Small Progress

I have been so sleepy lately. I don't know if it is the cold or what. But drag me out of bed in the morning, and it is all I can do not to need a nap just about any time of the day. No. I am NOT pregnant. Though my dh's boss did send people home early last night, and last time one of us got to go home early from work, we got Beverly. LoL.

I couldn't post a picture of my block Friday night because one of my rat-fink kids temporarily lost the card to my camera. Again. And since right now I am broker than the Ten Commandments, we just did a house-upheaval search instead of run to Walmart to get another one. While I was AFK I did some more yarns and sold some yarns, so it wasn't really time wasted.

Friday's "block" was not really a block at all... it was strip-pieced sashings for the stupid Teacup quilt. So I did the strip-piecing, and instead cut them into 4 units and made a Rail Fence block. This one is ugly, but it has some of the same fabrics as the other Chicken blocks, so whatever.

Yesterday and today were combined on our calendars, and there wasn't a block... just a picture of a quilt top. So I spent yesterday working on the medallion I am going to use with the corners I already made, in the Monochromatic 4 Seasons Quilt Challenge swap. This Tree of Life block has 86 pieces in a 12" finished size block. As of last night, this is all the progress I had made.

Today I filled in the gaps, sewed everything together, squared everything up, and got the center medallion block done. I only lost *2* little points in all those triangles, so that is pretty good.

Last time I did a Tree of Life block, I was using a strange sewing machine that didn't have the seam allowance clearly marked, and the tree came out 1 1/2" bigger than I needed to fit the quilt it had to go in. I had to take in seams everywhere and it was just terrible.

Unfortunately, one of the points that doesn't match up perfectly is in the tree trunk, where it sticks out like a sore thumb. ~~ sigh ~~ But I added the corner triangles and here it is! It is 17 1/2" inches right now, and I think it is pretty nice so far!

I did some new yarns, a Superbowl Widow series. LoL. I will do some more tomorrow, after we find out who the other team will be. So far though I have Game Day, Gridiron, and Arizona Cardinals. Right nice.

And I sold the Spiderman Meets Obama yarn in only 20 hours. That isn't a record for me, but pretty darn good (or is it pretty Yarn good?).

Also yesterday in the shower, getting ready to go off to church and watch the babies in the nursery, I had an epiphany. My daughter Desiree and her dh Tony and their babies were down... also 5 of my other kids were home and one little girl who practically lives here on the weekend. So my house was full of noise and kids, and I thought, that is the way I like it really.

One of the promises in the Bible is that a woman will be saved through childbearing. The actual original Greek word means not just having a baby, but the scope of having the child and rearing it to adulthood. And I think one of the things we are "saved" from (if we are lucky, and willing to let the Lord work in us), is ourselves.

When I was in High School I was briefly engaged to a guy, and we planned to have NO children. If I had married him, that would have probably still been a good idea, since he turned out to be a person who used drugs, beat his wife, and was all around a despicable kinda guy. And on my own, I really don't like kids that much. Well I like mine, but as a rule, they are messy and noisy and you can't make other people's kids behave (and often the people don't make their own kids behave).

But like taking up my cross (my lot in life) daily and following Christ (who always knows what is best for me, even if I don't agree)... I have had to lay aside my own personal reservations and aversions to children, because I was willing to let the Lord give me the people He wanted here for whatever His reasons were.

And in doing that, I have learned to be less selfish, to give and be kind and be a servant even when I don't feel like it, to bind up hurts and share joys and keep a child-like delight in God's creation as each new little person gifted to me discovers their feet, and fresh grass, and ladybugs, and clouds. And I think for that, I am better, gentler (which is a BIG thing for me), and more like Christ.

At least I hope so.