Add Grace Quilt Top - the Solid Version

I didn't manage to finish my second Add Grace top during the QAL, but I did finish it a few days after it ended. And then I didn't take pictures of it. It just sat and waited, looking at me reproachfully, while I avoided taking the pictures. I've finally broken through the photography block and taken some pictures, though, so I can finally share my all-solid Add Grace top.

All of the fabrics in this top are Andover Century Solids and I think the Raspberry (the top left plus block) is my favourite. I love designing quilts with lots of negative space so all of the blocks have breathing room.

This angular border around the center plus blocks might look complicated, but it's not. Parts of it are in two different sets of blocks and then they come together to create the border. I wasn't sure the Cottonball border would have enough contrast with the Oyster background, but it actually works really well.

I love Friendship Star blocks! You'll also find them in my Friendship Galaxy and Reach for the Stars  patterns, both of which are perfect for making scrappy Friendship Stars. It was fun to make them spin in different directions for this quilt.

The flying geese borders are fun, too, and come together pretty quickly.

Because of other projects with looming deadlines, both of my Add Grace tops are going into the To Be Quilted pile for now, but hopefully not for long. When I have the time, which one should I finish first and use for the cover quilt on the pattern? On the left is the Century Solid version and on the right is my first one, which uses Spectrastic and Pietra fabrics, also from Andover. It's kind of fun to see them side by side like this!

Sidelined

Devotion for the Week...

I've been dealing with a bout of tendonitis in my ankle and foot for almost a week now, which has meant no going out for walks. Considering we were on our spring break and we had fairly decent weather, it has been hard to stay in the house and off my feet. Thankfully, the tendonitis is getting better and I hope to be back to normal before long.

Whether it's injury or something else that keeps us from the things we're used to doing, it's hard being sidelined. I've missed my walks a lot! Oddly enough, the apostle Paul had experience with being sidelined. Sometime after his conversion on the road to Damascus, Saul (he hadn't yet had his name changed to Paul) traveled to Jerusalem and met the other apostles. He "stayed with the apostles and went all around Jerusalem with them, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. He debated with some Greek-speaking Jews, but they tried to murder him." (Acts 9:28-29). Yikes! That must have been some debate! "When the believers heard about this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus, his hometown" (v. 30). 

That doesn't sound so bad, right? Someone was trying to kill him, so the other believers helped him get away and go to Tarsus, where he grew up. But then Saul stayed in Tarsus for years before Barnabas eventually came to ask him to come teach and preach in Antioch. How many years he spent is Tarsus isn't known and I saw scholars estimating as little as four or maybe even more than ten.

What Paul did during those years isn't known. He was probably living with his family and working in the family tent-making business. I imagine there was a lot of time spent in prayer and a lot of time learning the things that would later form the basis of his teachings. 

Did Paul long to be back in Jerusalem, teaching and debating? We don't know. Judging by his passion for teaching people about Jesus that shows up during his later missionary journeys and his letters, I would guess that he did. Whether he resented the waiting or not, though, Paul stayed there in Tarsus until God sent someone to call him to the next stage of the work God had for him. When Barnabas arrived, Paul went with him back to Antioch and "Both of them stayed there with the church for a full year, teaching large crowds of people. (It was at Antioch that the believers were first called Christians.)" (Acts 11:26). Paul's time on the sidelines was over and he was ready to jump right into the work God had for him to do next.

None of us like being sidelined, moved out of what we were doing and set aside for a while. It might be a case of being moved somewhere for our own good, like Paul was. Or of needing to wait a while for the timing to be right for the next thing. Or maybe we have to heal in some way before we can move forward. Whatever the case may be, being sidelined doesn't mean being out of the game altogether. In  times of waiting, it's important to stay ready for whatever God has for us next.

A Good Comparison to Make

I hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend. He is risen!

Devotion for the Week...

I'm sure you've heard the saying, 'comparison is the thief of joy.' We've all experienced the truth of it, at one time or another, when someone's vacation pictures made us resent our regular week of work, or someone else's success made us feel less-than because our own achievements didn't seem to measure up. It's a horrible feeling, isn't it? Especially considering we may have been feeling perfectly content with our lives just moments earlier, until comparing ourselves with someone else took the shine off what we have. Comparing our ordinary days with someone else's highlight reel will never bring us joy.

There is one kind of comparison that is helpful, though. I'm currently reading a couple of stanzas of Psalm 119 each day and two verses of the first stanza really stood out. "Oh, that my actions would consistently / reflect your decrees! / Then I will not be ashamed / when I compare my life with your commands" (Psalm 119:5-6). Comparing ourselves to someone else is pointless. Comparing ourselves to God's standard and His desire for our lives? That's extremely valuable. 

How do we measure up against His command to love one another (John 13:34-35)? Or His command to forgive one another (Ephesians 4:32)? What about the greatest commandment - to love Him with everything we have (Matthew 22:36-40)?

Of course, in order for our actions to consistently reflect His decrees, we have to know what those decrees are. So how are we doing with reading and studying His word, to learn how He wants us to live? After all, Psalm 119:106 reminds us that His "word is a lamp to guide [our] feet and a light for [our] path." 

This isn't a comparison we make to beat ourselves up when we fall short (because we know we will fall short sometimes). When that happens, we confess and seek forgiveness, then aim to do better in the future. I love the honesty at the end of that first stanza of Psalm 119, which says, "As I learn your righteous regulations, / I will thank you by living as I should! / I will obey your decrees. Please don’t give up on me!" (vv. 7-8).

We know that God won't give up on us. In Philippians 1:6 Paul assures us "I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns."