Weddings and Baseballs

Three years ago at the beginning of June my stepdaughter got married. It was the weekend before we went to Scotland and France for three weeks. She and her intended met playing softball. In keeping with their relationship, the wedding ceremony took place on a baseball diamond at a local community centre. The entire reception area was decorated in keeping with that theme. The predinner snacks were baseball field nachos, popcorn, mini hotdogs. The colour scheme was their favourite baseball team.

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They are lovely people and it was a lovely wedding. The bride was beautiful, the groom was handsome. We had a good time. I pray they have a long, healthy, and happy marriage.

I asked my stepdaughter well in advance what the colour scheme was going to be, she informed me it was the colours for the Toronto Blue Jays. Red, white and blue quilt coming up. I was a little surprised when we arrived and the coulour scheme had changed. Oh well. At least the colours of the quilt are the home team.

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Voila, a baseball diamond, red representing the players on the field. They loved it.

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Isaiah 62:5 As a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.

Explorations in Gardening

This morning I prayed for those who grow our food. The neighbourhood seems to have more vegetable gardens than in previous years. People explored ways of keeping busy during the government shoutdown because of covid-19. The weather has co-operated, a couple days of warm and sunny with rain late in the evening or ending with a full day of gentle rain. The peas have suffered because the temperatures have been too warm, but the rest of the vegtables are doing well.

As I walked the dog, I encountered two young people picking and eating raspberries in their garden. I asked if they were good berries this year. They ageed the berries were delicious and shared some with me.

Their mother asked, “Are you the tulip lady?” ”Yes,“ I replied. And she proceeded to show me her garden, all the volunteer tomatoes, tomatoes she got at her favourite garden centre, and the tomatoes she got from her Polish neighbour down the street who has an “amazing” garden. She and her young son (enamoured by my dog) walked down the street to see Irena’s (the Polish neighbour) garden. “Is Irena the lady with the white fence? I love her,” the young man exclaimed.

Bless you, I thought, and bless Irena for whatever she does that has encouraged you to love her.

Irena’s garden was one of those backyard gardens using every usable inch to grow something. It was, amazing, lush and flourishing.

I give thanks for the openness of people to enter into conversation and the places it leads. Earlier this morning I read there is an upsurge in youth gardening. I pray for them and their new found skills in self sustenance. May they discover their efforts brings joy in the intricacies and beauty of God’s creation. May the first time gardeners, back yard gardeners, hobby farmers, and large scale farmers have an abundance of produce to harvest this summer.

Genesis 1:11-12
Then God said, “Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.” And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good.

Intersections – Literature and Life

I’m experiencing a summer, as are many others, of unprecidentend ways of being. Church services are suspended. Worship services are being distributed electronically, either in print or using some current methods of live technology via the internet. Visits are on by telephone, email, or meeting apps. Church leadership is wrapping minds and creativity around ways of protecting our members once we resume gathering in one place at the same time.

Presently I am on holidays. Which feels weird and redundant in many ways, since I have only set foot in the church a couple times since the middle of March. The family is not travelling anywhere, or doing anything special. I am making an effort to read for pleasure, my first love.

Today I finished W.O.Mitchell’s The Vanishing Point. I have previously read, and thoroughly enjoyed, Who Has Seen the Wind, How I Spent my Summer Holidays, and Roses are Difficult Here.

Yet, lost in the written world, the real one intersects, drifting in and smudging the lines of reality. This is what I read this morning.

“… She reminded him a great deal of Aunt Pearl, which was the only person he saw in all the time he was getting over his diphtheria. She put on and took off a white smock whenever she come in to him; between times it hung on a wooden tree by the door, and he was fascinated by the way she put it on herself and took it off herself; she was meticulously aware of the outside of it and the inside of it. She explained to him that there was no excuse for anyone getting any disease at all, because germs moved only on surfaces, and if a person didn’t touch the surface of another person, say by shaking hands, then you must wash your hands right away. People were always unconsciously touching their faces — most likely their mouths and that gave the germs a chance to enter the orifice of the mouth. She said that people should be ashamed, really, of catching diseases.”

The Vanishing Point – 1973

Seems there is no escape from the global pandemic. Reminders of covid-19 can be found in the most unexpected activities. Such touchstones are the mark of excellent literature. Real life weaves in and through the words of the author and resonates with experiences and events in our own lives. For me, it is easy to itentify with Mitchell’s work. I have lived most of my life on the edge of the Canadian prairies, his described sounds, sights and smells are part of my DNA.

Quilt Quandary Resolved

It has been a long time coming, the completion of this quilt. Colour changes, fabric scarcity, and border indecision have frustrated a finished project. Throw in some procrastination and the result is years between beginning and ending (February 3013 – December 2019). Progress Links are 2013/02/06 2013/03/20 2013/04/04 2013/07/21

As with most projects, completing and assembling the blocks happens fairly quickly. I think the borders took another three years. I couldn’t locate complimentary William Morris fabric to my satisfaction. I finally settled on the narrow white and green borders with fabric from my stash. Then I didn’t have enough fabric for the outside border and had to add the corner pieces. Not ideal, but added just enough for border and binding fabric to finish.

medium, light, medium placement

The next challenge was finding backing material. Again, not enough William Morris inspired fabric. I procrastinated again, settled on something close in colour.

The intent was to use the domestic machine to free motion quilt. I used a stencil I felt was similar to the style of the era of the fabric designs. I used Crayola Ultraclean markers for placement. The markers worked really well, except for the orange, it took some extra work to remove after the quilt was washed in cold water. I was relieved since the design had been marked on the fabric for over a year.

Make no mistake, all the blocks are the same. They are all Aunt Nancy’s Favourite in two different value settings. One is dark, medium, dark, and the other is medium, light, medium placements for the stars giving the overall quilt the appearance of diagonal movement. I am super pleased with the effect.

My sister finally received the quilt at Christmas. She appeared please with it. I have not had the opportunity to see it since the pandemic has restricted travel between provinces.

Proverbs 7:4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call insight your intimate friend …

Blocks in a Box

A couple years ago, a relative of a church member donated a bunch of quilting material to my church.  This individual’s best friend, who was a quilter, passed away and left them all her quilting material, sewing machines and notions.  This gift was the seed for a quilting group to start at the church.  This is the first of the quilts I have managed to finish and was sold at the annual Christmas Bazaar.

The block is called “Block in a Box” and was quilted by The Quilty Guilt.  Using a chain piecing method it sewed up much quicker than other projects I have finished, especially since the center block was 8″ x 8″.

It was purchased as a Christmas gift for a young man who also received a ‘big boy’s bed’.

Ecclesiastes 11:9

Rejoice, young man, while you are young, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Follow the inclination of your heart and the desire of your eyes, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.

Time Keeps on Ticking …

For Ministers and Pastors in the church, Christmas is not that which is experienced by the rest of the world.  It is a marathon of worship services, stretching organizational abilities to the limit, in addition to all the other typical preparations and demands on time.  Throw in a funeral or two and the temptation to shout ‘I give up” and not get out of bed rises to number one on the to do list.  So it is this year.  A member of the congregation, a long time elder, passes away on the twenty-second.  Gratefully the family has planned the service for January 6th (Epiphany, complicated or appropriate?).  Yesterday a long retired minister on the appendix to the roll died as well.  This will require a funeral service which typically involves all active members on the membership roll.

In personal remembrances, it would have been my father’s 98th birthday on the 23rd, and my grandmothers’ 101st today.  A year ago we had her funeral.  The family is gathering at my mom and sisters’ house for hackaballa soup (Honig vegtable soup with little meatballs).  My non-attendance will result in criticism and puzzled questions why I am not there.

And, yesterday the hot water heater started leaking.  Today a plumber and electrician are in and out installing a new one, in retrospect, much too large for the space.  (We didn’t purchase it, the owner of the company did with out checking first.)

I surrender.
And then, I read this.

There are many kinds of selfishness in this world, but the most selfish is hoarding time, because none of us know how much we have, and it is an affront to God to assume there will be more. ~ “Finding Chika” Mitch Albom

And I surrender again.

Ecclessiastes 3:1-8
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
² a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
³ a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
⁴ a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
⁵ a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
⁶ a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to throw away;
⁷ a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
⁸ a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

Wrapped in God’s Love

St. John’s has a long standing practice of gifting individuals receiving baptism, graduates of high school and university, and others going through life transitions.  It began with the baptism of infants.  They were given a receiving blanket embroidered with their name and date of birth with the assurance they were, are and will always be ‘wrapped in God’s love.’  In the past recipients were typically children, but since my call to the congregation it has expanded a little.  The recently widowed, widower-ed, moving away or into assisted living were given a prayer shawl or quilt, because in my mind, we are all ‘wrapped in God’s love.’

Recently in the presbytery there was an ordination of a young woman as a Minister of Word and Sacrament.  It was a month short of my tenth anniversary of my own ordination.  I was reminded of the prayer shawl a congregation in the presbytery gifted me on the night of my ordination.  I had just finished a quilt intended for a congregation member recently entering a nursing home.  Sadly, they only lived a few days beyond the transition.  It is a quilt drenched in prayer and who needs it more than someone newly ordained.

This was intended to be a simple Trip Around the World quilt.  Once I began placing the blocks on the design wall I decided I had to line up the strip blocks as much as possible.  Durn OCD.  Solving the puzzle was worth it, I think it turned out awesome!

Exodus 29:29  The sacred vestments of Aaron shall be passed on to his sons after him; they shall be anointed in them and ordained in them.

Post Christmas – PreChristmas

I’m only a year late posting last Christmas’ quilt and realizing it is time to start thinking about this year’s Christmas projects.  This fabric was another find I couldn’t leave behind.  It was a layer cake I bought at the IQS in Gimli, MB.  The result was a lap quilt to donate to the church’s annual bazaar.

 

Alas, it did not sell.  I gifted it to a wonderful and faithful member of the congregation.  She does not get out to Sunday morning worship any longer.  She has type of dementia that she handles fairly well by leaving post-in notes everywhere as a reminder.  She would call me Mondays after she had attended church with appreciative words for the sermon.  Not long after she would call again, same reason.  And then again, and again, until she remembered to throw out the post-in note reminding her to call me to tell me she appreciated my sermon.  It was a blessing.

I gave her this quilt at the end of the bazaar, just as she was preparing to leave.  During her ride home she mentioned to the driver someone had given her a lovely quilt.  The driver answered, “Yes, I know, the minister gave it to you.”

“Did she?!  How thoughtful of her.  A good preacher and generous too!  Too bad I won’t remember to thank her.”

Psalm 119:49  Remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope.

For the Love of Fabric

As much as I try to convince myself otherwise, I am way beyond being a fabric collector.  I see something I like and I buy it, without thought of what it might become, or when I might get around to using it.

Here is another case in point.  I really, really, liked this fabric.  It was the combinations of colours that caught my eye.  They spoke Christmas to me.  Luckily, I belonged to a small gift exchange in the congregation and I made a table runner and four place mats for the church secretary.  She greatly dislikes birds, but assured me these were ‘okay.’

Luke 12:24  Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!

Tired and Retired

 

How does time pass so quickly?  It has been over two years since I have completed a quilt?  If you could see the pile beside the ironing board you might wonder, “How that could be?”  I have at least a half dozen tops that need binding, or sandwiching, or quilting.  Big Sigh!  I have been much too involved with work and just can’t seem to carve out time for hobbies.  I am tired.

May 2018 a colleague retired as the Executive Director of an important mission in the city and accepted a part time position as the Minister of Word and Sacrament for a rapidly growing indigenous congregation.  They refer to themselves as Oji-Irish, walking a blended spiritual journey of Indigenous and Christian belief and ceremony.  A person of great strength and immeasurable compassion.  To honour the occasion I designed this stole and it was gifted at a regular meeting of presbytery.  The colours of the Dakota Star and the cross are those of the Medicine Circle.  There are four bear paw blocks at the bottom of the stole.  These represent the individual as a member of  the Bear Clan. The eagle fabric on the back was chosen as it is part of the recipient’s name.   I know God’s Spirit will rest always upon them and richly bless their ministry.

Jeremiah 6:16 – This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.”