My Finish-A-Long List

Have you been participating in the Finish-A-Long for 2013? This is the last quarter, of course, but it's the first time I'm linking up a goal list. My list is pretty modest compared to some I have read, but it still feels like a ridiculously long list to me. The great thing about the FAL is that there's no pressure, so I'll finish what I can and then the rest will just move onto my goal list for the first quarter of 2014's FAL.

1. Mom's Christmas present. It's really coming along. I'm removing papers from the paper-pieced portion now, so it should be finished soon. Sorry, no pictures, for obvious reasons...Hi Mom!

2. I've signed up for the 'For the Boys' Blog Hop in November at Sew We Quilt. The project is picked out, fabric is bought, I just need to get sewing. Since my day to share is November 12 this should be a no-brainer to be on my finished list.

3. I've also signed up for the Fall Mug Rug Swap, so I have two fall themed mini quilts to make. Since they have to be in the mail (to Australia!) before the end of the month, this should be another guaranteed finish.

4. My And Sew On quilt. I want to use 5 of Kristy's blocks, but so far only 2 are done. I'd love to have this one done and hanging where I can enjoy it rather than tucked away in the WIP bin, but I have a feeling it will still be on my list come January (hopefully with fewer blocks left to go at least!).

5. A baby quilt for a friend due next month. This is a quick, one evening project, but I think I'll wait until after baby is born so I know if I'm making it for a boy or a girl.

6. My poor, neglected Scrappy Log Cabin quilt. This one hasn't had much attention the past few months and I would love to get it finished. It's looking so pretty and would look even better without all the safety pins and with a binding. Considering how much is left to be quilted, and all the other projects on the go, this is the one that feels the most ridiculous and I almost didn't even include it. Then I decided I might as well aim high, right?

Looks like there will be a lot of sewing in my future! Towards that end, I'm off to set up my machine, right after I link up this list.

Stiff-Necked

Devotion for the Week...

Have you ever had a stiff neck? I have, for the past four days. Three of those days it was just a little sore, so I noticed it now and then but it didn't interfere with my day. Saturday morning, though, it was really bad. Turn-my-whole-body-to look-to-the-side, hurts-to-turn-over-in-bed bad. Thank God it got better as the day went on.

If you've ever had a stiff neck you know it makes everything difficult. Your whole body becomes tense because you're trying to avoid any movement that will jar your neck. Nathan wanted to sit with me when I was reading a magazine and even turning slightly to put the magazine down and moving over in my chair to make room for him had me wincing. It was awful.

Since odd situations make me think about Bible verses, sometime Saturday I thought, "Doesn't the Bible say something about a stiff-necked people?" Of course it does! According to my NIV concordance in my Bible, there are two references to 'stiff-necked' - Exodus 34:9 and Proverbs 29:1. I found both of them to be interesting.

In Exodus 34:9 Moses says, "O Lord, if I have found favor in your eyes...then let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance."

A little background is in order: God has led the Isrealites out of Egypt. He has parted the waters of the Red Sea for them to walk through on dry land, has given them water from a rock and manna and quail from the sky. They have experienced first-hand His power and His care for them. Moses has been on the mountain, hearing directly from God His instructions for how His people are to live, but the Isrealites got tired of waiting for him and so Aaron made them a golden calf and they worshiped it as the god who brought them out of Egypt.

Seriously?

 From our perspective we wonder how they could have thought something so ridiculous. Aaron made the golden calf out of earrings and other bits of gold they gave him! How could they worship something they watched a man make, especially after seeing the awe-inspiring things God had done for them? In that day, though, most of the cultures worshiped idols that were made of wood or stone, so maybe this didn't seem like such a stretch to them.

So Moses is pleading with God, asking Him to continue leading the Isrealites, even though they are stubborn, clinging to what they knew before God revealed Himself to them.

In Proverbs 29:1 we read "A man who remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed - without remedy." I love how Eugene Peterson renders this verse in The Message, "For people who hate discipline and only get more stubborn, there'll come a day when life tumbles in and they break, but by then it'll be too late to help them."

Having a stiff neck isn't comfortable, but being stiff-necked, figuratively speaking, is even worse. If we're stubborn, clinging to ways that are contrary to what God wants for our lives, He tries to correct us. Sometimes we read something in the Bible that makes us understand the wrong we've been doing. Other times someone we trust tells us their concerns about our actions or attitudes. Or maybe a sermon or a song brings something to mind. Whatever method God uses to get our attention, we must carefully consider our response to the rebukes. Getting defensive and denying the issue is not going to help. In fact, that's just remaining stiff-necked, hating the discipline God is using to try to mold us into the people He wants us to be. Though God may give us many chances to change, this verse in Proverbs warns that one day the chances will end, the rebukes will stop coming.

I'm thankful my neck is not hurting today. As for our figurative necks, I pray we all remember to keep ourselves limber, willing to change and adapt as needed, not stiff-necked and stubborn.

WIP Wednesday - The Halfway Point

This is my stack of hexie flowers. Exactly half (28) now have the ring of blue hexies around them, so there are only 28 left to go. Slow and steady wins the race, right?

Here they are laid out on my design 'wall', aka my living room floor. It's like having the frame of a jigsaw puzzle finished...now I just have to fill in the middle.

I'm not sure I like having the top and bottom right corner flowers. They seem a little out of place, like the design would flow better if the left and right corners were symmetrical. I'll have to see how I feel about it when the inside is filled in.

I assembled this flower wrong. It's one of the pieced hexie flowers I made after winning Mickey's DePre's book from Quiltmaker magazine, which you can read about here. I should have made it with the pink stripe on the outside so the flower wouldn't blend into the blue background hexies so much. Last night I debated whether or not I'm unhappy enough with it to take it all apart and put it back together. Now, after looking at the layout picture and thinking I might remove two flowers, this would be one I'd remove. I'd probably remove the blue background hexies and stitch the flower to the back of the quilt or something. It is pretty, it just blends in too much.

The picture of this flower is my first ever edited picture on the blog. Okay, so all I actually did was crop it on Picmonkey, but at least I have now actually used Picmonkey for something! And it was so simple and painless I'm pretty sure I'll do it again.