Support Matters

 Devotion for the Week...

If this pandemic has taught us anything, it is that the people in the lowest paid jobs in our society are some of the most essential. The majority of the people who work in our grocery stores, in restaurants and in warehouses shipping packages are almost always paid the bare minimum wage and yet we've discovered that we really can't function as a society without them. There's definitely something wrong with that! Unfortunately, with our collective obsession with paying the least amount possible for everything, it's going to be hard to fix the imbalance. Can you imagine what the world would look like if people were paid according to the importance of the work they do?

The system God uses to determine rewards looks markedly different from ours. Just look at this passage from Matthew 10 - "If you receive a prophet as one who speaks for God, you will be given the same reward as a prophet. And if you receive righteous people because of their righteousness, you will be given a reward like theirs. And if you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded" ( vv. 41, 42).

Most people would say prophets deserves a big reward for the work they do. They speak for God, after all. But in this passage Jesus says that anyone who receives the prophet will be given the same reward as the prophet. When He says receive He means to offer care and hospitality, to help to sustain the prophet or to offer practical help to the prophet in any way. Verse 42 really emphasizes the fact that this doesn't require huge, sacrificial acts of service as Jesus says giving even a cup of cold water is sufficient.

Background quilt is Level Up

We often look at the people doing the more visible kinds of ministry (pastors, teachers, musicians, authors, missionaries) and think they're doing the most important things. These verses tell a different story. These verses say that the support we give to our pastors, etc. is just as important. Though we may not think what we do matters, God says it does. A cup of cold water isn't much, after all, but God sees it as being worthy of reward.

Ticker Tape Tree - Quilt Block Mania

 It's time for Quilt Block Mania again! This month the theme is Winter Celebrations, which seems appropriate since we've already had our first snowfall here in Newfoundland. It wasn't much, but as Zachary said to me, "The first snowfall means the second snowfall is coming...and then the third...and the fourth..." 😄 I'm the odd one out in my family since I really enjoy winter and I'm already looking forward to having enough snow to go snowshoeing.

For my block this month, I wanted to design a tree that could be used for Christmas, but that could also be used anytime you need a tree block. I've also been wanting to play with the ticker tape technique for a while, so I decided to combine the two. Here's my Ticker Tape Tree. In my quest to both not create more unfinished projects and to make more small quilts, I decided to finish my Ticker Tape Tree block into a mini quilt. Sound familiar? I did the same thing with my Starfish Dance block back in July.

The ticker tape technique was so much fun and it's a great way to use up small scraps. You know I'm all about using up those little bitty scraps! Once I had my tree pieced, it was time to start filling the shape with green scraps, which was like creating a scrappy puzzle. I started by cutting a few pieces and arranging them on the tree. I stuck with shapes with straight sides, so squares, rectangles and triangles and placed them so there was just a smidge of space between them. I cut everything freehand with my LDH scissors (which I love, btw).

Then I just kept filling in the gaps. You might notice in this picture that I took out the floral print. I found the pinks were distracting and liked the block better without them.

Finally, I had the tree shape filled. Some of those pieces are really tiny!

Once I was happy with the arrangement I used a washable glue stick to glue each piece to the background, one at a time. Then I left it to dry (aka, spent the afternoon getting groceries, doing chores, etc.).

The next step is to stitch around each shape, close to the edge. I decided to combine the edge stitching and the quilting into one step, rather than stitching around it twice. So, I grabbed a scrap of Warm and Natural batting (yay for using more scrap batting!) and a solid green for the backing, then basted my little mini quilt. I love how fast basting goes when it's only a 12" square! Then I used my free motion foot to stitch around each shape twice with Aurifil 2890.

Stitching so close to the edge does make the fabric fray a little, but I just trim off the larger threads and don't worry about the rest. I like the frayed edge look, anyway.

Once all the shapes were stitched down, I stitched just inside the tree shape, then switched to Aurifil 2311and stitched a small stipple in the background. Then I used 2360 to quilt a few straight lines in the tree trunk. I think it took longer to thread the machine with the new thread colour than it did to stitch the trunk!

Lastly, I echo stitched in the red border to create a frame, using 2260. Of course, that shows up much better on the back. I love how quilting looks on a solid backing fabric!

I had hoped to have my mini quilt completely finished in time for today's Quilt Block Mania reveal, but I ran out of time and didn't get the binding done. I plan to bind it in the same red I used for the border. I already know where I want to hang this mini for Christmas, so it definitely won't be joining the UFO pile 😊

Speaking of UFOs, Bobbie of Geeky Bobbin is hosting UFOvember, a month long blog hop/social media party to help motivate and inspire us to whittle down the UFO list. Let's get some projects across the finish line!

Edited to say, I finished my mini quilt!

You can pin this image for later. Pinning it also helps other quilters find me and my patterns. Thank you!

There are plenty of other Winter Celebrations blocks being shared today for Quilt Block Mania. 

Here are the links to the other designers and their blocks:

Christmas Wreath by Slice of Pi Quilts
Baby Sue's First Christmas
Celebrate by Inquiring Quilter
Gifts at Always Expect Moore
Snowflakes by Blockofthemodotcom
Gifts of Friendship
Fireworks at duck creek mountain quilting
Wreath & Chain at Stash Bandit
Christmas Star by Michelle Renee Hiatt
Adirondack Mountain Quilt Block
A Present from Penny
Candlelighting at Pretty Piney Quilts
Poinsettia from QuiltFabrication
Harbor Holidays at Blue Bear Quilts
Christmas Cracker at Perkins Dry Goods
Sparkling Spruce at Patti's Patchwork
Jingle All the Way at Orange Blossom Quilt
Snowflakes & Candy Cane Trees at Quilt Moments
Tower of Gifts by Oh Kaye Quilting
Winter Memories by Carolyn Burgess
Holiday Block by Seams to Be Sew
Ticker Tape Tree at Devoted Quilter
Evergreen by True Blue Quilts
Merry and Bright at Around the Bobbin
Ski Vacation

Thanks for stopping by and happy quilting!

The Establishment

 Devotion for the Week...

There's a lot of talk these days about privilege. Privilege, as it's meant in this context, is the advantage given to a person in society because of things outside their control. It has nothing to do with their achievements, skills or personality. We don't earn privilege, it's simply granted to us because we fit into certain categories. I used to think privilege meant the same as being rich, but wealth is only one kind of privilege, albeit a very noticeable one. 

The type of privilege most talked about these days, of course, is white privilege. White privilege is hard for white people to see because it just feels normal and we think that everyone experiences life the way we do. It was a shock to me to read an essay written by a black man who won't go for a run in his neighborhood without his wife and who won't walk his large dog in his neighborhood without his daughter. His wife and daughter, he said, lend him respectability and make it so he is not perceived as a threat by people who see him running or with a big dog. My husband, my father, my brother and my sons will never have to consider whether or not they might be perceived as a threat while walking or running down the road. It was also shocking to me to read about black parents needing to teach their children how to act around police so they don't appear threatening. I was taught that the police would always help me if I need them, not that I had to be cautious of my demeanor around them.

Privilege is nothing new, of course. It has existed for as long as people have been separating themselves into different groups. Once a group has some advantage over another group, it will fight hard to keep whatever privilege it has. We see that today as people try to deny that white privilege is a real thing and we can see it in the Bible as the religious leaders fought against Jesus' teachings.

The Pharisees are said to have "dearly loved their money" (Luke 16:14) and "loved human praise more than the praise of God" (John 12:43). They were the establishment and they felt threatened by Jesus, especially by His popularity with the people. They were also offended by His teachings, as His disciples pointed out in Matthew 15:12.

Jesus openly accused them of being hypocrites (see Matthew 23) and told His disciples to "Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees" (Matthew 16:6), which the disciples eventually understood to mean "the deceptive teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees" (v. 12). With teachings like that, He threatened their special position in society and eventually "the Pharisees went away and met with the supporters of Herod to plot how to kill Jesus" (Mark 3:6). 

The question for us to consider is: is there someone, either a person or a group, who makes us angry/defensive/offended because they're doing things differently? If the answer is yes, it would be a good idea to take time to consider why we're so upset. Is it because what they're doing is genuinely harmful in some way? Or is it because we are part of the establishment in this situation and they're threatening our position?

Background quilt is Between the Stars

The Pharisees are more cautionary tale than role model. If we find ourselves threatened by someone who is new and different, maybe we should try being open to change rather than fighting to maintain the status quo.