Bit by Bit

Devotion for the Week...

Sometimes the most mundane things capture my attention. Early last week the bar of soap in the shower was down to a sliver, so I opened a new one and put it in the soap holder. It struck me then that this new soap would eventually be worn down to a sliver, too, but it would happen so gradually that the daily change would be imperceptible. Just like the renewing of our minds, I thought.

Romans 12:1, 2 says, "And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect." That's the NLT, which is what I usually use, but the NIV renders the start of verse 2 as "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind," which is what I'm most used to hearing.

Renewing our minds, or changing the way we think, is a gradual process. Most of us change slowly, a little here and a little there as we get to know God better and learn how to live the way He wants us to live. We pray, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life" (Psalm 139 23, 24) and as He points out the issues in our thoughts and actions, we change.

Asking Him to point out the problems in us, then accepting His guidance and changing how we think and behave is part of offering ourselves to Him as living sacrifices. There's not much point in saying we offer ourselves and then insisting that we live just the same as we always have, or that this is the way we have always been and we can't ever change. That's not to say it is easy to do. Anything that involves the word sacrifice probably won't be easy.

Unfortunately, those gradual changes can be hard to notice and we may feel like we're stuck always making the same mistakes or struggling with the same problem. In those times it may help to remember that, though the change may be imperceptible on a daily basis, it is still happening. Bit by bit we are becoming more like Jesus.

From Roses to a Noodles Mini

For Mother's Day last year, Paul bought me this bouquet of fabric roses from a local quilt shop. Didn't they do a fabulous job on the presentation?

Usually when I get new fabric that I don't already have a purpose for, it goes straight into my stash for whenever I need it. With these, though, I really wanted to keep them together, for at least one project, and eventually I decided to use them to make another mini version of my Noodles pattern. You can get the Noodles pattern in my Etsy shop. The A Stitch a Day printable is listed in my shop, too!

I made the blocks at the start of September, but then they just sat until earlier this month when I finally got them sewn into a top. Then, feeling like I was on a roll, I used some of the leftover fat quarters to piece together a back. Usually I can't stand the thought of piecing a back, except a single seam to make yardage wide enough if I have to, but putting four pieces together for a mini quilt back didn't seem too daunting.

In usual fashion, I knew how I wanted to quilt the yellow curves, but not how I wanted to quilt the blocks, so I started with the curves. A quick outline with Aurifil 1135, then back and forth lines filled in each curve nicely. Of course, it shows up best on the back.

While quilting the curves, I noticed this shape on one of the print fabrics, with all of the swirls around the edges that made me think of the Flourish quilting motif in Christina Cameli's book Step-by-step Free Motion Quilting, so that's what I decided to use for the blocks. 

After some debate, and after asking for opinions on social media, I used Aurifil 4225 (Eggplant) to quilt the blocks. I wasn't really sure about it when I started quilting on one of the clamshell fabrics. The combination of the quilting design and the thread colour obscures the print when viewed up close.

I was committed at that point, though, because I didn't want to rip out the quilting I had done, so I kept going and hoped I would like it when it was all finished. Thankfully, I do!

The quilting definitely changes the look of the print fabrics, especially the one with the flourish-like motif on it, but I still like the overall effect.

And the quilting looks so good on the solid and textured fabrics!

Can you see the mistake I made when I put the blocks together? I didn't see it until the quilting was well underway, so I wasn't going to take the quilt apart to fix it. Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike ripping out free motion quilting? The problem has to be really bad to make me take out quilting, lol. 

Did you find the mistake? In case you didn't, the second and fourth blocks down on the left should be flipped over, so each set of four blocks form a kind of pinwheel, like they do on the right. I figure since it's two blocks that are wrong, we'll just call it a design feature.

This is now three mini quilts made this year, all of them using up pieces of Warm and Natural batting left over from making larger quilts. You can see the first two in this post. Three finishes already feels a great start to the year!

I'm so glad I used the fabrics from the roses to make this Noodles mini, even if I did mess up the layout on my own pattern! If you want to make your own Noodles quilt (mini, baby or throw size), get the PDF pattern or the printed pattern in my Etsy shop.

I'm linking up with TGIFF, Beauties Pageant, NTT and Finished (Or Not) Friday.

The Comment Section

 Devotion for the Week...

When you're scrolling social media and come across a potentially divisive post, do you then pause to read through the comment section? I sometimes do, then I end up shaking my head over how quickly and how harshly people attack each other. With some comments, I can't even figure out how the attacker has gone from what was written in the post or the comment they're responding to, to what they're accusing the other person of thinking, feeling or believing. It's like they're just roaming social media looking for any excuse to jump all over someone in judgement.

Those comment sections were exactly what I thought of earlier this week when I read Psalm 34:14, "Turn away from evil and do good. Search for peace, and work to maintain it." All I could think was, "Well, that's not happening on social media!" People seem more drawn to drama than to peace, especially when it comes to online interactions.

If we are going to search for and maintain peace, maybe we should start by staying out of those divisive comment sections altogether. Sure, there is work to be done in the world and there are people who are wrong; no doubt about either of those things. But does wading into the comment section on someone's IG or FB post really make a difference in either case? Probably not. Staying out of it dramatically increases our own peace and also keeps us from adding fuel to the online fire. It's a win/win. 

One important thing to note is that God never tells us to maintain peace at the expense of justice. This isn't a 'maintain the status quo at all costs' kind of peace. Or a 'don't say anything that might upset someone' kind of peace. Jesus had plenty of criticism for the status quo of His day and the ways the religious leaders were harming the people while increasing their own comfort and status. He spoke His mind about what He saw without worrying about how it might upset them. Wrong is wrong and needs to be pointed out. Just maybe not in the comment section on FB.