God Speaks Through Others!

Normally I would be at church on Sunday morning, but my cough is still lingering and so I stayed home.  As I was sitting here at the computer going through the quilts that have been submitted to Project Quilting for this weeks challenge I was once again drawn to Annie Young's blog.

As I read the descriptions and listened to how the quilters were inspired by Annie's art, I had to go dwell in her work, to listen to what she had to say through her words and her paintings.

Annie posts her art along with words of her own and quotes from many famous people, including Scripture.  Some of the quotes we've heard and some are new and some are ones I believe God wants us to hear again and again.  She is inspired by God and His amazing love of us, as am I, but her quotes also remind me that God speaks through others. We just have to have our ears and hearts turned on and tuned in to hear Him speak.

I believe God speaks through beautiful flowers and sunrises and sunsets and every other beautiful and sometimes not so beautiful thing He has created and I love that He gave me such an appreciation of His art.  I love butterflies and am surprised that I didn't use one of Annie's as inspiration for my quilt for this challenge.  As I move through her posts I found one dated July 26, 2012 and she used this quote along with her butterfly wings picture, "and when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly..." -unknown

She titled her blog that day, you are are brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous!  My first thought was one of surprise. Immediately following was the butterfly quote and then the picture of her butterfly and a very long and beautiful quote from Nelson Mandela. I would love to show her butterfly here, but I do not have her permission, and so I have posted pictures I have taken of butterflies and their various life stages.  Nelson Mandola reminds us that we are children of God and that we are designed to glorify God.  I am not going to quote the entire thing here, not today, but I am going to give you the link to that specific page ofAnnie's blog and I encourage you to go and read it for yourselves.

I promise you that her beautiful picture of the butterfly wings and this quote will bless you and you will know that God used Annie Young and Nelson Mandela to speak to you and to me and to everyone whose ears and minds were turned on and tuned in! 

You are brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous!

Sunset Reflection in Lake

Sunset Reflection on Lake        15" x 9" quilt

It's done and it's uploaded to Flickr and the Project Quilting Flickr Group!  Yay, it's only 7:43 on Saturday evening.  It's not even due until noon tomorrow!  I told you in yesterday's post that Annie's art was an amazing inspiration.  I hope you have already checked out her blog!

So, after yesterday, there's not a lot to say.  I just knew the moment I saw this fabric that it looked like the reflection of a sunset on a lake and so I cut the piece out, made the sandwich and began to do the free motion quilting.  This is all so new to me and I had a blast.  This was the most relaxing quilt I've done to date and I hope to do more of this type.  The best part was when Bill said, I see a shark in the water and some other fish!  He's being so encouraging and it makes this even more fun.


If you are seeing this post and haven't read yesterdays, be sure to back up and read all about the Project Quilting Challenge for this week and Annie Young Art.


I hope you enjoy and I am off to the studio to work on some Valentines.   It's next week you know and I just really want to make some fabric ones to give to some sweet friends!  We'll see!  I tried to do some last year and I tried last night, but then I turned to Pinterest and found some real cute ideas - so hoping tonight is successful.  If I am you'll know it tomorrow!
Have a great evening.

Suffering with the flu and now bronchitis, left me thinking that I wouldn’t even attempt this weeks Project Quilting challenge, but I did want to go see the inspiration on Annie Young’s blog.  I had never heard of Annie Young and now, I know I’ll never forget her.

I love nature, all of it, whether it’s fauna and flora, bugs, birds, sunrises or sunsets, fish or animals. I began painting as a way to use some of the many thousands of photographs I had taken!  Photography was my first love. Painting is my second love and is followed by quilting so that I would have a new medium for my painting.  I actually love taking pictures and I love painting, at this time I'm learning to quilt!  It doesn't come as easy, but I believe I will come to love it too.

Visiting Annie’s blog and looking at her work was like seeing all of my two loves in her magnificent works of art!  Every piece she has done is inspiring.  I saw flowers, skies, sunrises and sunsets in her art pieces and then I saw that she doesn’t see!  I know she did, but she lost her sight around ten years ago and yet she creates the most amazing pieces of art.  That proves that art is the window of the soul!

I have always believed that what gifts I had at photography or painting were directly from God and seeing her work, I know hers are for sure and my getting to experience them is her gift to me and everyone else who sees her work.  She has inspired me to let go and allow myself to be what God has created me to be!  No comparisons, no excuses, no giving in to doubts and fears, but rather to let go of all the outside junk and allow God to flow through me in my art.  I was reminded this week of a quote I read on the wall in a doctor’s office back in the late 70‘s, “Your life is God’s gift to you, what you do with it is your gift to God.”   I saw it on Annie’s blog  dated 8/18/12 or at least a very similar one and I was reminded of how much I believe that and how Annie has given an amazing gift to God!  We should all strive to give Him such a gift.

Preview of my quilt!

It seems like not feeling well really doesn’t seem very important after meeting Annie and a quilt will evolve before Sunday’s deadline.  It will be the best that I can do, and I will thank God for the talent to do it and use it as an inspiration for years to come - reminding me that if we allow God to work through us, nothing is impossible, no matter the circumstance!  

Thank you Kim for this challenge, thank you Annie for your inspiration and your art.  I have two goals - to create a piece inspired by Annie’s work and to own a piece of Annie Young art.  I will meet them both!  And for you, if you haven't already headed to Annie Young's blog then please do so right now!  You will not be disappointed, in fact, I promise you will be inspired!

See you tomorrow when I post my inspiration quilt - for Project Quilting Challenge # 3.

Project Quilting - Bonus Challenge

I am posting today for Kim at Project Challenge.  You've heard me talk about the weekly challenge, but this is all about a bonus challenge for those of you who want longer than a week to create a quilt.  There's a bonus fat quarter bundle for this challenge, well, let me just let Kim tell you all about it:

Hello everyone!  This is Kim from Persimon Dreams, www.PersimonDreams.com, and I’m so happy to be here sharing some exciting Project QUILTING news with you.  We are currently in the midst of Season 4.  The first two challenges inspired over 100 quilts to be created – so amazing!  The third challenge went up on Sunday, February 3^rd and I can’t wait to see what comes from it (still time for you to join in!)  

I personally love Project QUILTING because it has been extremely inspirational to me in my quilting journey.  I know I only have a week for the projects but it’s a great opportunity to give ideas in my mind a try – see what happens, try new techniques.  If it works…maybe I’ll do a bigger project that takes more time.  Project QUILTING has me creating pieces I never imagined before, it brought me out of the only making ‘what I think will sell’ and in turn, and the Project QUILTING community has been such an inspiration and support.

I have heard from many that they love watching along with Project QUILTING and the projects created from the challenges but they just can’t fit making a quilt in just one week.  That’s what my exciting news is all about today – a new *Bonus* Project QUILTING Challenge.  I’ve teamed up with a fabulous online fabric store – The Fat Quarter Shop to bring you all the ‘Fat Quarter Shop Bundle Challenge – Tradition Times Three’:  http://www.persimondreams.com/2013/01/bonus-project-quilting-challenge-fat-quarter-shop-fabric-bundle-tradition-times-three.html  

Diane outlines what is required for this particular challenge.  You must go to the Fat Quarter Shop to by the fabric bundle (http://www.fatquartershop.com/store/stores_app/Browse_Item_Details.asp?sid=570110135227570&Store_id=499&page_id=23&Item_ID=87597&Parent_Ids=) 

in order to complete the challenge BUT the twist is – you have until May 30^th, 2013 to submit your challenge!  At that point, one of my girls will randomly draw a winner of $75 to use at the Fat Quarter Shop.  

I also wanted to share with you a few ways you can save on your fabric bundle.  First – head over to my blog and enter in the giveaway I posted today:  http://www.persimondreams.com/?p=4082 

OR if you want to save 20% off your entire purchase of fabric from the Fat Quarter Shop check out this blog post: http://www.talkintuesdays.blogspot.com/2013/01/talknt-jan-29th-fat-quarter-shop.html to find the special code – good through February 10^th.

~Kim Lapacek

Don't miss out on this opportunity to save on this bundle and join the challenge!

Princess in Pink - Project Quilting Challenge 2

I can't believe this is the first time I've posted since the last Project Quilting Challenge, but I don''t see anything so I guess it is.  I've recently started my new blog on our alpaca adventure and so guess I've just been posting there, but I digress, let's move on to "Princess in Pink".

This weeks challenge was to pick our favorite color and do a quilt, in any size or shape, in that color (and shades of it) and white!  No other colors allowed.  I chose pink, it actually not my favorite color, but I like it and it's how I imagined this little dress, so pink it is!

We receive the challenge on Sunday.  I was blank.  How hard can it be to come up with a quilt of any size or shape etc. etc.  It was very hard for me.  As I've said my desire to quilt comes strictly from wanting to paint my flowers and then quilt them.  And then my friend Sally introduced me to this quilt challenge. Actually, I really can't blame her - all she did was post on FB that she was excited about the new year of the  Project Quilting Challenge and I jumped in and joined. But, I can say, if she hadn't posted, I wouldn't know about it!  Thanks, Sally Keller!  Which reminds me you must go look at the quilt she did for this challenge!  She is just amazing and so is her quilt.

 So back to deciding what to do.  I was so blank I decided that I just wouldn't do one.  And then on Thursday as I waited at the doctor for my appointment a sketch appeared in my sketch book!  The docs PA walked in and ask what I was sketching and I told her an idea for a little wall hanging.  Once I said it aloud, it became real and I began to think how to do it.  The finished item is not the sketch, but it certainly was the inspiration.

This is the second time I've done a binding and I am happier with this one.  I found a video on You Tube from Missouri Star Quilts on how to do a machine binding and it was really good.  Finally it made sense so progress is being made.  I'm not ready to begin a large quilt, not even one over 12", but we'll see what the challenge is in two weeks.  You never know when they might just push me to move out of this "small" comfort zone.

The one thing I hope I will do while I wait for the next challenge is practice!  Practice free motion quilting and bindings!  The one thing I see or hear in every class, article, video etc. is practice, practice, practice and so if I really want to learn to do this I must, you got it, practice!

So until next time, I shall be at my sewing machine seeing what I can learn and, of course, preparing for Bible Study, mentoring MOPS, preparing for the arrival of the alpacas (to see more on alpacas click here) and the usual duties of homemaker!  Life is good! God is GREAT!

Quilting Challenge - Bloom

I'm so far behind!  This has been a very busy week - filled with Bible Study two mornings, food pantry one morning and Association Board Meeting Thursday night - needless to say all of these also involved phone calls, study, copying, etc. etc. etc. and so it's almost time for the next challenge and I'm just posting about the last one.

I mentioned in my last post about the pincushions that I had decided to join a quilt challenge and the first quilt was due in a week.  Yes, we had from Sunday (I found it on Monday) when they announced the theme to the following Sunday at noon to have it completed and a picture uploaded.

And now to my quilt! It begins with the word bloom - my word for 2013!  So many of my friends talked about choosing their word for the year.  I had never done that, but it sounded intriguing.  I began to pray about my word and I had two words come to mind.  Try and bloom!!!  The more I thought about it bloom was the word and this week I got to use it.

Now, call me crazy, but I decided to give this challenge a try.  I have actually quilted some fabric together in practice and about six years ago I quilted some fabric and made cute little jewelry (misc.) bags - three to be exact and a month or so ago I made a mug rug for Bill, but turned the fabric - did NOT put on binding.  That I had never, ever done!  So you ask,  "What was I thinking?"  Believe me by Saturday (a week ago) I was asking that, too!  I sat down and painted a flower early in the week, as soon as I signed up.  That's the easy part, I do that all of the time.  In fact, that's why I bought my new machine, to make wall hangings or other small items using my painted flowers.  But a completed wall hanging in a week?  Oh, my goodness!

But sometimes, this is just what I need, a challenge!  I am a procrastinator even about things I want to do and so a timed challenge is very, very good for me!  It forces me to act!  Now you notice, I said I found the challenge on Monday and I painted the flower immediately and then you might notice I mentioned Saturday as the day I was asking myself what I had gotten myself into.  Procrastination at its best! Yes, indeed, I thought about it every day, I looked at my flower every day and then on Saturday I panicked, went up stairs to the studio and seriously picked out fabric.  No I hadn't even picked out fabric when I painted my flower!  The advantage to being a fabric hoarder is that you have almost every color stuck away somewhere and so I pulled out a drawer and there it was the exact colors that were in my flower.  By the way, I thanked God for this and saw it as a miracle, since it was a set of matching fabrics and was in the first drawer I opened! Next it was cutting and pinning and quilting and BINDING!  Yes, I did just scream the word binding.  I studied videos and dvds and my binding finally got done around midnight!  Far, far from perfect, but done!


I posted the picture on Flicker and connected them to the challenge and I took a deep breath and went to bed!  From a distance this looks pretty cute and I got some wonderful comments, but I know that if I want to do better I have to practice, practice, practice! And so, in just an hour or so another challenge will appear on Facebook from Project Quilting and I will try again.  Just hoping it's not so far beyond my skills that I can't do it.  But whatever it is, I will try!  Check it out you might want to join me in this venture.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you I won a prize!  No, not for my quilting, but a random drawing of all the entries and I won a wonderful prize, picked out just for me from Pam Geisel For Quilts Sake. Check out her Etsy shop here.

And now I wait for the new challenge and head out to help my sweet hubby build the stall for our alpacas, Pancho, Lefty and Sammy who are arriving soon!  We went to visit them yesterday and they showed off some of their halter skills (not much yet) and let us pet them, a little.  Can't wait for them to arrive, but more on that later.

Be back soon,