March 18, 2024

God's Varied Grace

Devotion for the week...

Mostly when we talk about grace, we do so in terms of forgiveness, but the Bible also uses the word grace when talking about the gifts God has given us. It’s so easy to focus on the gifts other people have, while feeling like we don’t have any special gifts at all. The Bible is clear that isn’t the case, though. Peter wrote, "As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace" (1 Peter 4:10). 
 
We learn two things from this one verse. First, we all have some gift or talent. Notice that Peter wrote, 'as each has received a gift' and not 'those select few who have received a gift'. That’s because God didn’t leave any of us out, even if sometimes we feel otherwise. What are you good at? It may not be a thing that gets much attention, but that doesn’t mean it’s not valuable. Sometimes we don’t recognize our gifts because they come to us so easily that we just think everyone can do what we do. That is definitely not true!
 
Second, we are to use the gifts we have to serve one another. They were never meant for us alone, but were given to us to serve a purpose in this world. Some of us will serve a few people in our immediate circle of influence. Some will serve hundreds, and some will serve even more. How many people we reach with our gift isn’t a reflection of the value of the gift (or the person!), but only of the purpose God had for it.
We are to use the gifts we have to serve one another | DevotedQuilter.com
I love that Peter refers to it as us being good stewards of God’s grace. Stewards don’t own the thing they’re stewarding. They’re like the caretaker of it, doing the best they can with it for the one who does own it. In our case, we have God’s grace given to us in the form of a skill or talent we can use to benefit others. We are to do the best we can with our gift, in service to others, for the glory of the One who gave it to us.

March 14, 2024

Pinwheel Irish Chain (Take Two)

Back in 2019 I made my Pinwheel Irish Chain quilt top for an Island Batik ambassador challenge. Then, as part of Sarah's Hands 2 Help Comfort Quilt Challenge, I donated the top to Victoria's Quilts Canada, a group that accepts only quilt tops, then finishes them to give to people going through cancer treatments. 

Since then, every few months I get a request from someone looking for the pattern, but I hadn't written the pattern. And since I had donated the top, I also didn't have pictures of a finished quilt to use for the cover of a pattern. I knew I'd have to remake the quilt someday, and now I'm happy to say that day has finally arrived! Here is my Pinwheel Irish Chain (take two).
Pinwheel Irish Chain quilt | DevotedQuilter.com
The weather hasn't been great for outdoor pictures, but Nathan and I did manage to get out to the backyard one afternoon.
Pinwheel Irish Chain quilt | DevotedQuilter.com
Not only did I remake the quilt, I also finished the pattern, and Pinwheel Irish Chain is the Stash Artists pattern for March. If you're not a Stash Artists member yet, we'd love to have you join us when the doors open again in a few months. You can get on the waitlist here so you'll be notified when the doors are open. Stash Artists is for quilters who love stash-friendly patterns like this one.

I cut the the squares for the Irish Chain blocks using child labour, aka the childcare littles. They love to use my Accuquilt Go!, so they think it's great fun when I suggest we do some fabric cutting. I kept a ziptop bag for the blue squares and they helped me cut them from my scraps over a few cutting sessions. We were able to cut all the white squares for the chain blocks from my scraps, too. I have no idea how many different solid whites made their way into the quilt, but I know there are a few. 
Pinwheel Irish Chain quilt | DevotedQuilter.com
One of my favourite things about scrap quilts is remembering where all the fabrics came from or where I've used them before. Some of the blues in this picture are from my time as an Island Batik ambassador, some are from quilts I made for Riley Blake blog hops, and the light blue with leafy shapes was donated when I sent out a call for quilt blocks after the senior's home across the road burned down back in 2017. That blue backed at least one of the many quilts made with the donated blocks, and I kept the strips trimmed off the sides after the quilting was done. There are fun fabric memories scattered all over this quilt!
Pinwheel Irish Chain quilt | DevotedQuilter.com
With the Irish Chain done in blues, I used every colour except blue for the pinwheels. I love the bright, fun prints.
Pinwheel Irish Chain quilt | DevotedQuilter.com
I started a new cone of Aurifil 2024 (white) for the quilting, and chose my go-to double loop design. It just seems to suit pinwheels so well. If you use thread cones, do you keep track of when you first use them? It's absolutely useless information, but I love knowing how long I've been using the same cone. I write the date on a piece of tape and stick it to the inside of the plastic cone.
Aurifil thread cone start | DevotedQuilter.com
I usually try to avoid piecing backs, but I decided to put in the extra time on this one. I used three different blue solids, plus a fun strawberry fabric from Island Batik. 
Pieced quilt back | DevotedQuilter.com
Pieced quilt back | DevotedQuilter.com
And, of course, there's a label on one corner.
Devoted Quilter quilt label | DevotedQuilter.com
When it came time for the binding, I knew I wanted a scrappy binding, but couldn't decide if it should use all the colours or only blues. I put the question out on social media, where the responses were split pretty evenly, with a few people suggesting either a stripe or a single colour. One person asked if I wanted the binding to draw the eye (in which case use all the colours) or blend in with the Irish Chain (in which case use just blues). I found that so helpful! I decided I didn't want the binding to draw the eye, so I went with the blues, and I'm very happy with the result.
Scrappy blue quilt binding | DevotedQuilter.com
Now when people ask if there's a pattern for the Pinwheel Irish Chain, I can finally say yes (and invite them to become a Stash Artists member when the doors are open 😉).
Pinwheel Irish Chain quilt | DevotedQuilter.com

March 12, 2024

Paper Piecing with Freezer Paper Workshop

Do you love the precision of paper piecing, but hate ripping out the papers when you're finished? I hear ya! That was me, until I started using freezer paper.
Burst quilt blocks | DevotedQuilter.com

The freezer paper method is like magic! 
  • My favourite advantage is that you can simply peel the freezer paper off the back of the block when you finish it. A second or two and it's done, instead of tediously removing each little piece of paper. I'll never go back to using regular paper for this reason alone.
  • You can reuse the templates (saving so much paper and ink if you're making repeats of the same blocks). I've used templates up to 16 times before, and even then, they were still good to use, I just didn't need more blocks.
If you'd like to learn this magic, too, join me for a Paper Piecing with Freezer Paper workshop on March 23rd. In the 2 hour virtual workshop, we'll use my Burst pattern (included in your registration) to learn how freezer paper lets you keep the precision of paper piecing, but without the hassle of removing the bits of paper at the end.
Paper Piecing with Freezer Paper workshop | DevotedQuilter.com
The workshop is suitable for paper piecing pros who want to ditch the hassle of removing the papers AND for paper piecing newbies. I love hearing the gasps from everyone when they see how simple the process is, whether they've tried paper piecing before or not!

Learn more and register here


I hope to see you in the workshop!