Sunday Sermons: Create

We each have an inherent wish to create something that didn't exist before. Everyone can create. You don't need money, position or influence in order to create something of substance or beauty.
–Dieter F. Ucthdorf

Along Came A Spider

The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine!
Feels at each thread, and lives along the line.
–Alexander Pope

There I was, casually catching up on blogs, when I felt a little pin-prick on the knuckle of my right hand. My view of the area was obstructed by some overhanging papers and I couldn't see any cause for it, so I assumed that it was a mis-fire, a phantom pain.

{Crime Scene Recreation}

I massaged the knuckle absently while I read Laundry Hurts My Feelings. When I moved on to That Man Quilts?, I noticed that the pin-prick still stung and my knuckle felt a little bit tingly, almost anesthetized. So I took a closer look. There was a round, white welt where I'd felt the pin-prick and the skin around it was blotchy and red. So I started searching for the cause. I saw a hint of movement in my shuffle of papers, but the source eluded me. So I moved on to reading what AmyLouWho is up to today. It was then that I caught another whisper of movement amongst the clutter on my desk. This time there was no escape. You see, I have a hard-and-fast rule about spiders. When I'm in their house {outside} I let them be {unless it is a Black Widow, in which case the policy is, I do not deal with terrorists, and there is an immediate, terror-filled squishing}.

But a spider in my house is a different story. And this one made a very foolish mistake. He could have easily lived out his life without notice, concealed in the mess on my desk. But he drew unnecessary attention to himself and sealed his doom. Because when a spider comes into my house, the squishing is inevitable.

I must admit, that at first I was a little panicked about a spider bite. I hear that awful things happen if it is a Hobo Spider {also called Aggressive House Spiders}. I wondered what provoked this tiny white spider {presumably a baby} to bite me? I wasn't all up in his grill. I was minding my own business. That sounds like a pretty aggressive spider to me. But it is five hours later and I'm fine. Then again, symptoms of a Hobo Spider bite don't become serious for 24 hours. I should start feeling sick about the time Primary starts tomorrow.

In the interim, however, I have pondered the point of spiders. Why are there spiders? To keep the insect population in check, right? But their bad reputation precedes them. They are so skittery and I'm always afraid that one is going to jump on my hand as I try to squish it and it will have been a very poisonous spider and the bite will lead to my slow, agonizing death. None of the spiders around here are really that deadly. They'll just make you pretty sick. But when you hear about spiders in other parts of the world that can kill you with a glance, you tend to overreact. It helps to put things in perspective when I compared my close encounter of the minute size to recent run-ins Marg had with spiders of gigantic proportion. I think I'd pack up shop and move somewhere less dangerous. Because big or small, spiders are intimidating {to say the least} to nearly everyone. So if their sole purpose is to keep the insect population under control, then perhaps if there were no insects, then there would be no need for spiders. There. I've solved the problem in a matter of minutes. You're welcome, world. Now let's get on it.

Friday Night Sew-In: Gracie's Pinwheels

Trust that little voice in your head that says "Wouldn't it be interesting if..." And then do it. –Duane Michals, More Joy of Photography

I have been looking forward to Friday Night Sew-In all week long. It was a really great way to unwind after a long week. I was able to leave work early {i.e. on time}, get a few errands taken care of, do a little blog reading, feed the family something quick and easy and by 6:53 pm, I was settled in for an evening of sewing. I decided to work on something completely new and never before seen on my blog. You see, in direct violation of the No New Projects policy, I'm trying to squish one more quilt into my list of quilts to finish by the end of June. Nevermind that it is already February 19^th and I've only finished one of the seven I've set out to do. A friend bought the fabrics and asked if I would make a quilt for her daughter's {toddler} bed. I'm just a girl who can't say no, so here are they are washed and ready for pressing and cutting.

And after an embarrassingly large amount of time, here are all the pieces necessary to make this quilt cut and ready to go. I used my Go! cutter and the starter die to cut that stack of 144 HST's in 15 minutes. It was definitely the fastest part of cutting.

Then it was time to get down to business. I got my pinwheels all put together and started to add the borders around them when Grace positively refused to take another stitch. She insists that I am working her too hard and she wants another spa retreat . I have a problem with this because if her manual told me where to oil her, she'd be getting the proper treatment that would prevent these little protests of hers. The only thing the manual mentions about oiling is where not to put it. So I dust the lint out very regularly and every once in a while I drop a tiny bit of oil down the holes in the face plate. I'm afraid of oiling her too much in the wrong places {because there is no indication of where the right places are}. I went on-line and Googled to see if there were some instructions out there, but no luck. I opened Grace up to see if I could be a little more strategic with where I put the oil so that she'd loosen up. But that didn't help much. So, I put an on-line request in to the manufacturer for instructions. Grace quit long before I was ready to, so this is as far as I got with my Friday Night Sew-In.

I haven't heard back from the manufacturer yet {I know. I'm a bit impatient}, but I'm anxious to get back to my blocks. So this morning I'm going to completely strip her down and see if I can find the sticking spot so that I can get these pinwheel blocks finished. This quilt is going to be like Grandpa's Candy Dish, only the blocks between the pinwheels will not be pieced from strips. I want to say the blocks will be solid, only the fabric is a print, so that is a little confusing . I think it is going to be really fun, assuming I can get Grace back on board.

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Favourite Things Friday: My iPod

Music cleanses the understanding; inspires it, and lifts it into a realm which it would not reach if it were left to itself. –Henry Ward Beecher

My favourite thing today is kind of a spin-off of my first FTF post and was brought to remembrance by Mrs. P's FTF post today. My favourite today is my iPod.

This little beauty is a pink 5^th generation 16gb nano, adorably dressed in a skin to protect it from getting scratched. My iPod houses all seven Harry Potter audio books, the four Twilight books, three or four of my favorite Jane Austen's, half a dozen of my favorite CD's in their entirety, tons and tons of my favorite movie music, my Bradbury 13 episodes and several lengthy favorites playlists for different occasions and moods. And there is still space on there for more . I love it!

Whoever came up with the iPod is a genius. I love music and I love that I can put all of my favorites on one amazingly tiny portable device. I listen to it while I'm doing laundry or mopping the floors or gardening or sewing. Here is a small sampling of what you will find on my playlists. Feel free to pick and choose what you listen to. I went a little overboard .

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Grandpa's Candy Dish: A Quilty Finish

A grandfather is someone with silver in his hair and gold in his heart.
–Unknown

I've had this quilt rattling around in my head since last August. I saw it over at Quilt Times. Sue was using a pattern called Summer Breeze {found in Scrap-Basket Surprises}. She'd done hers in reds and greens and called it Christmas Stars. I loved the design. I decided that I'd use some giveaway winnings, a really fabulous Moda Marbles Jelly Roll and my Go!, to make something like it.

I really wanted this to be a Christmas gift for my Grandpa, but budget and time constraints prohibited that. So, I made it a priority as one of the first things to get done in the New Year. When I pictured what sort of fabric I wanted to use for the pinwheels, homespun came to mind and I thought red would be really spectacular. But when I got to JoAnn's {armed with my trusty 50% off coupons }, I absolutely fell in love with this earthy brown homespun. I picked up a piece of white-on-ivory for the background {also at 50%} and got a terrific steal deal on some Warm and Natural batting. I came in at just under $20 {it was $19.68 for those of you who are wondering, and I know some of you are} total out-of-pocket cost for this quilt.

I used the starter die that comes with the Go! Fabric Cutter to cut the half-square triangles for the pinwheels. It was really fast and fun. I laid the fabrics in pairs, right sides together and when I'd finished, they were all ready stacked and ready to sew . As I worked, I pondered names for this quilt. I couldn't very well call it Summer Breeze or Christmas Stars. I started out with basic descriptors, Grandpa's Pinwheels, Homespun Pinwheels, and the mostly likely candidate, Elemental Pinwheels. Then I asked for Mr. Bug's input. He suggested Earthy Pinwheels or Rusty Pinwheels. Nothing seemed to fit. Completely in love with how the top was coming out, I'd resigned to calling it the less-than-spectacular Elemental Pinwheels. I began to put the borders on and realized that the gorgeous browns reminded me of chocolate and caramel. As I thought about that, I remembered that my Grandpa had a candy dish. And in his candy dish, he nearly always had Werther's Originals. I'd had a Werther's from his candy dish the last time I visited him.

I remembered other candies in my Grandpa's candy dish; gummy bears {the good ones from Germany}, Skittles {also known as Andy Candy}, M&M's, mini candy bars. You see, Grandpa has a sweet spot for the grandkids. So if he knew you were coming, there was always something yummy in his candy dish. The pinwheels in the quilt reminded me of those wrapped Werther's candies and so I decided that Grandpa's Candy Dish would be the name for this quilt.

I just did a simple stipple, at a medium size, for the quilting {liking free motion more and more all the time } and threw it in the wash so it would be soft and crinkly. I'll be dropping this in the mail tomorrow. I can't wait until my Grandpa gets it so he'll know that I have a sweet spot for him too.

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