I did very simple quilting in the center since I wanted the embroidery to be the focus. I stitched in the ditch and outlined each flower, then echo quilted once around each flower.
May 27, 2015
Psalm 19 Mini - Finished!
I finally finished my second Psalm 19 mini quilt!
I made this for Gail, who blogs at Notion Nanny, as a Craft it Forward gift. My first Psalm 19 Mini Quilt is available in my Etsy shop.
I did very simple quilting in the center since I wanted the embroidery to be the focus. I stitched in the ditch and outlined each flower, then echo quilted once around each flower.
The rest of the quilting shows up much better on the back. Loops in the inner border and wishbones in the black border were quick to stitch, and I'm really pleased with how it looks with the red strips of fabric I used to stretch the backing fabric I had on hand. A couple of hanging triangles in the corners and it was finally finished!
This is my second finish for this quarter of the Finish-a-Long (the first was Renee's quilt). Hmmm, only two of five...I guess I better get sewing!
I did very simple quilting in the center since I wanted the embroidery to be the focus. I stitched in the ditch and outlined each flower, then echo quilted once around each flower.
May 25, 2015
Just a Little Bit
Devotion for the Week...
I love spending time in the kitchen. I enjoy chopping things, mixing, tasting and creating something yummy. I love when people walk into the house and say, "Mmmm, smells good in here. What did you make?" Whether it's spaghetti sauce, brownies or peanut butter blondies, I like making food to share.
I do most of my baking from scratch, stirring flour, sugar, cocoa and more together to create the chocolate cake I've made so many times I don't need the recipe anymore. I've given up on making a single batch of muffins because 12 just doesn't stretch very far when you're feeding a family of 5 and we all love muffins.
I love making breads too. I don't make our regular everyday bread because...well, we're a family of 5 and we love bread too! I don't even want to think about how many loaves I'd have to make to keep up with the demand. I do make the bread we use for garlic bread, though. I make our pizza dough from scratch every week and I make challah bread (which is delicious as toast).
Have you ever noticed that Jesus used regular, everyday examples of things when He taught? He said, "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough" (Matthew 13:33). A woman making bread. Every person listening to Him would have either made bread themselves or they'd have been around a woman making it. It's easy to see, isn't it? I do confess I have trouble imagining needing sixty pounds of flour at one time, though! It wouldn't have taken nearly as much yeast, of course. My pizza dough recipe calls for about 2 1/2 cups of flour, but only 1 tablespoon of yeast. Yeast is quite amazing, when you stop to think about it. Such a tiny amount, and yet it makes the whole batch of bread dough rise so beautifully.
How is the kingdom of heaven like yeast? First of all, let me say that the kingdom of heaven is, right now, within the hearts of believers. We who have the Holy Spirit living within us, who have received Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are the kingdom of heaven. Being compared to yeast makes me think of the influence yeast has on the rest of the ingredients in the recipe. It's only a little bit of yeast, but it is enough, and it makes the whole batch rise. Without the working of the yeast, the bread would be hard, dense and not at all something we would want to eat.
As Christians, our influence should work like yeast, lifting and raising the society around us to look more like the God we serve. We influence the people we are around each day, the ones who see how we handle different situations, what sort of language we choose to use and how we talk about other people. Are we, by our Christ-like behavior, being a positive influence on those around us? Though believers may be outnumbered, we, like yeast, can change our society for the better if we truly follow Jesus' teaching to the best of our ability.
Unfortunately, there are some Christians who feel the need to badmouth anyone who doesn't agree with them, or who doesn't follow the same set of rules they follow. Some of those Christians are so loud and disagreeable that they have given all Christians a bad reputation for being judgmental, narrow-minded and arrogant. That's not at all the influence Jesus wants His followers to have.
Jesus compared that sort of religious people to yeast too, but that comparison had a different tone. "Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees" (Matthew 16:6). The Pharisees and Sadducees, the religious leaders of Jesus' day, were very strict. There was only one right way to do things and it was their way. Their way had no compassion for people, no grace, no kindness. Jesus' harshest words were directed at these people who should have been closest to God, who should have been the first to recognize Jesus when He came, but who were actually the farthest from God because of their self-reliance.
Just as the kingdom of heaven (believers who live the way Jesus intends) can positively influence society, so those who profess to believe but cling to man-made rules (and insist everyone else must follow them too), can influence negatively. Either way, it takes only a little influence to spread throughout a whole family, or church or community. The question is, which sort of influence are we spreading?
I love spending time in the kitchen. I enjoy chopping things, mixing, tasting and creating something yummy. I love when people walk into the house and say, "Mmmm, smells good in here. What did you make?" Whether it's spaghetti sauce, brownies or peanut butter blondies, I like making food to share.
I do most of my baking from scratch, stirring flour, sugar, cocoa and more together to create the chocolate cake I've made so many times I don't need the recipe anymore. I've given up on making a single batch of muffins because 12 just doesn't stretch very far when you're feeding a family of 5 and we all love muffins.
I love making breads too. I don't make our regular everyday bread because...well, we're a family of 5 and we love bread too! I don't even want to think about how many loaves I'd have to make to keep up with the demand. I do make the bread we use for garlic bread, though. I make our pizza dough from scratch every week and I make challah bread (which is delicious as toast).
Have you ever noticed that Jesus used regular, everyday examples of things when He taught? He said, "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough" (Matthew 13:33). A woman making bread. Every person listening to Him would have either made bread themselves or they'd have been around a woman making it. It's easy to see, isn't it? I do confess I have trouble imagining needing sixty pounds of flour at one time, though! It wouldn't have taken nearly as much yeast, of course. My pizza dough recipe calls for about 2 1/2 cups of flour, but only 1 tablespoon of yeast. Yeast is quite amazing, when you stop to think about it. Such a tiny amount, and yet it makes the whole batch of bread dough rise so beautifully.
How is the kingdom of heaven like yeast? First of all, let me say that the kingdom of heaven is, right now, within the hearts of believers. We who have the Holy Spirit living within us, who have received Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are the kingdom of heaven. Being compared to yeast makes me think of the influence yeast has on the rest of the ingredients in the recipe. It's only a little bit of yeast, but it is enough, and it makes the whole batch rise. Without the working of the yeast, the bread would be hard, dense and not at all something we would want to eat.
As Christians, our influence should work like yeast, lifting and raising the society around us to look more like the God we serve. We influence the people we are around each day, the ones who see how we handle different situations, what sort of language we choose to use and how we talk about other people. Are we, by our Christ-like behavior, being a positive influence on those around us? Though believers may be outnumbered, we, like yeast, can change our society for the better if we truly follow Jesus' teaching to the best of our ability.
Unfortunately, there are some Christians who feel the need to badmouth anyone who doesn't agree with them, or who doesn't follow the same set of rules they follow. Some of those Christians are so loud and disagreeable that they have given all Christians a bad reputation for being judgmental, narrow-minded and arrogant. That's not at all the influence Jesus wants His followers to have.
Jesus compared that sort of religious people to yeast too, but that comparison had a different tone. "Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees" (Matthew 16:6). The Pharisees and Sadducees, the religious leaders of Jesus' day, were very strict. There was only one right way to do things and it was their way. Their way had no compassion for people, no grace, no kindness. Jesus' harshest words were directed at these people who should have been closest to God, who should have been the first to recognize Jesus when He came, but who were actually the farthest from God because of their self-reliance.
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| The background quilt is my Blue Sparkler |
May 20, 2015
WIP Wednesday - Here and There
I've been working on a lot of different things this past week. Here's a quick summary of it all.
The weather has finally turned beautiful, warm and spring-like, so the snow is all gone from our yard! That means I've been able to get the old leaves and debris out of my strawberry bed. This picture shows before and after the cleanup. It's nice to see that all of my plants are growing. I can't wait to have an abundance of fresh-from-my-own-garden strawberries!
One day last week I sewed four sleeves for quilts that have been waiting in the cupboard while I put off adding a sleeve so I could actually hang them. I spent time over the weekend hand stitching the sleeves, and so far I have two finished and I'm about halfway through the third. It will be good to get them all finished so I can finally create my mini quilt display.
Also last week, I received Chelsea's Round Trip Quilt. Chelsea blogs at Patch the Giraffe and she requested solid colours with low volume backgrounds for her quilt. So far I have made these two blocks.
I have the paper piecing foundations printed for the other two blocks I plan to make, so now I have to decide which colours to use and then I'm good to go.
I've also started work on a new embroidery project (because I needed something new, right?)
I'm using the dark green to embroider the main feather and I'll use the light green for the background feathers. There are a lot of background feathers, so I have a feeling this one is going to take a loooong time to finish.
So, no big amounts of progress on any one thing, but lots of little bits of progress for this week. I hope you're making progress on your projects too, whatever they may be!
Linking up with WIP Wednesday, Let's Bee Social, NTT, I Quilt
The weather has finally turned beautiful, warm and spring-like, so the snow is all gone from our yard! That means I've been able to get the old leaves and debris out of my strawberry bed. This picture shows before and after the cleanup. It's nice to see that all of my plants are growing. I can't wait to have an abundance of fresh-from-my-own-garden strawberries!
So, no big amounts of progress on any one thing, but lots of little bits of progress for this week. I hope you're making progress on your projects too, whatever they may be!
Linking up with WIP Wednesday, Let's Bee Social, NTT, I Quilt
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