You guys, I am so excited about a NEW linky party just for ruler work quilting! Karin is hosting it on her blog The Quilt Yarn, every other Tuesday -- and the link up is active for a full week starting TODAY! The linky party is open to anyone who is quilting with rulers, on any make/model machine whether it's a domestic machine, a sit-down longarm or a longarm on a frame. I'm ridiculously excited about this because there is nothing better than a community of quilters who are all exploring the same techniques, working on the same skills, motivating and encouraging one another. Those of you who have been with me for awhile know that I've had a bumpy start with my longarm machine, which sapped a lot of my enthusiasm for learning. Over the past year, I've made some investments in education -- including ruler work classes with both Judi Madsen and Lisa Calle -- as well as investments in a small arsenal of quilting rulers. This new linky party is exactly what I need to help me put those rulers to use in my quilting. If any of you have a recent or not-so-recent post about quilting with rulers, I encourage you to link those up with us right now, right here, in this week's party. The more, the merrier -- and I am so looking forward to seeing everyone's ruler work tips, tricks, trials and triumphs gathered together in one place.
48 x 64 Spirit Song Top Assembled, Ready For Borders
Meanwhile, I got my Spirit Song quilt top completely assembled (finally!). It measures exactly 64" at the left edge, vertically through the center, and at the right edge. The width is exactly 48" at the top and bottom, and it's 48 1/4" through the center -- that's a tolerance I can live with and "quilt out," as they say. Since I used a lot of unwashed precuts in addition to scraps for this quilt top, I think I'm better off NOT washing my border and backing fabrics, either. The prewashed scraps in the quilt top might end up with a bit more crinkly texture after washing, but at least the unwashed patches won't risk shrinking to the point that they rip right out of the quilt, right? I showed you my border and backing fabrics in my last post, but here they are again in case you missed it:
Border, Binding and Backing Fabric Selections
This quilt has no intended recipient, no deadline, and no rush, so it's perfect for practicing ruler skills, don't you think? As usual, I was quilt-doodling during the sermon on Sunday from the choir, exploring some of the possibilities for this quilt.
Doodling Quilting Possibilities on my iPad
I was using a photo that was taken before all of the Birds In the Air blocks had been sewn together, using the Notes Plus app on my iPad Pro with the Apple Pencil Bluetooth stylus. I really like the secondary pattern that forms at the corners of my straight set blocks, and I want to emphasize that somehow. There will definitely be stitching in the ditch, because I worked hard to match all those points -- SID will draw attention to the piecing accuracy. I know I'll try to mash down the neutral fabrics with dense fills to help the colored triangles pop, and I know I want to emphasize those larger diamond shapes with some straight lines, but a lot of the particulars are still up in the air. I have to keep reminding myself that just because I can draw something on my iPad doesn't necessarily mean I can quilt it with my longarm machine -- at least, not yet! And so, seeing as it's To-Do Tuesday, and there's a whole lot of NUTHIN' on our agenda for the foreseeable future thanks to COVID-19, here's what I'll be doing with my Social Distancing free time over the next week or so:
...And a Special Invitation for My Christian Friends Whose Church Services Have Been Canceled:
By the way -- with so many churches having to cancel worship services during this frightening time when we need more than ever to be reminded that God is still seated on His throne, I want to invite my Christian friends and family -- and anyone else who could use an infusion of hope in these troubled times -- to join me and my church family at Christ Lutheran as we gather for worship online. I know that many churches are not set up with the technology to live-stream worship services as our church does each week. This past Sunday, our pastors and music volunteers (that's where I come in) gathered in an empty sanctuary, since worship had been closed to the public in accordance with our governor's ban on large gatherings. We sang and preached to an empty room, reminding one another that God is the audience for worship -- and later realized that over 5,500 people had been worshipping with us online that morning!
Christ Lutheran will continue to live stream worship over the Internet throughout this pandemic, with a Traditional service at 8:45 AM (EST) and a Contemporary service at 11: 00 AM (EST).
First of all, if you're a newcomer to Cheeky Cognoscenti via the Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday (TGIFF) linky party, WELCOME! I'm so glad you're here! I rarely -- VERY rarely -- am able to link up with TGIFF because my finishes are so few and far between, but it's one of my favorite linky parties nevertheless. I just love seeing everyone else's brand new, beautiful finishes every week! It's so inspiring! Okay, so here's my most recent finished quilt to share with you:
"Math Is Beautiful," 51" x 51", Teacher Gift Based On My Son's Design
I saw this doodle in my son's math notebook and immediately thought "QUILT!" I used my EQ Electric Quilt design software to create a quilt design based on the drawing, found the perfect black fabric that had actual math printed on it -- like what SHOULD have been in Lars's notebook -- and paired it with some bright and cheerful girly Kaffe Fassett prints that reminded me of his teacher.
My Son Holding Up the Quilt He Designed While Doodling In Math Class
This quilt is the first real quilt (other than practice muslin) that I completed on my new APQS Millennium longarm machine, and it was my first shot at pantograph quilting. But I have a confession -- I completed this quilt back in JANUARY. You can read more about it here. After finishing Math Is Beautiful, I discovered Tula Pink's Tabby Mountain quilt pattern showcasing her Tabby Road fabric collection for Free Spirit Fabrics, and I thought it would be a great "quick and easy" project to whip up for more quilting practice on my longarm machine. Ah, but NOTHING I do is every quick OR easy!
Completed Tabby Mountain Quilt Top On My Design Wall
I finished piecing Tabby Mountain on March 4th, and I was really pushing myself to get it finished so I could show it off for today's TGIFF. I mean, the photo below was taken last night at 3 AM when I was so tired that I didn't feel safe to operate machinery anymore and had to go to bed! The path to hell is paved with good intentions just like mine...
I Finished the Ruler Work Quilting On This Row! Does That Count?
Because I'm a new long arm owner and this is just my second quilt with this machine -- and my very first try at custom quilting with rulers -- everything has a huge learning curve, even simple things like winding bobbins and loading the quilt on the frame required checking the owner's manual and seeking out online tutorial videos. We had scheduled a tour for my son (the one who doodles in math class) at Davidson College today and then I had Maundy Thursday worship service tonight with choir warmups ahead of time, so when I finally turned off the lights in my studio and went to bed on Wednesday night Thursday morning, I knew I was admitting defeat. My time was up, it was over, and I had failed. I was exhausted, disappointed that my quilt isn't done yet, topped off with a dollop of guilt/shame/embarrassment that I committed to hosting this linky celebrating finishes and was not able to cross my own finish line in time to share it with you. I felt like I was letting everyone down.
And then I got to church today and spent a couple of hours reflecting on the Last Supper in Maundy Thursday worship and rehearsing the music for Good Friday -- and for Easter Sunday as well. And it hit me -- Good Friday was the PERFECT day for me to host with my Failed Finish! According to the Gospel of John, Jesus' last words were "it is finished," but that Good Friday wasn't a happy-feel-good kind of finish. I'll bet his disciples were feeling grief, disappointment that the Messiah didn't come to overthrow Rome and establish a kingdom on Earth, guilt and shame for betraying and denying him and for falling asleep when they asked him to sit up with him while he prayed... Maybe they felt foolish for throwing their lives and careers away to follow this man they thought was the Messiah, and on Good Friday they may have been doubting themselves and thinking this discipleship thing they committed themselves to might have been a huge mistake.
-- BUT-- even though Christ's last words were "it is finished," the story does not end with death on a cross. The trumpets and hallelujahs are coming on Easter Sunday; we just have to be patient and wait three more days. And you know what? My Tabby Mountain quilt is coming along really nicely and I'm learning SO much. I just need a little more time with it. Maybe not three whole days, but at least one more day! I'm publishing this post at the stroke of midnight EST on Thursday evening/Friday morning, and I know I'll have several hours of quilting time during the day tomorrow today as well as some time on Saturday afternoon if I need it. I'm definitely going to be finished with this quilt soon, perhaps in time for Easter, and I'll update this blog post again later today to show my additional progress. In MY time zone, I still have 24 hours left in order to qualify for "finished by Friday!"
2 PM EST Update: Two More Rows of Solid Triangles Quilted!
I Am SO PROUD of the SID Between the Green and Yellow Fabrics!
I am learning SO MUCH with this quilt. I can already tell that I'm getting much better at controlling the ruler so nothing slides and the presser foot doesn't stray from the edge I'm trying to follow. Marking those long, straight diagonal lines is a huge help, definitely worth the extra time it's taking, and I am seeing significant improvement in my SID (stitching in the ditch) since I started at the top of the quilt, too.
You know, singing in several different choirs at multiple church services and shuttling my kids back and forth to their youth events definitely eats up a lot of my time every week, but it feeds my soul, reminds me again and again of what really matters versus what is trivial, and I walk out of worship feeling restored, renewed, forgiven and redeemed -- and ready to take on the world! To all of you who are celebrating Easter with me this weekend, to those of you who will be celebrating Passover seder this Saturday, and to those of other faiths whose holidays fall on other dates, may we all feel the power of God's love, mercy, and redemption in our lives not just on holy days, but for all of our days (especially the days of disappointment, failure and despair).
And now, without further ado, it's YOUR turn! What have YOU finished -- or partially finished -- this week? Link up your fabulous finishes here (be sure to use the direct URL of your post) and don't forget to visit and comment on the other finishes, because the comment love is what makes this a party! Please include a text link in your post and/or a button for TGIFF so your visitors can come back here to discover other people's finishes as well.
Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, the official kickoff for the Christian season of Lent. The silly Ash Wednesday selfie above is from a few years ago, before I chopped off my long hair. (I'm the goofball on the left). Now, I love me some Christmas and Easter, don't get me wrong -- but Easter makes no sense to me without Lent in the same way that Christmas makes no sense to me without Advent. And I wanted to talk about that today because there are so many misconceptions out there about Lent and what it means to Christians today. In case anyone's interested, here's what Lent means to me.
On Ash Wednesday and throughout the forty days of Lent, we as Christians are called to take a long, hard look at ourselves in a ruthless magnifying mirror. But instead of examining our faces for wrinkles, sun spots and blemishes, we're examining our hearts and our souls and taking stock of the many ways in which we have fallen short spiritually.
Remember Oscar Wilde's 1891 novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray? It was about a handsome but morally depraved, evil man whose true character was reflected in a portrait like the one above (painted by Alvin Albright for the 1945 film). The Bible tells us that we are ALL hideously disfigured by sin, just like Dorian Gray, and no amount of Botox, cosmetics or Photoshopping could ever hide the ugliness of our sins from God.
Romans 3:10-12New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
10 as it is written:
“There is no one who is righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who has understanding, there is no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned aside, together they have become worthless; there is no one who shows kindness, there is not even one.”
Lent is when sin gets really personal, when we acknowledge our own brokenness, admit to ourselves and to God that we personally have an addiction to sin that we cannot overcome on our own, ask for His forgiveness and surrender to the gift of His grace and mercy. I am in bondage to sin and cannot free myself. I am the one who has sinned against God in my thoughts, in my words, and in my actions -- by the things I have done, as well as the things I should have done but left undone. I have not loved God with my whole heart, and I have certainly not loved my neighbors and my enemies as much as I love myself.
So on Ash Wednesday, the greasy ashes on our foreheads are a visible reminder of the brevity of our time here on Earth. The ashes symbolize our repentance for our sin and our desire to be freed from our earthly desires and fit for eternal life in Christ. Sounds like a bummer, doesn't it? No trumpet fanfares, no "Joy To the World," no pretty poinsettias or fragrant lilies for Lent! But there's still beautiful music, like the anthem "Create In Me" by Terre Johnson that our choir sang last night, based on Psalm 51.
Because we go into Lent looking inward and discovering that our hearts look like this:
My Heart At the Beginning of Lent
...and then, after forty days of reflection and prayer, we come out of Lent on Easter Sunday with a deeper understanding of why we need a savior so badly in the first place. God loves us so much that, when we repent and seek His forgiveness and guidance in our lives, He takes our bruised, broken and battered hearts and mends them with His mercy and love.
My Heart on Easter Sunday
Without Lent, Easter Sunday is just an excuse for new dresses, pastel marshmallow bunnies and hunting for painted eggs. Meaningfully observing the season of Lent is a necessary catharsis that humbles us and enables us to begin to comprehend the magnitude of God's love for us. The enormity of Christ's sacrifice, taking on the sin of the world, accepting the punishment for OUR sin, yours and mine, is awesome in the original sense of that word: Stunning! Breathtaking! Mind-blowing! Overwhelming! The gift of Lent, a time set aside for reflection and repentance, allows us to rejoice in the paradox that only by surrendering to God's will can we ever truly be free. So... How will I meaningfully observe Lent this year? Am I giving up wine and chocolate? No meat on Fridays until after Easter?
Well, if I really felt like wine, chocolate and meat were distracting me spiritually, I might give them up for Lent. You don't have to necessarily give ANYTHING up for Lent to be a "good Christian," by the way -- a lot of Christians I know like to ADD something to their lives for Lent, like daily Lenten devotions, attending additional worship services, 40 acts of kindness or of charity... Anything that makes them feel closer to God and more spiritually focused.
I really like the Biola University Lent Project daily devotions. I signed up to get them emailed to me every day throughout Lent, and each devotion has accompanying visual art, music, and poetry incorporating a broad range of styles. The art and music really help me to connect spiritually and emotionally with the scripture and the devotional text. Today's devotion was a reflection on Jeremiah 17:5-10, contrasting the bush withering in the desert (he whose heart has turned away from the Lord) to the tree with leaves of green, planted near the water (the man who trusts in the Lord). The multimedia devotion included van Gogh's Cypresses painting (above), a poem by M. Vasalis, and a contemplative piano composition entitled "Methuselah Tree," by contemporary post-classical minimalist Keith Kenniff. So I'm adding these daily Lenten devotions, but not as an end unto themselves. I'm using the devotions to help me stay focused on the season of Lent amid all of the shiny distractions and earthy mirages that lure us away from what is real, what is true, and what really matters. One "golden calf" I know I'm guilty of worshipping is materialism.
I'm not talking about diamonds and furs and judging people by how much money they have... I'm talking about my weakness for buying specialty quilting tools, patterns, books, magazines, baking gadgets, and ACTUAL material -- FABRIC!! Now, baking, quilting and reading are not activities that threaten my relationship with God in and of themselves, but I'm thinking about how enmeshed these activities have become with our consumer culture and how much (or how little) of this stuff I actually need. And I'm mindful of the warning in the parable of the rich man in Luke 12:16-21. How close am I to tearing down my own barns kitchen and studio and building bigger ones to hold all of my posessions? So I'm going to try really hard to give up consumerism for Lent this year. I'll still shop for groceries, but I'll be trying hard not to buy anything that we don't really need, at least for the next eight weeks. No new baking pans, no new fabric, no new specialty rulers... and no new shoes! It will be interesting to see how that plays out and, by the time Easter rolls around, I should have a much better idea of whether and to what extent my relationship with instant gratification shopping has been spiritually compromising. Let's all be clear -- I am not giving up shopping FOREVER! In fact, in order to make it through eight weeks without "retail therapy," I will be including these food staples on my list of Lenten grocery necessities:
Wine and Chocolate: What I'm NOT Giving Up For Lent!
So, what about you? Are you giving up anything for Lent this year? If you are of a different faith that has a similar holiday or festival focusing on repentance and renewal, I'd love to hear about those traditions, too. Happy Lent, everyone!
