A Friday Finish for Fiona!

 This small binding roll is for the baby quilt I shared here.

I love pictures of rolled up binding, so I finally rolled up one of my own bindings, but it doesn't look nearly as impressive when it's only enough for a baby quilt!

 I love how the aqua border really added to the quilt, toning down the sweetness of the pink, but still looking girly.

I used a pale pink thread to quilt a simple meander all over this one. It will be delivered to baby Fiona sometime next week.

I think this might become my go-to baby quilt. I love the simplicity of the block, but it's more interesting than a plain four-patch and I think it would look fun in a lot of different colour schemes.

This finish is another for my Finish-a-Long list for this quarter. I'm really rolling along!



On Monday I received my mug rugs from the swap last month. They're both so pretty, and they look quite different, even though they're similarly made. The fabrics make such a huge difference.

These fabrics strike me as more modern.

These ones are more traditional.

I will definitely participate in a swap again. It was so much fun planning my mug rugs and then waiting for these to arrive in the mail.

Have a great weekend!

WIP Wednesday - Just Spoolin' Around

This block was so much fun to put together! It was fun planning out which fabrics would look like fun threads and then the block came together so easily. I only had to rip out one seam, and that was because somehow I ended up stitching on two layers of the red fabric, and of course one of them only covered part of the patch so it was really noticeable, otherwise I might have tried to get away with it.

I wish I could sew with these threads! I even remembered to make sure the lines were going horizontally on each spool, like real thread would be.

So, I now have four of Kristy's And Sew On... blocks finished, with only one more left to go for the wall hanging I plan to make. Maybe it's not such a long shot to get it finished before this quarter of the Finish-a-Long ends!

I started out with no plan whatsoever, but after making three blocks I found I had gravitated to a blue and red scheme, with the muslin background. So, I made Just Spoolin' Around with the blue and red again. I guess I stumbled onto a plan without even trying.

The red really stands out in this last block though, so I may have to be a little more bold with the final block's colours, just to balance it all out.

Thanks to everyone who left such nice comments on my Blog Hop with Giveaways post. I ran the numbers through random.org this morning and the winner was number 7, Tina A. Let me just say, starting my day by emailing someone to say she won a prize is a lot of fun too!

Adding to Your Repertoire

Devotion for the Week...

Anyone just learning to quilt has many new skills she needs to learn. She needs to learn to cut precisely so her pieces will fit together easily. She needs to learn to sew straight 1/4" seams, how to press those seams without distorting the pieces and how to measure before adding borders.

And that's just to make the quilt top! Then there's basting and quilting and binding. With each quilt the beginner will get a little better at these basic things. We all did, or will. Then we move on to other skills. Maybe we add applique or embroidery or free-motion quilting to our repertoire. Whatever the style, most quilters are always on the lookout for a new technique to try, a new skill to master.

In his second letter recorded in the Bible, Peter wrote of several things Christians should be adding to their repertoire as well. These are not skills to master, but rather characteristics to help us better conform to the character of Christ.

"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.  Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

 

"For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;  and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins." (2 Peter 1:3-9)

First off, in verses 3 and 4 Peter tells us that we already have everything we need "for life and godliness" so we "may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires." So these characteristics aren't beyond our reach. It isn't an impossible task he presents to us. With Jesus as Savior and if we rely on the Holy Spirit, who lives inside us to guide and strengthen us, it is possible to live as God calls us to live.

We begin with faith. Through faith we accept Jesus as Savior, which is the first step in living the way God intends. Then, relying on the Spirit daily, we add goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love.

Peter doesn't mean believers suddenly acquire these characteristics or that we don't have to work at them. In fact, Peter tells us to "make every effort." That means we work at being good, we work at increasing our knowledge and self-control and on through the list.

Just as a quilter doesn't say she will work on cutting perfectly while ignoring the size of her seam, we don't work on only one characteristic and ignore all the others. We may place more emphasis on one, especially if we are struggling in that area, but we can't completely neglect the other areas.

Verse 8 tells us there is no end point, no moment when we can say "I have all the self-control I need." Peter tells us the goal is to have "these qualities in increasing measure." In other words, we should always be trying to become more good, more knowledgeable, more self-controlled, to show more perseverance, godliness, kindness and love. Then we will not be "ineffective and unproductive," which I think means that if we have these qualities in increasing measure then we are experiencing the full result of knowing Jesus as Savior.

What about if we don't have these qualities? Peter says believers without them are "near-sighted and blind" and that they have "forgotten that [they have] been cleansed from [their] past sins" (v. 9).

That's not how I want to live!

It's not easy to focus on improving these qualities in our lives. We'd rather believe we are good enough as we are and spend our energies pointing out the faults of others. But that's not what God desires for us.

So, do you have faith in Jesus as your Savior? What about the other qualities? What efforts could you be making to increase your measure of goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love?