My First Quilt with Lori Nawyn

It's time for this month's My First Quilt interview! I love reading these stories of how people got started making quilts, don't you? Today Lori Nawyn is sharing how and why she made her first quilt. Lori is a nationally licensed artist who creates art for manufacturers to use on products ranging from stationery to puzzles, textiles and cross stitch and embroidery kits, and home and garden decor. She has a tiny brick and mortar store where she sells her art and her own line of greeting cards and hand painted barn stars.

You can connect with Lori at her website, on Facebook, and on her Instagram accounts for her art, her shop, and her fabric.

And now, here's (one of) Lori's first quilt(s)! Isn't it cute?

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

2023. I've been designing fabric for national manufacturers for a little over three years. I've always dreamed of making quilts with my own fabric, but didn't think I had the skill...and I thought I was too old to learn! With a lot of encouragement from my local quilt guilds (that I joined just with the hope of watching others quilt), I decided to give it a try. I designed a fabric collection--Good Tidings of Skate Joy--that I uploaded to Spoonflower. When I got the fabric in the mail, I didn't know where to even begin. So I put the fabric aside for several weeks.

However, seeing all the quilts others were making with my fabric--and really wanting to learn how to quilt--I finally summoned the courage to create three 9x9 wall hangings which I used my embroidery skills to stitch the blocks to squares of felt; I also made a few small ornaments. I then used the fourth 9x9 block to try my hand at binding. It didn't turn out too bad! I had fun and decided to make a porch quilt to match the decor I'd made for our fireplace. I created a simple panel that I made loads of mistakes on--like adding batting that was much too thick, and really messing up the binding. After unpicking everything three times and ultimately getting the batting somewhat right, I finally finished it!

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

On the porch quilt, I was really winging it and just used my machine--straight stitch and buttonhole stitch. 

Who taught you to make the quilt?

I mainly taught myself by trial and error. I watched almost a dozen YouTube videos to learn how to do the binding.

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

Yes, because I really loved designing this fabric collection.

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

I didn't fall in love with it right away! After so many mistakes on just a small porch quilt, I didn't think quilting was something I'd be very good at--I'm too much of a perfectionist and  really hard on myself! But a lady in one of my guilds helped me take a lighthearted look at myself and my creative aspirations. She said, "If you can't see the mistakes from the back of a galloping horse, they don't matter!" That made me laugh! I decided I was going to jump into quilting and just make what I loved without worrying what anyone else thought.

Where is the quilt now?

Hanging behind the cash register in my fabric and gift shop, Huckleberry Moose.

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

Yes! Just have fun and enjoy the process. Make mistakes and learn from them; they are part of the wonderful journey of learning how to quilt!

Anything else you want to share about your first quilt?

All my art, and thus my fabric, has a story. The girl depicted in the quilt is based on my childhood experiences watching my mother ice skate on a pond in rural Utah. Being on the ice, pirouetting like a ballerina, brought her such joy! Those memories bring me great joy and I wanted to capture them. I added the geese as whimsical characters who I envisioned would also love the wonder of winter.

Thank you for sharing your first quilts with us, Lori! I love that you used fabric you designed yourself!

The Woman Caught in Adultery

Devotion for the week...

This is the first of a two-part look at the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery and brought before Jesus. These two devotions were part of the Moments with Jesus QAL and Devotional Journey. If you're interested in having 40 daily devotions delivered to your inbox to help you focus on God's word in the days leading up to Easter, check out the Roman Adventure QAL and Devotional Journey.

The Pharisees had a habit of trying to trap Jesus, by whatever means necessary. On one occasion Jesus was at the Temple, sitting and teaching a crowd of people, when “the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd” (John 8:3).

How terrified this woman must have been! It would be bad enough in our day to have authority figures drag a woman in front of a crowd and announce, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery” (v. 4) - just pause for a moment and put yourself in that place and imagine the shame and embarrassment you would feel at such a public display.  This woman, though, had to deal with not only the shame and embarrassment, but she would also have been afraid for her life because, as the Pharisees pointed out to Jesus, “The law of Moses says to stone her” (v. 5).

Side note, why was it only the woman brought before the crowd? If she was caught in the act of adultery, then surely she had a partner who was equally guilty, and the punishment for both the man and the woman was the same. So why was she the only one publicly shamed? I’ve heard of scholars who wonder if the Pharisees hadn’t arranged it all beforehand with her partner, which, if true, just adds to the misery of the moment for her.

Jesus knew the Pharisees were trying to trap Him, and instead of answering right away, He “stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger” (v. 6) while they kept on demanding He answer them. The Bible doesn’t tell us what He wrote, but there’s plenty of speculation. My favourite possibility is that He wrote sins the men had committed, which seems plausible considering He then stood and told them, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” (v. 7).

How the poor woman must have trembled when she heard that! 

She wasn’t dragged away to be executed, though. Instead, “when the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman” (v. 9). How long did it take for the men accusing her to slip away? Did she watch them walk away from her, or were her eyes glued to the ground, or maybe on Jesus?

Eventually, it was only Jesus and the woman standing there in the middle of the crowd who had been listening to Jesus’ teaching. He said to her, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” (v. 10). I picture a small smile on His face as He looks at her, a little reassurance for her terrified spirit. When she said no, He continued, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more” (v. 11).

Can you imagine the relief that must have flooded her at His words? How it must have felt to know that she was free to walk away, and that she wasn’t about to die after all?

Do you realize He doesn’t condemn us either? We may not have been dragged before a crowd and our sins declared publicly to everyone (hopefully not, anyway!), but we’re just as guilty as this poor woman was. Thankfully, “there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). We are free to walk away from the sins of our past, just as this woman was that day, because He is the only one who is without sin, and He chose to forgive us rather than condemn us.

Ticker Tape Heart Rainbow

Welcome to this week's TGIFF party! Before we get to the finish I'm sharing, did you know that registration is open for the Roman Adventure QAL and Devotional Journey? It's a 40 day QAL with daily devotions as we prepare for Easter. Get all the details here!

Here at Devoted Quilter headquarters, it's not only the quilting projects that sometimes wait a long time to be finished. Some blog posts have to wait for months, too 😅 Case in point, I started this post back in June, shortly after hosting the Ticker Tape Heart block challenge. I even had the pictures of the quilt taken (which is usually my sticking point), but apparently I got distracted and then I didn't come back to finish writing the post until this week. Oh well, after a few months of waiting, I'm happy to share my Ticker Tape Heart Rainbow baby quilt with you.

Since the pictures were taken in June, they have green grass and bare beach rocks rather than the abundance of snow on the ground around here right now.

It was a lot of fun to share this applique technique through the three day Ticker Tape Heart challenge. If you missed it back in the spring, don't worry! You can still sign up for the challenge right here and the daily emails will be sent to your inbox along with the free pattern.

I made 9 Ticker Tape Heart blocks leading up to the challenge so I could make a rainbow of hearts. With some 2 1/2" sashing and a 4" border, they make a great baby quilt.

Since I have my scraps sorted by colour, it was easy to work on one block at a time without needing to rummage through all my scraps. Whichever colour block I was working on, I just dumped that box of scraps onto the table to root through them and see what I wanted to use for the block. I found a lot of fabrics I hadn't seen in a long time, especially in the fullest boxes, since I hadn't dug down to the bottom of them in a while.

If you'd like to get your scraps sorted in the way that makes the most sense for the kinds of quilts you like to make, check out my free PDF guide, Escape Scrap Overwhelm.

The blue heart was the first one I made, and I cut those scraps larger than I did for any of the other blocks. So even though I have the most blue scraps, there are the fewest ticker tape pieces on the blue heart. There are also no repeats on the blue block, and I'm pretty sure that's the only block with no repeats.

For the Ticker Tape Heart block, you can stitch around the appliques when the block is still just a block, or you can sew the whole top together and baste it first, then stitch around the appliques and do the quilting all in one step. I chose to stitch around the appliques with the quilting, which gives the blocks great texture. This could be done with a walking foot, but I always choose to use my free motion foot because I prefer not to have to turn the quilt a bazillion times to go around all the small squares and rectangles.

I chose a rainbow of Aurifil thread for the hearts, plus Dove Grey (2600) for quilting the background. 

Hearts quilted into the background seemed like a given, don't you think? Can a heart baby quilt have too many hearts?

With this bright blue backing, all these thread colours show up nicely. This is why I love solid fabrics for quilt backs!

I debated making a scrappy binding, but then decided to go with this stripe print. It's not quite a rainbow, but it is pretty colourful and I think it gives a nice frame to the quilt.

If you'd like to make your own Ticker Tape Heart quilt, sign up for the challenge here for the free pattern and the videos full of tips for making your blocks.

Now it's your turn! What have you finished recently? Or not so recently, but you finally got around to sharing it? Link it up below, and don't forget to visit some of the other links and celebrate their finishes, too.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Unkind Speech

Before we dive into this week's devotion, did you know that registration is open for the 2025 QAL and Devotional Journey? Roman Adventure starts on March 5th; it's a 40 day quilt along, plus daily devotions from the book of Romans. Get all the details in this post.

Devotion for the week...

Sometimes I'll read a verse during my morning devotions and it'll just stick in my head for days. That was the case the last time I read this: "So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech" (1 Peter 2:1). The part that struck me most was that unkind speech fell under the umbrella of evil behavior.

When I think of evil behavior, I think of things like murder, abuse, and assault. I don't tend to think of things that are so commonplace we hardly even notice them, and unfortunately unkind speech is rather prevalent in society. Not that that makes speaking unkindly to someone okay, just that it has dulled us to it so much that we tend to think of it as rude, but not evil. And if we're being honest, it's one of those things we know is wrong, but that might show up in our lives more often than we'd like to admit.

Then, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that our unkind speech probably doesn't even have to be spoken out loud to be considered evil behavior. After all, Jesus said "You have heard the commandment that says, 'You must not commit adultery.' But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matthew 5:27-28). If it's not only the physical act that is considered adultery, then couldn't the same be said for the unkind things we think, but don't actually say?

What do we think when someone cuts us off in traffic, or takes the parking spot we were going for? What do we think when a coworker does something stupid that is going to affect us? That person may never know what we're thinking, but God hears it all.

In light of that sobering thought, the psalmist has recorded the perfect prayer for us all to keep in mind: "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer" (Psalm 19:14). 

Kitchen Party BOM - Blocks 1 and 2

The beginning of 2025 means the beginning of a new Block of the Month quilt in the Stash Artists membership. Here's the quilt we're making this year.

I drew a complete blank on naming it, so I asked members for suggestions. Michelle suggested Kitchen Party, saying, "If I was thinking about how to translate that wonderful experience of music and people and laughter and warmth into a visual representation, your quilt would be it🥳" I love that!

This BOM includes traditional piecing, paper piecing, and machine applique. We started off with that big applique block in the middle. Here's mine. I love how the colours all seem to glow against the rich purple background, which is Northcott's Majestic. All of the fabrics for my Kitchen Party quilt were generously provided by Northcott and are their COLORWORKS solids.

All the pieces are fused in place, but I haven't stitched around them yet. I can't decide if I want to stitch around them now or wait and do it with the quilting. Whichever I decide to do, I'm going to need to get thread to match the medium pink and the purple.

I do have the threads to match the lime green, the teal, the light pink, and the dark pink.

February's block is a paper pieced one, and it has only two seams. It doesn't get much simpler than that!

As always, I used freezer paper for my paper piecing and I made all eight blocks with just one template. I love that I can reuse templates with freezer paper! In fact, this is the same template I used to make the test block when I was figuring out what size the pieces needed to be cut for the pattern.

Did you know I have an on-demand workshop teaching how to use freezer paper for paper piecing? This technique is a game-changer for paper piecing!

I've been keeping my Kitchen Party blocks on my design wall, but they're going to have to come down after this weekend. I'm working on the next Stash Artists pattern and need the design wall to figure out block placement. I'm looking forward to putting these back up when I make the March blocks, though!

Before you go, did you know registration is open for the 2025 QAL and Devotional Journey? This year it's called Roman Adventure and it starts on March 5th. You can get all the details in this post.

A Reminder

Devotion for the week...

How's your memory? I often joke that mine is like a sieve 😂 If something isn't written down in my planner, there's a good chance I'm going to forget about it. I know I'm not alone in this. Paul has been known to go to school without his coffee, even though the travel mug is right there by the door where he puts his shoes on, and I have a friend who makes notes in her phone constantly so she'll remember things she needs to do.

It seems Peter had encountered people with the same problem in his day. He wrote, "Therefore, I will always remind you about these things—even though you already know them and are standing firm in the truth you have been taught" (2 Peter 1:12). The things he was referring to were the foundational truths of the faith, which he had already shared in the earlier part of his letter; things like "By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires" (vv. 3-4).

Peter was writing to believers, to people who already knew all of this, but he recognized the importance of repeating the truth, of reminding people again and again of what they believe. Sure, they (and we) already know it, but hearing it again can't hurt. In fact, there are two benefits to reminding ourselves and each other of the truths we believe.

First, the reminder brings the truth to the forefront of our minds again. We may know God has given us everything we need for living a hold life, but have we thought about that recently? Have we let ourselves dwell on it and rely on it? Or have we been struggling along trying to do everything in our own strength?

Second, the reminder helps the truth settle into our minds a little deeper. If you've heard something once, you may remember it for a little while, but if you've heard it a hundred times you're more likely to remember it forever. Just think about how often we sing the alphabet song with kids to help them remember their letters, or how often you repeat 'righty-tighty, lefty-loosey' to yourself. Repetition works!

Going to church, reading our Bibles, and listening to Christian music are all ways to continually be reminded to the things we believe. I hope these devotions serve as reminders, too!

Roman Adventure Registration Open!

This is my fifth year hosting a QAL and devotional journey in the days leading up to Easter. It's one of my favourite parts of the year! I love planning it, I love preparing it, and I especially love sharing it with everyone who joins me, so I'm excited to open registration for Roman Adventure today. Stash Artists members, login to your account for a discount code!

What is the QAL and Devotional Journey?

There are two parts to this annual event. We make a quilt together and we have 40 daily devotions that are delivered straight to your inbox. The fun starts on March 5th (Ash Wednesday) and runs until April 19th (the Saturday before Easter Sunday).

"A meditative journey in Bible readings and quilting that resonates with me all year long!" - Michelle E. about the 2024 Moments with Jesus QAL and Devotional Journey.

The Quilt

This year's quilt is called The Fountain. I love how it turned out! Yes, it's just a quilt top...if you've been around here for a while, you'll know that's a trend for these QAL quilts. Oops! I have to admit, though, I love the stained glass look of the blocks in the picture.

In September I was at our provincial women's retreat when we sang the song Made for More, by Josh Baldwin. I already knew and loved the song, but for some reason that night the line "Why would I make a bed in my shame when a fountain of grace is running my way?" really struck me. In my head I could see a quilt block of a fountain with hearts spraying out of it, to represent the love and grace of our God. Then, a few weeks later, I realized that a fountain quilt would fit nicely with a Romans-themed devotional journey and I was off and running for this design 😊 I hope you love it as much as I do.

The Fountain is a mix of machine applique (or you could do hand applique, if that's what you prefer), traditional piecing, and paper piecing. If you've never done machine applique or paper piecing, don't worry! I have video tutorials showing you both techniques, so you could add a new skill or two to your quilting toolbox.

The Fountain makes a 72" square quilt, which is a generous throw size, perfect for sharing with someone special. There's lots of negative space, too, for some fun quilting.

The QAL is a relaxed one, with plenty of time to make the blocks and to get the quilt top assembled before Easter. We all know life happens, so I try to make sure these QALs have a slow pace so everyone can keep up.

Once you register, you'll receive an email with the fabric requirements and cutting instructions. You'll have plenty of time to shop your stash or visit your favourite quilt shop to pick out your fabrics before our March 5th start. Then you can choose if you want to cut everything ahead of time, or wait and cut for each block as you go. The cutting instructions are labeled so you can easily tell which cuts are for which blocks.

The Devotional Journey

Let's spend a few weeks immersed in Paul's letter to the Roman believers! There's so much packed into this 16 chapter letter. Over the 40 daily devotions, we'll consider things like where we seek praise, trouble in this life, and our love for others. It's my prayer that you'll be encouraged, challenged, and strengthened in your faith as we get ready to celebrate Easter.

"The devotional journeys each day by Leanne were brilliant and I would recommend them to anyone, thank you for sharing your talents with us Leanne." - Paula B on the 2024 Moments with Jesus Devotional Journey

No time for another QAL?

I get it. You might already have a few QALs on the go and there's only so much time. If you don't have time for another QAL in your life, but you're still interested in the devotional journey through Romans, then you can join us for the daily devotions only! You'll receive the same 40 devotions delivered straight to your inbox, with no need to feel guilty about a QAL you know you won't be able to manage.

I hope you'll join me for a Roman Adventure!

Register for the Roman Adventure QAL and Devotional Journey here

Register for the Roman Adventure Devotional Journey only here

Shiphrah and Puah

Devotion for the week...

I'm knee-deep in preparation to open registration for this year's Easter QAL and Devotional Journey (it opens on Wednesday!), so this week I've pulled a devotion from the 2023 Women of Wisdom devotional journey. I hope you enjoy it!

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Do you know Shiphrah and Puah? I wouldn’t be surprised if you don’t! I didn’t know their names, either, until I went back and reread their tiny little story. It may only be a few verses long, but it shows incredible courage!

Their story takes place in Egypt, in the time after Joseph. "Eventually, a new king came to power in Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph or what he had done. He said to his people, 'Look, the people of Israel now outnumber us and are stronger than we are. We must make a plan to keep them from growing even more. If we don’t, and if war breaks out, they will join our enemies and fight against us. Then they will escape from the country.' So the Egyptians made the Israelites their slaves" (Exodus 1:8-11). That wasn’t enough for this king, though, so eventually he “gave this order to the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah: 'When you help the Hebrew women as they give birth, watch as they deliver. If the baby is a boy, kill him; if it is a girl, let her live'" (vv. 15-16). Human cruelty certainly isn’t new, is it?

Shiphrah and Puah were amazing women, though. "Because the midwives feared God, they refused to obey the king’s orders. They allowed the boys to live, too" (v. 17).

Of course, Pharaoh had to notice when there were still baby boys among the Hebrew slaves, so he called for the midwives and asked, "Why have you done this?...Why have you allowed the boys to live?" (v. 18)

I imagine the two women were shaking in their sandals as they stood before Pharaoh, but they refused to back down. "'The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women,' the midwives replied. 'They are more vigorous and have their babies so quickly that we cannot get there in time'" (v. 19).

These two brave women remind me of everyone who worked in secret to save Jews during WWII. They knew their governments were giving orders that were contrary to God’s laws and so they disobeyed the earthly authorities in order to obey God.

Though we will likely never be given orders to kill innocent babies, we may face situations where we’re being asked, or even ordered, to do things that go against God’s commands. In those moments, I pray that we, like Shiphrah and Puah, will recognize the higher authority and have the courage to disobey people in authority in order to obey God.