Friday, September 18, 2009

It's coming along...

I'm nearly halfway done piecing the top of my quilt. Pretty good progress, if I do say so myself. This is what it currently looks like:

 Sorry if the photo is blurry. Is the one below any better?

 Yes? No? I don't know... Here's a close-up of the nearly finished part.

These are the strips sewn into squares sewn together in strips. After I have all the squares sewn into strips, I'll piece the strips together. I'm planning on using that stripe fabric to sash around the whole thing and also to bind it. Still working on an idea for the bottom.

Then I attempt the quilting part! Yikes.

I'm loving it though. I already have about 5 new ideas floating around my head. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I need more people to get married & have babies! I need reasons to make quilts, since I'm on a budget and can't quite justify making a gazillion quilts for myself.

So get on it people!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

I love my job!


My job with the youth group, that is.

My job-job is great too, but today I'm just stoked about the students.

We had a teaching team meeting this morning, and besides the fact that the ladies outnumbered the men for the first time EVER (give it up for the ladies!), we had some great conversation. We're focusing on the second of Vanguard's four core values, Lover, for the month of October. In order to be a little less obtuse, and avoid the typical high schooler response to that word, we're also calling it Worshiper. We're to worship the Lord by loving Him & loving others. In order to love others well, we need to learn how to receive love from God. Most of us face a roadblock in this process, because we have believed so many lies about ourselves & the world around us.

Culture says I have to be a lazy teenager.

Culture says I have to be a crude dude.

Culture says there's no way I can remain a virgin until I'm married.

So why bother trying?

I'm lined up to teach the story of Mary & Martha to fight the lie that we have to constantly be doing-doing-doing in order to be good enough. Or that we have to be "enough" before we can be useful to the Lord & the people in our lives.

I'm percolating on an idea for an activity during stations (small group discussion time at the beginning of our Sundays). It's gonna be stellar. Very likely, it will involve cupcakes.

I love my job.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Trunk desk?

Ho.ly.cow. I found this in my inbox this morning, and I want it so badly.

from Restoration Hardware

do not covet do not covet do not covet do not covet do not covet do not covet do not covet

Guess I'll just have to find a way to be content with my plank across two easels.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

My latest project

I finally got my worktable cleared off enough to set up my sewing machine.


Then I got the workroom/office cleaned up enough (with Rob's help, of course) to lay out a whole quilt. I'm feeling pretty good about things...

Photo © Me


I'm kind of in love with the colors & prints. I'm hoping to finish piecing in time to begin the quilting on Saturday. Will update as it comes along.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Remembrance

It was the second week of classes, my first year of college. I didn't have a tv, but my friend Karly IM'ed me & said, "A plane ran in to some building in New York." I thought, "huh" and walked to M118–Finite Math. I was about halfway to class when I realized something was wrong. The vibe on campus was off. It was too quiet. Too somber. Especially for such a gorgeous day early in the semester.

So after I class I checked out the giant screen tv in the basement of my dorm. With two girls in black hajibs.

And I realized it wasn't just a plane running into "some building."

Photo © Me

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Silence

Oh sweet silence.

I've always said that I'm no good at silence. Meditation? What's that. Clear my mind? Make room for the Holy Spirit to speak?

No thank you.

I need something to keep me company. If I need to concentrate on something, I'll put classical on. But even that can distract me and get me pretty worked up. Especially if one of the Planets comes on.

Silence and I are not good friends.

However.

I forget what I was reading—probably Authentic Beauty—but I felt challenged to turn my music off when I'm in my car. So I decided to start small. I drove to work that morning in silence. It was uncomfortable a couple times, like when I had nothing to distract me from the nasty thoughts I had toward some of my co-commuters. But for the most part, it was pretty great. I had to prepare some thoughts for our youth ministry guide training, and I was able to organize my thoughts pretty well during that 20 minutes of solitude. My thought process moved beyond the superficial ideas we want to address in our girls' mentor groups. I started working on a few of the deeper rooted issues we need to address.

I wasn't very good about heeding the call to silence the rest of the week, but then I tried again this morning. The results were similar to last week. I was surrounded by crazy drivers (grr). But the mean, frustrated thought moved towards processing.

During our first mentor group teaching time, we will be discussing, designing, then signing covenants. I want them to go beyond "I'll come every week & won't tell anyone's secret outside this group." So I was thinking, Jesus said we're to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and body. Can we make a covenant based on these four ideas? I believe so.

Oh, and I'm definitely teaching about blood & guts & God's covenant with Abraham. Just because we're girls doesn't mean we can't appreciate a gory story or two...

If I hadn't given myself the time of silence in my car this morning, I would have had to find that time elsewhere in my schedule. Which means that I wouldn't have come up with (or heard from above?) those ideas until the day or two before I have to teach. Now I have three weeks to ponder what it is the Lord wants the girls to hear about covenants.

Perhaps silence and I can become better friends. But first I'll have to quit ignoring her.

P.S. I borrowed a video from the library called Christoga. Christian + yoga = Christoga. I'm skeptical. But I'll give it a whirl. I'll let you know if it's any good.

Photo © Me