With Love and Best Wishes

At long last I can share what I've been keeping under wraps for months! Our Pastor and his fiancée were married on Saturday, it was a glorious day filled to overflowing with love and happiness. Earlier in the year I thought it might be a great gift from the congregation to present them with a quilt full of best wishes on their wedding day. Every part of this project was top secret! The bride had shared with me her favorite colors; we were off and running. I took two friends with me to shop for fabric and using this pattern from Lella Boutique,  set to work. It took me a few weeks to get all of the blocks ready and stabilized with freezer paper, but by April they were good to go!

I made 35 blocks, (an extra row) instead of the 30 called for, as our Pastor is 6'8"! Armed with Pigma pens, I invited the congregation to come and sign a block, at their convenience, on three consecutive Saturday afternoons. We also took blocks to the shut-ins so that they could participate as well! Everyone was so excited about the idea, the insides of the hearts were filled with loving well-wishes, scripture verses, advice and signatures. 

There ended up being a few blank hearts that I filled with some personalized embroidery to commemorate their big day!

Ready for loading onto the long arm.

It was quilted with a modified Clamshell which covered nicely, mimicked the curve of a heart and didn't obscure the signatures at all. 

Before we knew it the big day had arrived! Their quilt of love and best wishes was secretly placed in the bride's dressing room last Friday afternoon. I believe they were pleased with the gift. Someone involved in the wedding moved it to the Fellowship Hall before the ceremony began, it was a great conversation piece as I noticed people huddling around the quilt display looking for their names and reading what everyone else had written. This is truly a gift from many hearts; one quilt that bears the love and best wishes of a grateful congregation, that's a LOT for a quilt to do but it does its job beautifully! As for our little church, we couldn't be happier and, along with this quilt, wish the happy couple a lifetime of love and God's blessings!

💗

"With Love and Best Wishes" ~ 68" X 92"

Life is Good!

Golden Hours

Things around here have seemed quiet and much slower-paced since the conclusion of Quilt Camp last week. On Saturday I went down the road with a friend for another Chrismon class, this one was a 3D cross with pearls. It was fun! The cross framework was constructed first with the oblong gold beads; the pearls are popped in at the end, they're free floating inside. Isn't it pretty? Of course, I couldn't leave the store there without stocking up on supplies to make more. My plan is to devote a few afternoons each week to Chrismon-making this summer. 

It's been a while since I've done any machine embroidery. This was stitched with a new (to me) metallic thread. I've always avoided metallics in the past as my experience with them hadn't been the best. Quiltkeemosabe told me about this particular brand 🠟

for embroidery last year; it stitched up beautifully, no shredding or breakage at all, it is absolutely stunning against the black linen background!  This embroidery was created for a black clergy stole.

The inner lining fabric is a rich black background with embellished crosses; actually, Lynnleigh spotted this beautiful piece during a recent shopping trip and I thought it would be perfect for lining this stole. 

Quickly, I texted a photo of it to our pastor for his approval before purchase, 

he thought it looked great too; a plan came together on the spot. 

Yesterday afternoon was dedicated to more Chrismon making, my latest obsession. 

For me, this is blessed time, set apart; hallowed hours spent in quiet reflection and connection.

I already know that one day I'll look back on this point in my life and be so glad;

my heart will remember and these Chrismons will live on as a testament. 

Life is Good!

O Day Full of Grace

Those of you who've been readers for awhile may remember that we are members of a small mission church, begun about four and half years ago. We haven't had our own, called, pastor for a little over two years now. We've had an interim pastor and many dedicated, faithful supply pastors (one whom we shared with another congregation) over these many months; but not a pastor to call our own. This past Sunday, all of that changed. Our little congregation, through the power of the Holy Spirit and the tireless efforts of a call committee, welcomed a new pastor! By the grace of God he accepted the call; he's only recently graduated from seminary and was both ordained and installed at Grace Lutheran Church this past Sunday. It was truly a day for celebration!

Quiltkeemosabe and I made him two stoles-- a red one for his ordination service and a green one for these many Sundays after Pentecost to come. Since the "green season" is a long one, we made that one reversible.

The reverse side, being batik, is a little more organic and contemporary if he feels like a "change". 

This picture* was taken following Sunday's service, glad smiles all around! Our new pastor is in the center, his custom-made stole was made to his specifications; at 6'8" (he stands head and shoulders above the rest) we knew that a standard length stole just wouldn't work. With an eye to the future we're already thinking about what his next stole will look like, we've got plenty of time to plan the next one. For now we're all taking time to reflect on our blessings and thanking God for answered prayers.

"O day full of grace that now we see

appearing on earth's horizon, 

Bring light from our God that we may be

Replete in his joy this season.

God, shine for us now in this dark place;

                                                      your name on our hearts emblazon."    -Danish folk hymn, Gerald Thorson

♰

Life is Good!

*Church service photo credit: Rusty Bates

O, Happy Day!

Yesterday was a happy day of celebration in our family, the twelfth wedding anniversary for our son and daughter-in-law. This is always a special time of year, wedding anniversaries following Mother's Day; these two chose to be married on the same date as our DIL's precious grandparents, so many years earlier, such a sweet tribute! I thought you might enjoy this side-by-side update of the happy couple. 💗 These people bring such happiness, joy and pride to our lives, we are truly blessed.

Adapting in an upside-down🙃 world: 

There was reason to celebrate within our church family yesterday too. With all special precautions for personal safety through distancing, it was outdoor voting day for our congregation to issue a call to a prospective pastor on otherwise a glorious sunny day. Provisions were made for drive-thru voting from one's car or for walk-up balloting. We've all missed each other so much that it was hard to get everyone to leave the parking lot after the ballots were tallied and the results announced. The exciting news is that a call was issued, and he said "yes"; O, happy day! Hopefully, before too long, in-person worship can commence once again on the inside of the building, we can sit in pews, sing hymns of praise and listen to live music. We're working our way through this process by phases, one day at a time; and yesterday was a BIG day for our family of faith (small in number, huge in faith)! 

Thanks be to God!

His master said to him, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master."  Matthew 25:21

Life is Good!

A Woman Of Unshakable Faith

This is our son, Kyle and our Pastor, Martha McCracken, on his confirmation day in July of 1996; we lived in Puerto Rico at that time and were members of Grace Lutheran Church in Santurce. Pastor Martha was a woman of many talents and was then, and always will be, a model of faith to me. I received word this morning that Pastor Martha unexpectedly passed away this week, I just know that she's having a glorious reunion in Heaven with friends that we have in common. Our English-speaking congregation in Puerto Rico truly operated on a shoe-string. Our weekly service bulletins were unapologetically photo-copied onto the back side of scrap paper. The church's most basic needs (paper towels, bathroom cleanser, coffee and cups) were always in demand and gratefully received on a weekly basis from members. Pastor Martha was eternally happy and upbeat, putting a smiling face on conditions and situations that could be frustrating and discouraging to most of us; they never seemed to get her down.  Our church was located in a crime-ridden barrio, just on the outskirts of San Juan.  One Sunday morning, on his way from the parking lot to the front door of our sanctuary, a fellow church member was beaten and mugged. Our fearless Pastor, witnessing what had just happened, took off on foot chasing the perpetrator down the street, she never caught up with him. When she walked in the front door a few minutes later, huffing and puffing from exhaustion, she continued down the aisle after checking on the victim who was, by this time, seated (albeit bruised and scraped up from the encounter) and ready for worship, she called us all into prayer... for the mugger!  She prayed for his relief from drugs and panhandling, for a better life than the one he lived on the streets. I was dumbfounded, and in awe at the same time; she became my faith-hero on the spot. There were lots and lots of  stories like this, living in Puerto Rico was an adventure on many levels, none of them were boring.  Pastor Martha stayed in touch for years, she was faithful about sending the newsletter from Grace and keeping us abreast of the news and the needs of the congregation. She earned her halo. My heart is heavy this evening, her earthly journey was much too short, but I rejoice today in her heavenly reward; I am grateful to God for placing this woman of unshakable faith in my life, and in the lives of so many others.  She lived God's love, she asked nothing in return. Thank you, God, for faith models~ every. step. of. the. way.

Life is Good!