Hallelujah Christmas 

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. John 3:1–17.

This day, may the great joy of Christmas fill us all and bring us peace!

Ugly Fabric wins a prize

We have been traveling, so nice to get away and before the next set of restrictions start. We spent a week in Arizona with family playing games and laughing lots, a week in San Diego for hubby to golf and to visit our nephew and his wife who seem like our kids (my sister's youngest son). Then a few days in San Francisco area where I have a relative who is 104...great visit with him, and also his daughter and granddaughter and a great grandson who is 12. He has a pet pig that they keep in their backyard with a few chickens in the middle of a big city. This is NOT a little pig. It is famous in their area, and one neighbor told us that pig is getting them through the struggles of the pandemic. So much fun.

When I got back, our local guild had a photo contest quilt show on ZOOM with ten categories. We were allowed two entries, each to be in a different category. One was "best use of an ugly fabric" and I entered it. I'd picked up this piece at a sew-day because it was ugly (in my mind) and I wanted a challenge.

Here is the resulting top... and I won first prize! Don't know what the prize will be yet, but what fun to change this fabric into something that even I like. It will go back to the guild's outreach division and be given to a needy someone after I sandwich it and quilt it.

I've not sewn much since we got home but lots of things on the list. In the meantime, best wishes for a joyful Christmas season!

God bless you!

 

Gridlock

 

Wanda is making a Kaffe Fassett quilt called Gridlock and I decided to do the same. We are still using a large queen on our king bed so it is about time!

I picked a pile of fabric from my stash in soft blues, golds, purples etc. that blended well but with a good range of values. I wanted soft rather than contrast, muted rather than bright. Blocks finish at 12" so for a king, I need 90 or so, without borders. 

My hubby really likes this. 

So far, these are the ten that are on the wall. The photo shows more contrast than actual, but I took it at night with LED lighting. I'll try the next one in the daytime. These show the darkest fabrics I have and the lightest. Hopefully the range will be a pleasing array!

Leaves and Friends

Our city's quilt guild has an outreach committee that makes charity quilts from donations. The chairperson gave me a few blocks, a few pieces of white fabric, a couple of copies of a pattern, and some backing with, "Here, fix this." I did not have fabric that would work with the colored parts of those blocks, but did have white that would help build them into something. After lots of trial and error, this is the result. It is about 58" square, a little less.

With several people making the blocks, they were not all the same size. A few were too small, or crooked, or sewn with dark thread, etc. so it was a challenge. I ignored the pattern and played with the pieces, adding bits here and there and taking apart parts of some blocks that were wonky. Lots of chopped off points, but it turned out better than expected. I need to put 2" borders on the sides, then quilt it... another challenge. Likely outline the birds and flowers, etc. and put leaves in the white spaces. I'm glad this one is nearly finished.

Scrap Improv

I've two more quilts for refugees finished and given to them. Story another time, but what a joy to bless people whose stories are mind-bending, even life-changing. They have been through so much, and for years. And I complain if someone cuts me off in traffic.

One quilt that I made a few weeks ago had some tiny pieced rectangles left over. (See that quilt here) As I played with them, this is what came out after adding a couple of fat quarters. It is about 24" wide, not large but fun to make after doing several queen-size monsters. As you can see, there may not be enough to do the borders that I'd like, but it will get finished this week and quilted.

I also put together some tree of life blocks that came to my local guild as a donation. There were ten of them and I was asked to make something of them. I didn't have any fabric that would work to make more trees, and didn't want to anyway. One of the ten had cut off corners, so I set it aside, grabbed some wild backing (also a donation) and this is the result. There is 1" sashing between the blocks and 2" border around the nine of them. I cut two large squares from the backing and then cut them in half diagonally. There is enough of that fabric left to do the backing. Also, the binding, which is cut, pressed and ready to use. This is 74" square, a nice size.

The question now is: How do I quilt this? Any suggestions are welcome. Right now, I have no clue. So I'll work on the little one until the answer arrives in the comment section or wherever!