devotions during the QAL, and even still I hadn't noticed what I noticed when I read it again last week. Isn't it amazing that God's word always has something new for us?

We know the apostle Paul as one of the great men of the Bible, but the beginning of his conversion story paints him in a very different light. "Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers. So he went to the high priest. He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains" (Acts 9:1-2). Yikes! Not only was Saul, later to be known as Paul, not a believer, he was trying to kill or imprison as many believers as he could! Eliminating the believers in Jerusalem wasn't good enough for him, either; he had to take his persecution on the road and see who he could capture in Damascus, too.

"As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, 'Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?'

"'Who are you, lord?' Saul asked.

"And the voice replied, 'I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do" (vv. 3-6).

From that moment on, Saul served Jesus and taught everyone he could that Jesus was the Messiah. His conversion isn't the focus for today, though. Instead, I want us to really see what Jesus said to Saul: 'Why are you persecuting me?' And then, 'I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting!'

Jesus didn't ask why Saul was persecuting the people who believed in Him, He asked why Saul was persecuting Him, as if it was Jesus Himself that Saul was hauling out of homes and into prison.

Whenever I've thought about that in the past, I thought about it kind of like, 'Saul is hurting believers, which makes Jesus sad.' This time, though, I thought of Matthew 25:37-40, where He says, "Then these righteous ones will reply, 'Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing?  When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?'

"'And the King will say, 'I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!'" That story about our eventual judgement says that whenever we help people, Jesus counts it as if it had been done unto Him.

Jesus' words to Saul on the road to Damascus show the flip side of that; whatever harm we do to others, Jesus sees that as if it had been done unto Him, too. That's a sobering thought, isn't it?

Ombre Twirl

Monday was what I call Stash Artists Day. On the first Monday of each month, I send an email to Stash Artists members about the devotion for the month, the new block for our BOM, and in alternating months the upcoming Sew Together Session or the new pattern. Stash Artists doors will be opening again next month, so join the waitlist if you want to be notified when you can join us. 

May is a pattern month in the membership, which means I can share Ombre Twirl now that the members have access to this new pattern.

I designed Ombre Twirl a year or more ago so I'm glad it made it to the top of the list so I could finally make it!

The Ombre Twirl block uses squares in light, medium, and dark values to create the ombre effect. I discovered some interesting things about my stash while choosing the fabrics for the squares, like that almost all my red fabrics are the same value! That's why there's no red block in the quilt; I couldn't get a nice light, medium, dark progression. I also found that my blues are primarily dark, though there are enough lights and mediums mixed in there that I could make some blue blocks. It was a lot of fun digging through my scraps and my stash to find the right fabrics to put together!

I used my Accuquilt Go machine to cut the scrappy squares and the background strips, which made the cutting go really fast. I don't always remember to pull out the Accuquilt, unless I'm looking for a way to occupy the childcare littles with something different, but I'm trying to use it more often. It's especially helpful for cutting up scraps, since I can't easily cut multiples at once with the rotary cutter, like I can when I'm cutting from yardage.

I kept thinking about how to quilt this one while I pieced the blocks. I figured I would probably outline the scrappy strips, then quilt something in the squares and something else in the background. I couldn't decide what to quilt, though. In fact, every time I thought about it, I felt quite a bit of resistance, like I didn't really want to quilt that much detail. When I thought about quilting a simpler, all-over design, I was much happier with that idea.

That had me thinking about how my go-to quilting style has changed over the years. I used to do a lot of really small, dense quilting, but now I find myself more interested in open, loose designs. I'm not sure there's a reason for the change, though it may be because I'm making more scrap quilts and all-over quilting seems to fit them better. It might also be that by the time I get to the quilting stage I'm usually excited about the next quilt I want to start, and all-over quilting tends to be faster. Whatever the reason for the shift, I'm still having fun with the free motion quilting, so it's all good.

I've done meander quilting with loops and flowers or loops and hearts, but this is the first time I combined all three. I mostly did two loops then a flower then two loops then a heart. I say mostly because there were a few times I got confused about what should have been next, and a few times when I needed a third or even fourth loop to work my way out of a small space before I could do a heart or flower. The beauty of this kind of quilting is that it really doesn't matter if I make a 'mistake'. No one is ever going to pay enough attention to trace a line to make sure I quilted the motifs in the right order!

I pieced together scraps of Warm and Natural batting for this throw size version of Ombre Twirl. When I'm piecing scraps of batting together, I cut the edges I'm going to join with a rotary cutter, then sew them together with a wide zig zag stitch. I tend to avoid piecing batting for anything larger than a baby quilt, since I find it hard to sew long seams of batting without getting ripples, but I only needed to join two pieces and it went fine this time. 

I wasn't at all interested in piecing the back, though, so off to my LQS I went. I found this pretty teal swirl wideback, so I didn't have to sew even one seam for the back. I love fabrics with swirls, so this was an easy choice.

How many pieces of sea glass can you spy in the picture?

While I was shopping for the backing, this grey print caught my eye. I loved the colourful x's, so I picked it up for the binding. Normally I would choose a scrappy binding for a scrappy quilt, but I really love how this print frames the quilt, especially since it's just a bit darker than the solid grey background.

I took Ombre Twirl to the beach along with Shining Through, on one of the few sunny days we've had recently. There was only a slight breeze, but it was still enough to make the quilts fly when they were clipped onto the backdrop stand. Here are a couple of the outtakes 🤣

This one is my personal favourite. I think the quilt was trying to do a magic carpet impersonation!

When the quilt actually hung straight, the sun shining through it was so pretty!

Once I finished taking quilt pictures, I wandered around on the rocks for a while, soaking up the sunshine and the sound of the waves. I found a few pieces of sea glass, including a pretty purple one! I tried my hand at stacking the sea glass for a couple of pictures before I headed home, and I liked how this one turned out.

I can't wait to see the Ombre Twirl quilts made by Stash Artists members now that they have the pattern! And remember, get on the waitlist if you'd like to join us when the membership doors open in June.

His Voice

Devotion for the week...

I'm currently reading through the book of Acts in my morning devotions and one day last week I read chapter 7, in which Stephen addresses the Council after they arrested him on the testimony of false witnesses. I burst out laughing when I read verse 53, which says, "You deliberately disobeyed God’s law, even though you received it from the hands of angels." It's not at all a funny verse, but for a moment that morning it sounded like James Earl Jones had suddenly appeared in my kitchen to reprise his role as King Mufasa!

There's a line in The Lion King where Mufasa says to Simba, "You deliberately disobeyed me." When I read those same three words in the Bible last week, I heard them in Mufasa's voice and cadence, even though I haven't seen The Lion King in years. The line has been on repeat in my head ever since, and I chuckle a little to myself every time I think of it.

There are other parts of the Bible that I hear in a specific voice or cadence, too. Most notable is the first part of Isaiah 53:6, which in the KJV says, "All we like sheep have gone astray." I cannot read that straight through! My mind automatically pauses a beat between words, then trills through 'astray,' just like in the song from Handel's Messiah. My husband plays Messiah almost every year around Christmas, and that particular song has embedded itself in my memory. Even rereading it multiple times while editing this devotion, I 'hear' it in my head like the song every single time 😂

This calls to mind Jesus talking about being the Good Shepherd. "I tell you the truth, anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold, rather than going through the gate, must surely be a thief and a robber! But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice" (John 10:1-5). He also said, "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me" (v. 27).

The expectation in Jesus' words is that we will know His voice, that we will recognize when He is speaking to us and when He's not. Obviously it's not going to be an 'out loud' voice we hear, but rather a recognition in our spirit that what we just heard, read, or thought was actually a message from God.

There are a lot of voices clamoring for attention these days - influencers and media and celebrities and politicians, not to mention our own friends and family. Can we pick out Jesus' voice amidst all the other noise? Are we paying enough attention to His word to even recognize His voice?

I'd love to know, are there any parts of the Bible you 'hear' in a particular person's voice? And when was the last time you heard God's voice?

Shining Through Baby Quilt Finished

I made this Shining Through quilt top in 2022, did the quilting and binding during last year's WIPS-B-GONE challenge, and finally took pictures of it last weekend. It has been a slow process, but I can finally share the finish here! 

The fold lines were very stubborn, which makes sense since it has been folded and stacked with a few other quilts since it was finished back in the fall 😅 

The trip to the beach for pictures was my first visit for the year, and it was fabulous. See that beautiful blue sky? It's a good thing I enjoyed it then because we haven't seen it again since I took these pictures on Sunday. Instead, we've had nothing but RDF (rain, drizzle, and fog) all week.

The Shining Through pattern is available in my shop. This version of the baby quilt size is made with the Citified fabric line from Island Batik. The pattern also includes instructions for a throw size.

I used a pretty blue solid from Northcott for the backing, and, of course, there's an off-cut of Warm and Natural batting inside. I love baby quilts for using up smaller pieces of batting! 

This double loop quilting is quick and fun to stitch. I used Aurifil 50 wt 2311 to match the background on the front, with the bonus that it shows up really nicely on the blue backing.

I took these pictures with the quilt hanging on my photography backdrop stand and I loved how the front shone through the back in the sun.

I cut the fabric for the binding back when I cut everything for the quilt top (two years ago). I had to dig a little to find it when it was time to bind the quilt, since my sewing stuff had all been moved from the kitchen to the sewing room since then, but I found it safely tucked into a box on a shelf in my cutting table.

The baby size of Shining Through really is a quick sew, unless you're like me and leave it sitting around for months rather than working on it, lol. Get the pattern in my shop and see if you can finish it faster than I did 😂

It Never Gets Old

Devotion for the week...

I've been writing these weekly devotions for 11 years now. Over the past few years, I've also added devotions for the annual Easter QAL and Devotional Journeys, and monthly devotions for Stash Artists members. That's a lot of devotions! Every now and then I get an email from a reader saying a particular devotion encouraged or challenged her. It amazes me that God uses my words to speak into another person's life that way. 

I spent a lot of years learning how to write well, but I know it's not my skill that impacts you as you read these devotions. It's His Word, His story, and His influence speaking through my words that makes a difference to you. Knowing that He works in and through what I write never gets old, which is why I still love every single email I receive about the devotions. 

Last week I read the story of Peter and John healing a man on their way into the Temple: "Peter and John went to the Temple one afternoon to take part in the three o’clock prayer service. As they approached the Temple, a man lame from birth was being carried in. Each day he was put beside the Temple gate, the one called the Beautiful Gate, so he could beg from the people going into the Temple. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for some money.

Peter and John looked at him intently, and Peter said, "Look at us!" The lame man looked at them eagerly, expecting some money. But Peter said, "I don’t have any silver or gold for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!"

Then Peter took the lame man by the right hand and helped him up. And as he did, the man’s feet and ankles were instantly healed and strengthened. He jumped up, stood on his feet, and began to walk! Then, walking, leaping, and praising God, he went into the Temple with them" (Acts 3:1-8).

Talk about God working through a person! Can you imagine how Peter must have felt as God worked through his words and his outstretched hand to heal this man? I wonder if that feeling ever went away, through all the years Peter worked such astounding miracles in Jesus' name. I hope it didn't, and Peter always felt a sense of wonder as God worked through him.

How has God worked through you? Isn't it an amazing feeling when you realize He has used your efforts to impact another person in some way?

My First Quilt with Jody Groenendyk

It's time for another My First Quilt interview! Today Jody of Gingerberry Quilts is sharing her first quilt with us. By day, Jody is a scientist, diving deep into the world of biochemistry, but by night, she unleashes her creativity as a passionate quilter. She loves to design quilt patterns and help customers finish their quilts with her longarm!

You can connect with Jody at her website and on Instagram.

And now, here's Jody's first quilt 😊 You know I love those blues!

What year did you make your first quilt? What prompted you to make it?

2019, My daughter went through a tragic death of her boyfriend and we all struggled to cope. Quilting was what I turned to. I made a quilt for my daughter.

What techniques were used in that first quilt? Did you quilt it yourself?

It was a simple HST quilt but I didn't have a rotary cutter or mat and I didn't know how to finish the binding. 

Who taught you to make the quilt?

My grandmother taught me to sew when I was a kid.

Are the colours you chose for your first quilt ones you would still choose today?

No. The first quilt was mostly blue but I now quilt with every colour.

Did you fall in love with quilting right away? Or was there a gap between making the first quilt and the next one?

I fell in love right away. I made quilts for everyone I knew and then started donating quilts to a local charity,  Blankets of Love for Mental Health. I am now on the board for the charity. 

Where is the quilt now?

In my spare bedroom. My daughter moved out and left it in her room.

Is there anything you wish you could go back and tell yourself as you made that first quilt?

A seam allowance of 1/4 inch is important.

Anything else you want to share about your first quilt?

Quilting is therapeutic!

Thank you for sharing your first quilt with us, Jody! I'm glad quilting helped you cope with a terrible situation, and that you fell in love with it along the way ❤

Changes

Devotion for the week...

A few weeks ago I started wearing custom orthotics in my shoes to correct a few issues and, since I spend most of my time at home, I was told I'd get the most benefit from them if I wear them around the house, too. I have never worn even slippers in the house, so it felt really weird to be tromping around the kitchen in a pair of sneakers. It also felt weird to be an inch or so taller compared to the table and the counters, because of the extra height from the shoes. Weird or not, I've been doing my best to wear them consistently. 

The other day I got up from reading to start making supper and didn't put the shoes on right away, and I within a few minutes I realized that it felt a little bit odd to not wear them 🤣 That just goes to show we can get used to changes pretty quickly!

Thinking about that made me remember Psalm 1:1, which says, "Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers." That may seem like an odd connection, but to me, this verse is a reminder to pay attention to who we're spending time with, and the influence they have on us. Even if we're spending our time with the same people we always have, there could be changes that we've simple gotten used to and don't notice anymore. Those changes could be in them, in how we interact, in the things we choose to do, or how we talk about other people (or ourselves) when we're together.

Those changes could be positive ones (adopting a healthier lifestyle) or they could be negative (a new tendency to gossip or to put people down). Whatever changes occur in the people we spend time could end up influencing us in turn. That's great if our friends or family are making positive changes! If we're not paying attention, though, we could look up one day and be surprised to find ourselves 'joining in with mockers' because we've adjusted to negative changes without even realizing it.

Curves Jubilee

I'm excited that today I can share a collaboration I've been working on behind the scenes - introducing the Curves Jubilee pattern bundle! Curves Jubilee is a limited time collection of 12 modern quilt patterns featuring curved piecing for $23.99 USD. That's only $2 per pattern! This special collection is only available through Sunday, April 21st, so be sure to purchase yours today.

Want to see all the patterns that are included? Of course you do! Curves Jubilee includes Birds of a Feather, by Jody Groenendyk of Gingerberry Quilts,

Celestial by Amber Elliot of Alderwood Studio,

Circus Ring by Erin Nichole of Mija Handmade,

Lanterne Rouge by Daisy Aschehoug of Warm Folk,

Flutter by Cheryl Brickey of Meadow Mist Designs,

Garden Peony by Yvonne Fuchs of Quilting Jetgirl,

Gingham Glitz by Holly Clarke of Holly Clarke Design,

Lunar Eclipse by Shannon Fraser of Shannon Fraser Designs,

Where Flowers Bloom by Megan Collins of Megan Collins Quilt Designs,

Topsy-Turvy by Heather Black of Quiltachusetts,

Moon Lights by Sarah Ruiz,

and Illusion, by yours truly 😊

Isn't that an amazing group of quilt patterns? I'm particularly excited about Circus Ring, and may have already printed the templates and started cutting up scraps to make it myself 😊

If you bought all 12 patterns individually, it would cost over $155 USD, so the Curves Jubilee bundle saves you a bundle! Remember, this specially curated bundle is only available through Sunday, April 21, so don't let it slip away.

Buy the Curves Jubilee bundle now!

In Awe

Devotion for the week...

Did you watch the eclipse last Monday, either in person or online? We drove about 90 minutes to get into the path of totality and it was so worth it! I had never experienced a total eclipse before, and it was such an amazing experience there aren't words to describe it. We wore eclipse glasses to watch as the moon traveled across the sun. The glasses are 10,000 times darker than sunglasses and with them on we could see nothing except the sun. Nothing! Then, at totality, when I took the glasses down and looked at the sun completely covered by the moon, with the corona shining around it, I teared up to the point I almost couldn't talk, though I did manage to choke out, "That is soooo cool!" Everyone around us was saying some version of the same thing, or just saying, "Wow!" I am so glad I got to experience it in person.

On Wednesday during my morning devotions, I read part of Psalm 65, including verse 8, which says, "Those who live at the ends of the earth stand in awe of your wonders." Immediately I thought of the eclipse. Awe is exactly the right word for what I experienced for the minute and a half of totality, and still feel whenever I think about it.

I'm certainly not alone in that feeling. I saw so many social media posts from others in the path of totality who were amazed by what they saw. During the eclipse, people all over the world stood in awe of His wonders. Whether they were in the path of totality or watching it streamed online, whether they acknowledge God as their Creator or not, they stared at the sun as it was eclipsed by the moon and they were in awe.

Some of them saw only the science, not the Creator who set the paths of the sun, the moon, and the earth in place to bring them together for that moment. Some of them saw only a beautiful natural event, not the One who designed all of nature. That they didn't see Him doesn't change that He was the cause of their awe.

Psalm 19:1-4 says, "The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world." Last Monday the heavens shouted about His glory to anyone willing to listen.

Like A Tree

Devotion for the week...

On Good Friday we had a lot of rain, then in the evening it changed to freezing rain. Saturday morning it warmed up again, so that it was about 8℃ (46℉) when I went for a walk around 10:30. When I stepped out the door I was confused because it sounded like it was raining, but it wasn't. As I walked, I realized the sound was ice falling continuously off the trees. The trees were all completely coated in ice from the freezing rain, but the warmer temperature was causing the ice to melt enough to fall off in chunks, which would then knock off other chunks from lower branches as it fell. Listening to it had me smiling the whole walk!

Along the way, I saw this birch tree bent way over by the weight of the ice. It always amazes me that trees can bend like that. If I hold a piece of birch wood in my hands, there's no way I can bend it even a little; it feels solid and unyielding. Under strong winds or the weight of ice or snow, though, it can bend dramatically so it doesn't break.

For the rest of my walk, the words 'like trees planted by the water' kept running through my mind, so I had to look up the verse. Jeremiah wrote:

"But blessed are those who trust in the Lord

    and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.

They are like trees planted along a riverbank,

    with roots that reach deep into the water.

Such trees are not bothered by the heat

    or worried by long months of drought.

Their leaves stay green,

    and they never stop producing fruit" (Jeremiah 17:7-8).

The verse doesn't say anything about trees bending to survive under the weight of ice without breaking, probably because that wasn't part of Jeremiah's climate. It does reference trees that can withstand harsh conditions because they're deeply rooted in the life-giving water of the river. Whether the harsh conditions are heat and drought, or wind and freezing rain, trees have to be rooted in good soil in order to survive.

So who does Jeremiah say is like a tree planted by the river, able to survive those harsh conditions? It's not the wealthy, or the healthiest people, or the best looking ones. It's not the ones with the best jobs, or the closest families, or the most degrees. A lot of people put their trust in those things, but those things don't sustain us when trouble comes. Instead, Jeremiah says it is people who trust in the Lord, and who have put their hope and confidence in Him that can withstand hard times. 

When we put our trust in Him, our spiritual roots go down into good soil that can sustain us through long months of drought...or nights of freezing rain, depending on your climate.