I Survived!

2015 arrived and I couldn’t stand it anymore. I had not quilted since June, 2014. Six months!  No fabric!  No cutting mats!  No sewing machine!

December 4th we moved into our ‘new’ home.  A 1947 character bungalow, big windows, hardwood floors, big back and front yards.  The kitchen is updated but the bathroom upstairs NEEDS renovating.

Once everything had been moved in and we had unpacked most of the necessities, I started searching through fabric boxes for something to work on.  I really don’t have the room to get at UFO’s at this time, so I started a new project, of course!  I have always wanted to do a postage stamp quilt and one of the first boxes I opened was a box of 2″ squares and strips.  Decision made!

Mark 8:19

When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?” They said to him, “Twelve.”

Christmas/Easter/Communion/All Saints’/Transfiguration/Baptism Banners

48″ x60″

This is how far behind I am.  We did manage to get ten banners completed in time for Christmas.  We hung and dedicated them the first Sunday following the celebration of Christ’s birth.  That would be January 29th!  They have been hanging in the sanctuary up until last Sunday when they were replaced with the Lent banners.  I know it was a week past the beginning of Lent but we celebrated Holy Communion on March 9th, white and gold being appropriate in that case.

They were all a variation of log cabin blocks done in yellow and set in white.

 

Eight of them were 36″ x 48″ and two were 48″x 60″.  Each quilter could place the star and quilt their banner as they pleased.  When it came time to switch them out I finally got out the camera to take and post the pictures as I promised I would.

Of course for at least one of my banners I had to do something entirely different.  I wanted a project with more of a modern feel.  I absolutely love it.  There are a few people in the congregation that aren’t as impressed with it as I am.  After all, breaking with tradition is a difficult thing to do in the church. 😉  Resistance to change seems to be a defining characteristic of Christians.  There are lots of jokes about it.

How many Christians does it take to change a light bulb? — We don’t change!

Although, my favourite is, because I am — How many Calvinists does it take to change a lightbulb? — None, the lights will go on and off at predestined times.

And my second favourite, because I am — How many Presbyterians does it take to change a lightbulb? — Well, it requires a least five committees to study and review the need and procedure behind changing the lightbulb, each committee represented by at least half a dozen people, so — 30?

I wonder when the Christ returns and there is a new heaven and a new earth if any one will want to be part of it because they have never ‘done’ it that way before …

The ‘modern’ banner is still my favourite.

Isaiah 43:19  I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

A New Thing

Ecclesiastes 1:10   Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, this is new”? It has already been, in the ages before us.

A little after Christmas last year, I took interest in something new.  A new hobby.  Not new to the world, as the wise king of Ecclesiastes tells us, but new to me.  I started quilting.  There are a few ladies in the congregation that gather on Thursday afternoons to quilt in the lower hall of the church.  I couldn’t stay in my office, writing, or reading, or any of that other stuff that a minister is supposed to do when in the office.  The creative process occurring beneath my feet pulled to0 strongly, so I joined them.  At first I cross stitched, my first love.  As time progressed I was bitten by the quilt bug, compounded by the temptation of rapidly accumulating a stash as the local fabric store was closing and all their fabric was available at very reasonable prices.

I couldn’t have picked a more difficult project for my first attempt.  I didn’t have the knowledge of how the corners would stretch out of square because of sewing such small pieces on the bias.  Persistence and a new sewing machine eventually brought success.  I gave the finished project to my sister for her birthday.  I’m well satisfied with the way it turned out.  It was enough to get me hooked on a new hobby.  One which my husband is willing to indulge, likely more so if I managed to complete his quilt…