Stick With It {Lessons from Quilting}

It's time for another Lessons From Quilting post! I've learned a lot of things in over 20 years of quilting and so many of those lessons apply to life away from the sewing machine, too.

In the first Lessons From Quilting post, I pointed out that sometimes it helps to take a break when we're getting frustrated with a quilt or some other work. Today's lesson is the flip side - sometimes we need to stick with it!

Have you ever noticed that quilts take a long time to make? I'm sure you have! It's one of the things non-quilters comment on most often, saying, "You must have a lot of patience to make that!" The bigger the quilt, or the more intricate the piecing, or the more dense the quilting, the longer it's going to take to finish. This is why quilters are notorious for having so many WIPS.

While I do run an annual WIPS-B-GONE challenge to help us finish more projects, I don't actually think there's anything wrong with starting all the projects that grab our attention. There's also nothing wrong with setting aside a project that isn't interesting us anymore. But there is something amazing about finishing a quilt and being able to use it, give it to someone we love, or donate it to help someone in need. That feeling of accomplishment never gets old!

When we really want to get through a particular project, a little focus and old-fashioned stick-to-it-iveness go a long way. Sometimes, though, we need some extra incentive and I've found a few different things that help me stay on track when I want to finish something.

• I've promised myself I'd finish certain quilts in time to give them to someone for a special occasion.
• I've had someone else hold me accountable. Usually that has meant submitting the quilt design to a magazine, so I'd have a deadline to finish it. Other times it was just telling someone that I was working to finish and asking them to ask me how it was going now and then.
• I've made my finish goal public, and invited other people to join me, to help me keep working on it regularly. That's how the WIPS-B-GONE challenge came to be!
• Most recently, I joined The 100 Day Project to help me work on some of my many scrappy projects. Though I doubt anyone on IG would even notice if I missed a day here or there, I find the extra accountability of posting daily to be a big incentive to keep working on those projects.

This Stick With it lesson is true for so much of life, too! From weight loss or fitness goals to learning a new language, there are plenty of things we might want to do that take a long time to accomplish. In my case, I'm still forcing myself to stick with physio exercises to improve my core, reduce my back pain and hopefully enable me to get back to running. The exercises are incredibly boring and it has often felt like it's taking forever to get me where I want to go. I do see improvement, though, and I'm feeling hopeful I might be able to start running again soon. Sticking with those exercises, even imperfectly, is making a difference!

When have you found sticking with a project or goal has made a difference? What tricks have you used to help you stay on track when a project was taking a long time? I'd love to hear what works for you!

What We're Praying

Devotion for the Week...

I’m not good at small talk, especially with people I don’t know. Years ago, when my boys were little, our church hosted the Watoto Children’s Choir and our children’s program kids and their parents had supper with the choir. When everyone was seated, our table was me, my three boys, a couple of kids from the choir and one of the choir’s male chaperones, and no one seemed to know what to say. Ours was the quietest table in the whole room. It was so awkward!
 
Even if they’re good at small talk, a lot of people struggle with knowing what to say when they pray. Even the disciples didn’t know what to say when talking to God, which makes them pretty relatable, doesn’t it? When they asked Jesus to teach them, He gave them what is known as The Lord’s Prayer:
 
“Our Father in heaven,
   may your name be kept holy.
May your Kingdom come soon.
May your will be done on earth,
   as it is in heaven.
Give us today the food we need,
and forgive us our sins,
   as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
And don’t let us yield to temptation,
   but rescue us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:9-13)
 
What I find interesting about the prayer is that Jesus included that line about us forgiving the people who have sinned against us. Not only that, but He said, ‘forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven’ them. Oh, dear. Do we really want to be forgiven the same way we’ve forgiven others?
 
I want to point out that God’s forgiveness of our sins is NOT conditional on how we forgive others, just so there’s no confusion. It wouldn’t be grace if we had to do something to earn it, remember. The fact that Jesus used this phrase in a prayer meant to teach His disciples how to pray does beg the question - why?
 
I wonder if He included it so we would be continually acknowledging that we have a responsibility to forgive others. We ask for forgiveness, while affirming our commitment to give forgiveness, all in the same breath.
 

The challenge for us, then, is to be conscious of what we’re praying rather than just saying the words mindlessly. And then, of course, to follow through on what we’ve prayed by forgiving when we are hurt or wronged.

10 Years (And a Pattern Sale)!

What were you doing 10 years ago today? On March 2, 2013, I was writing and then hitting publish on my first post here at Devoted Quilter and wondering if anyone would ever read it. Thankfully people did!

Before I could write that first post, Paul had to teach me how to move pictures from our camera to our computer; that's how limited my technology skills were. I've sure come a long way since then 😊

So much has changed because of this blog. Back then I had no notion of becoming a pattern designer. I thought you had to have some kind of special art degree or something to be able to design quilts, so it never occurred to me that it was something I could do. I sometimes wrote devotions, but I wasn't sharing them anywhere and most times I'd start them without finishing anything. 

I had never heard of quilt alongs, so I certainly didn't think I'd ever be hosting my own. But once I started reading blogs I learned about them and in 2016 I hosted my first one. It was a mystery QAL called Just The Basics and this was the final result. There are three quilts shared in the finish parade for that QAL and I was thrilled that people wanted to sew along with me 😊 Now my annual Easter QAL grows every year and I'm still just as thrilled that people want to quilt with me!

More than anything, starting this blog gave me a community of quilting friends. In 2013 I didn't have friends to quilt with, so starting to meet quilters online opened up a whole new world of people who shared my love of fabric and thread and time at the sewing machine. It is a daily joy to share pictures of my quilting and spend time checking out what other quilters are doing, either on social media or on their blogs. I've been able to meet a few of you in person and I look forward to the day I get to meet even more of you!

To celebrate 10 years, it's time for a pattern sale! Now through Monday, March 6th, all patterns are 25% off, no coupon code needed.

Shop the sale now!

Fifty-Fifty, Sparkler and Stand Out Starburst are just three of the patterns available in my shop and on sale this weekend.

Thank you for reading and commenting on these posts, for likes and comments on social media, for buying my patterns and taking my workshops. Thank you for sharing your quilts and your stories; I'm constantly inspired by the amazing things I see other quilters making.

I can't wait to see where this quilting journey takes us all in the next 10 years!