Not for Rewards

Devotion for the Week...

Nathan is very excited because his freestanding basketball net is finally free of snow where we had it laid on its side in the backyard, so he can now get it out and start shooting hoops again. He scored the net for free last summer, just by being his normal friendly self.

Nathan loves to make new friends, so whenever there's a new kid around he will always see if they want to play. Last summer there was a boy visiting his grandparents up the road and his grandfather dug out the old basketball net from when the boy's father was young. Nathan spent most of that week playing basketball with him. Then, one evening, he came home telling me that the boy was going home the next day and his dad said Nathan could have the net. Sure enough, when Paul went up to investigate, it turned out that the grandparents were moving and not taking the net with them, so they gave it to Nathan.

After telling someone this story recently, I thought a lot about how Nathan got the net just by being his normal self. He wasn't trying to get a reward, but the reward came because of his friendly nature.

Ephesians 2:10 says "He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." It is God's intention that His people do good in this world, not because we're looking for a reward, but because that is now who we are in Him. We have been made new in Christ Jesus, made to be like Him, and good should naturally flow out of that transformation.

Paul also wrote, "So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith" (Galatians 6:9, 10). What this verse is really saying is that doing good, especially to other believers, should be our normal.

Sometimes, though, we get tired of doing good because we don't see any result from it. We get tired of being nice to unfriendly or ungrateful people, or we get tired of always being the one to lend a hand when it seems like others can't be bothered to help. Paul is telling us to keep at it, that the reward will come in the end if we just keep doing the good things we've been called to do.

I think the easiest way to keep doing the good things is to forget about the reward that will come. Just focus on finding joy in doing the good and leave the results of it out altogether. Be like Nathan, making a new friend just because that's what he loves to do, and then being pleasantly surprised with a gift in the end.

Honestly, doing good things just to get a reward is a recipe for burnout, especially when those rewards are slow in coming. But if we find our reward in the act of doing good and in being more and more like Jesus, then we can keep at it, not getting tired or losing heart. And then any blessings or rewards that come our way will just be the icing on the cake.

Or maybe the basketball net in the front yard 😊

April Island Batik Challenge - Northern Woods

Note, the fabrics for the top of this quilt were given to me as part of the Island Batik ambassador program.

As I mentioned in a previous post, the April challenge for the Island Batik ambassadors is Looking Back: Vintage Quilts Inspiring New Creations.

And here's my quilt, squeaking in just before the end of the month 😊 I've actually had the quilt finished for ages, but available time+available quilt holders+decent weather proved a difficult combination to achieve.

I didn't use any one particular traditional quilt as my inspiration, but rather three traditional blocks - the pinwheel, four patch and signature blocks (though I didn't use the spaces for signatures).

I used Island Batik's Northern Woods line for this quilt. I love the fun pops of teal with the oranges, browns and creams. I also love the forest inspired prints. There are tree trunks, grasses and pinecones, along with mottled prints. Island Batik sent me a 10" square bundle of the line, all of which I used for the blocks. They also sent yardage of two of the prints (a light and a dark), which I used for the center squares, the borders and the binding.

I think this snowflake print is my favourite. I wish I could have yardage of it in a whole range of colours!

The funny thing is, I had this post mostly written, including the wish for yardage of this fabric, when a surprise bundle of fabric arrived in the mail. In that bundle? A fat quarter of the snowflake print in blue! I haven't decided yet how I'll use it, but I'm definitely considering my options 😊

I used Aurifil 2210 (Caramel) to quilt a wood grain design, which certainly fit with the fabrics. I used Hobb's 80/20 batting, which was also given to me as part of the Island Batik ambassador program.

This pattern is currently with testers and I'm anxious to see their versions. It's always so much fun to see my patterns in fabrics chosen by other quilters. I know one of the testers is using solids, which will give it a completely different look.

I do need a little help though. I can't decide what to name this quilt. I've been calling it Northern Woods, just because that's the name of the fabric line, but that doesn't fit the pattern at all. I'd love to have some suggestions! What would you call it?

Thank you to Island Batik for the beautiful fabrics and for the challenge to create something along a given theme each month 😊 I'm having fun as an ambassador!

Echoed Hearts Quilting

I have been having a lot of fun with new free motion quilting designs lately 😊 First there was the wood grain quilting and now this fantastic echoed hearts design.

I first saw this design on Pinterest, but unfortunately the pin doesn't go to a post about it. In looking at the pin again, I see that I've made it more dense than in the picture, but that's no surprise to me. I do like dense quilting!

If you asked me to draw a couple dozen hearts, they'd probably turn out just like these quilted ones...a few perfectly shaped, a few lopsided, some long and skinny, some short and fat. I love the variety of them.

I'm using Aurifil 5006 and the fabrics are both from Northcott's Essense line, with Warm and Natural batting. (Side note...Paul bought me the Essence fabric in green for Christmas, not knowing that I had requested it from Northcott in these two colours for this quilt. It just goes to show he knows my style well 😊)

Having the Aurifil thread chart really came in handy for matching the thread to the aqua and the 5006 is a perfect match. I love that on the front you get the texture of the hearts without the thread colour affecting the look of the quilt. But on the back, just look how that 5006 pops against the red!

Every time I finish quilting and have to put things away, I have to lay the quilt out flat first, with the back up so that I can admire how pretty this looks. I can't decide which side I like best!

I've said before that I sew at our kitchen table, which means that I'm constantly having to put everything away when I'm finished. I wish I could just leave it looking like it did on Sunday afternoon.

That Essence fabric is gorgeous, isn't it?

Have you tried any new quilting designs lately? I'm always on the lookout for something fun to try 😊