Olympic Lessons - Part 2

Devotion for the Week...

 Another Olympics has come to an end. Did you watch? We are not a hockey family, but we watched Canada's women and then the men take gold, cheering the whole time (even though the boys kept calling the periods 'ends' after watching a few curling matches!). Even when we weren't watching specific events, we were constantly checking the medal standings to see how Canadians were doing.

Can you imagine yourself at the Olympics, about to compete? How much time and energy would you have spent getting ready for that moment? How much of yourself would you pour into your event? Wouldn't you give every ounce of skill, every bit of energy and will you could muster in pursuit of that gold medal?

Consider now how you apply yourself to the more ordinary things God has called you to do. I have always wanted to be a writer; I believe God designed me for this purpose. How often do I actually write? Before I started this blog, with its commitment to a Monday devotion, I almost never wrote anything more significant than a grocery list. All my excuses could be summed up in one word - fear. Fear I wouldn't be good enough, fear that my words wouldn't make a difference.

But God didn't call me to worry about the results of my work. Jesus said, "God's kingdom is like seed thrown on a field by a man who then goes to bed and forgets about it. The seed sprouts and grows - he has no idea how it happens" (Mark 4:26, MSG). The man can't do anything to make the seed grow except plant it. He can't coax the shoot out of the seed. He can't make it grow faster by pulling on the first speck of green that pokes out of the ground. He plants it. Whether or not it sprouts, whether or not it produces a harvest is largely out of his hands. There's only one guarantee: with no seed planted, there will be no harvest.

My job is to be faithful, to pour myself into what God wants me to do, and to leave the rest to Him. It's just like the gymnast I wrote about last week. She throws the hoop into the air and continues on, putting all her energy into performing the next part of the routine.

I will never answer to God for how you used your gifts or for the effort you put into what He called you to do. Neither will you answer for me. We will each be "rewarded according to [our] own labor" (1 Corinthians 3:8b). Olympic gold pales in comparison to the rewards God can give.

A Bag of Scraps and a Craftsy Sale

This fabulous pile of scraps arrived in my mailbox yesterday, courtesy of Renee of Quilts of a Feather. They are some of the scraps from her The Doctor's Starry Night quilt. You should really check it out, it is amazing. As one of the winners of her giveaway, I wasn't expecting to find such big pieces in my package, so that was a great surprise. There are some truly beautiful fabrics in here, so I can't wait to get cutting and add them to my scrap quilts. Thanks Renee!

I've been experimenting with a little embroidery the past couple of days. This little flower panel is destined for a surprise project, more details to come next weekend.

 Did you know Craftsy is having a huge sale this weekend? Head on over and check out the gorgeous kits that are on sale.

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I hope you're having a great weekend, with lots of time for stitching.

FMQ Success and a Hinderssistant

Last night I finished the quilting on my Happy Birthday banner quilt. I had to do the four friendship stars in the corners, so I Googled "fmq frienship stars" and found a lovely design within moments.




Then I started drawing it on paper to figure out the proper path for stitching. Please excuse the ghostly images in the back (I drew on both sides of the paper). The design seemed pretty simple, so I moved right onto the quilt.

The first one looks a little lopsided, mostly because I had to start in the middle of the center square, but couldn't be bothered to measure to be sure I was actually in the middle. Of course I wasn't.

By the fourth star, I had it down! I'm still enough of a newbie with fmq that I get totally excited when something turns out the way it's supposed to. I left the quilt on the kitchen table overnight so I could see the stars first thing this morning.

Today, during nap time, I finished stitching the blue hexies around my last flower, so now all 56 are ready to be assembled. It's funny to think I started this stage while we were on vacation in Florida...it doesn't look anything like Florida outside now!

Here are all 56 stacked and ready to be assembled, once the connecting pairs are sewn together. They'll be pretty quick, though, since there's only one seam to connect each pair.












I even managed to stitch the first two pairs together, so there are only about 48 left to go.

Now, lest you think this photo session was easy, let me introduce you to my 'hinderssistant' - you know, someone who is helping you but actually makes the job take longer.

This is Keeran. He's the youngest of the little ones I babysit and he hovered at my elbow for the entire photo session, finally deciding he needed the blanket I was using as a backdrop.

I straightened the blanket, moved the flowers and positioned the two connecting pairs for their close-up. Keeran did this...

 Then this...

 Then this! Doesn't he look pleased with his arrangement?

 Nathan offered to help pick them up, but wanted to spread them all out first so he could see them all. 

I link to these places.