Next I need to add some strips of background fabric to the blocks to space them out so the borders will be the right size to fit the quilt. I'll be back next week to show you how Kim's quilt is looking before I mail it off to Mary.
February 27, 2015
Going in Circles
I've been working on my contribution for this round of the Round Trip Quilts. This time I have Kim's quilt and I wanted to add something that had lots of negative space because the quilt feels busy to me. I decided it needed some circles.
FYI these circles take a loooong time to make!
This was my first time making these blocks after having admired them for years. Mine finish at 5 1/2" and I'm pretty pleased with them. They're not perfect, of course, but they're not bad. Most of the matching points around the outside of the circle are really close to being properly matched, which is good enough for me. There are a few small puckers around the circles, but they're all small enough that I don't think I'd do better if I were to try again. I do find there are a lot of wrinkle marks in the background fabric and I'm not sure how to get rid of those. I'm going to try spraying them with water and pressing them again and hopefully that will help. If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.
Next I need to add some strips of background fabric to the blocks to space them out so the borders will be the right size to fit the quilt. I'll be back next week to show you how Kim's quilt is looking before I mail it off to Mary.
Next I need to add some strips of background fabric to the blocks to space them out so the borders will be the right size to fit the quilt. I'll be back next week to show you how Kim's quilt is looking before I mail it off to Mary.
February 23, 2015
Polluted?
Devotion for the Week...
We have lived in small town Newfoundland for almost 10 years now. For much of that time, the town was under a "Boil Water Advisory," because our tap water was unsafe. We were to boil the water before drinking it, using it in cooking, washing produce, brushing our teeth or anything else that involved us consuming the water. We mostly avoided that by filling jugs with purified water at the store several times a week, but, while I don't actually know what was in the water, I am glad that the Boil Water Advisory is over now and the water is safe to drink and use.
I thought of the advisory last week after reading this verse in James: "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" (James 1:27). When I first think of pollution, I think of things like urban smog, or oil spills that contaminate lakes or coastlines. Glaring, visible examples of how humans have mistreated the environment and turned something beautiful into something ugly and dirty. But the water that was coming out of our tap while we were under the advisory didn't look, smell or even taste any different than the water that comes out of our tap today.
Contaminates in water are measured in ppm (parts per million), or mg/L (milligrams per liter), which means the tests are looking for very, very low levels of the contaminate compared to the amount of water being tested. Many of the contaminates that water is tested for must be at zero ppm for the water to be considered safe (see this table from the EPA). When a contaminate in the water exceeds the safe level, that water could make people sick, or it could even be deadly, depending on what has contaminated the water. This is true even though the water doesn't look, smell or taste any different than safe water would look, smell or taste. Also, the effects of consuming the unsafe water may not be noticed immediately. Often the effects are cumulative, so the more of the contaminated water a person consumes, the more effect it would eventually have.
Spiritually speaking, God wants us to keep ourselves from being polluted by the world. Unfortunately, spiritual pollution is a lot like physical pollution. Some of it is obvious, while a lot of it may be invisible, insidious and hard to identify. Sometimes the effects are immediate, but mostly they build up over time and with repeated exposure.
Since we are told to keep ourselves from being polluted by the world, that means the pollution comes from outside sources. And there are many sources:
*television and movies
*social media
*friends
*co-workers
*books and magazines
*family
*false teachings in the church
I'm sure there are others, but those are the ones that spring immediately to mind. How careful are we to screen those sources, to guard ourselves against the contaminates of the world? And how high is our tolerance for those contaminates? How many 'parts per million' do we allow before we deem something to be polluted?
Paul wrote, "Finally, brothers and
sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right,
whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything
is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things" (Philippians 4:8). That seems like a good test for the things we intend to allow into our lives. If it is not any of these things, perhaps it is nothing more than pollution.
We have lived in small town Newfoundland for almost 10 years now. For much of that time, the town was under a "Boil Water Advisory," because our tap water was unsafe. We were to boil the water before drinking it, using it in cooking, washing produce, brushing our teeth or anything else that involved us consuming the water. We mostly avoided that by filling jugs with purified water at the store several times a week, but, while I don't actually know what was in the water, I am glad that the Boil Water Advisory is over now and the water is safe to drink and use.
I thought of the advisory last week after reading this verse in James: "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" (James 1:27). When I first think of pollution, I think of things like urban smog, or oil spills that contaminate lakes or coastlines. Glaring, visible examples of how humans have mistreated the environment and turned something beautiful into something ugly and dirty. But the water that was coming out of our tap while we were under the advisory didn't look, smell or even taste any different than the water that comes out of our tap today.
Contaminates in water are measured in ppm (parts per million), or mg/L (milligrams per liter), which means the tests are looking for very, very low levels of the contaminate compared to the amount of water being tested. Many of the contaminates that water is tested for must be at zero ppm for the water to be considered safe (see this table from the EPA). When a contaminate in the water exceeds the safe level, that water could make people sick, or it could even be deadly, depending on what has contaminated the water. This is true even though the water doesn't look, smell or taste any different than safe water would look, smell or taste. Also, the effects of consuming the unsafe water may not be noticed immediately. Often the effects are cumulative, so the more of the contaminated water a person consumes, the more effect it would eventually have.
Spiritually speaking, God wants us to keep ourselves from being polluted by the world. Unfortunately, spiritual pollution is a lot like physical pollution. Some of it is obvious, while a lot of it may be invisible, insidious and hard to identify. Sometimes the effects are immediate, but mostly they build up over time and with repeated exposure.
Since we are told to keep ourselves from being polluted by the world, that means the pollution comes from outside sources. And there are many sources:
*television and movies
*social media
*friends
*co-workers
*books and magazines
*family
*false teachings in the church
I'm sure there are others, but those are the ones that spring immediately to mind. How careful are we to screen those sources, to guard ourselves against the contaminates of the world? And how high is our tolerance for those contaminates? How many 'parts per million' do we allow before we deem something to be polluted?
February 20, 2015
Friday Finish - Eli's Quilt
What? Two finishes in one week? I know, "Who are you and what have you done with the woman who normally blogs here," right? Let me assure you, after this post we'll be back to regular programming, where it takes me forever to finish almost anything.
In the meantime, here are some pictures of the cute baby quilt I finished last night.
The squares are 5" finished, so the quilt is 40" square. I hope that's a good size so little Eli will be able to play with it and use it even after he grows out of the baby stage.
I quilted it with an all over pattern of loops and stars.
I used a light blue thread, and I like how it really shows up on some blocks and blends in with others. Of course, I think the stars are the wonkiest in the blocks where they show up the most! Working in an all over pattern like this I really noticed how small the bed of my machine is. I don't have an extension table for it, but I think one would be really useful for this type of quilting.
I backed the quilt in a blue flannel, so that light blue thread shows up well there too. I had planned to bind it with a scrappy blue binding, but couldn't find enough blues in my stash. Apparently I need to do some fabric shopping ;) In the end, I'm really glad I couldn't find enough blues because I love how this soft yellow solid looks.
Now, before you are too impressed with this second finish for the week, I should point out that when I put Eli's quilt on my Finish-a-long list for this quarter, I said I hoped to have it finished before the end of the week. That was over a month ago! In my defense, though, I did abandon all other projects to focus on the wedding quilt. And now I have two finishes for my list!
I'll have Eli's quilt in the mail next week. I sure hope he enjoys rolling around on it, and looking at all the bright colours!
Linking up with Can I Get a Whoop Whoop, TGIFF and Finish it up Friday.
In the meantime, here are some pictures of the cute baby quilt I finished last night.
I quilted it with an all over pattern of loops and stars.
I backed the quilt in a blue flannel, so that light blue thread shows up well there too. I had planned to bind it with a scrappy blue binding, but couldn't find enough blues in my stash. Apparently I need to do some fabric shopping ;) In the end, I'm really glad I couldn't find enough blues because I love how this soft yellow solid looks.
I'll have Eli's quilt in the mail next week. I sure hope he enjoys rolling around on it, and looking at all the bright colours!
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