In medieval theology, it was held that love literally set the universe in motion. Love was seen as the principal force behind human life. This idea is reflected in the title of the popular song “Love Makes the World Go ‘Round” (Perry Como, 1958). When it comes to the giving of gifts, “passing it forward” is a practice based on this same idea. Although I enjoy receiving a gift as much as anyone, rather than have someone give me something in return for what I have given them, my preference by far is that they “pass it forward” by being generous to another instead. I don’t have everything, and not all I might want, but I do have most that I need. In fact, I really have far more than I need.

Digging into my box of UFOs and WIPs is an attempt to deal with my “stuff”. I love making quilts, but I question my need to keep all I make. I don’t need them all. OK, I see all you folks jumping up and down, hands in the air, calling out “Me! Me! Send them to me!” I’m laughing at you. Do you really need them too? Oh sure! Of course you do! Hahaha! There are also some who don’t ask, and they really do need.

Every so often I find myself beginning to feel oppressed by the accumulation of material things. Then I know it is time to go through my possessions and seriously question whether it is good for me to keep it or not, or if it might be better to give it away, pass it forward, especially to where a better home could be found for it, where there is much more of a need - a genuine need.

For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

(1 Timothy 6:7-10; 17-19)

Who wants to pierce themselves with many griefs?

How much better it is to free oneself of the burden of too much stuff, be generous towards others, and lay up treasure of a very different kind. I’m off to clear out another closet. How about you?

The Christian worldview prescribes a horizon that is further afield than that of a secular or naturalist one. If I were to stand on the beach and look out to sea, on a clear day I may be able to catch sight of the fishing boats in the distance out there. But if I stand on the cliffs behind me, I can see not only the fishing boats but more of the ocean beyond them as well. Someone who subscribes to a secular view may deny the existence of what goes beyond their own perceived horizon, but the Christian knows that the end of this temporal life is not the true horizon at all. The naturalist worldview is confined to what is known by nature, denying the supernatural. The Christian worldview accepts that we have a spiritual life that continues far into eternity beyond. Read more on this here and here too.

I have often referred to myself as a passionate quilter. When suggested that I could make this hobby and interest into a business, I found myself thinking that I am already in business - but not in the way that one normally thinks. I make my quilts for leisure, pleasure, treasure and good measure. It is a relaxing pastime and hobby, one that gives expression to creativity and artistry, and certainly provides pleasure. The treasure is the finished quilt. But there is more to it than that.

One day I costed one of my quilts and found that the materials alone came to considerably more than what one might pay for a pure wool blanket. Add in the number of hours to make it, at even the minimum wage, then unless one especially wanted a quilt with the artistry involved, it would not be a cost effective way of procuring warmth. The choice could be one quilt or at least five wool blankets, probably more. There is a price below which a sale demeans the item, the workmanship that went into it, and the labour of the one who laboured. I decided not to offer my quilts for sale.

There is a wellknown saying that goes “It is more blessed to give than receive.” Value cannot always be measured in monetary terms alone. A gift that has special meaning is often treasured beyond the monetary value of the item as appraised by some objective criterion. There is treasure in the gift, plus more accrued to it by the one receiving the gift, and even more again by the blessing received by the giver. The accumulation is treasure indeed.

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
(Matthew 6:19-21)

The Christian worldview accepts that every action and every outcome must sooner or later be measured against an ultimate norm for its ultimate value. This kind of treasure is not stored in this temporal world but is weighed for good measure in the eternal one that continues beyond. Good deeds in themselves will not secure anyone’s salvation, and so it needs to be said that salvation is itself a gift ~ from God through our faith in Christ. Check it out. But wherever you invest your treasure, there indeed will your heart be too.

An Opportunity to Create Treasure

A friend posted the following to her blog today, and I would also like to pass the message on:

As you know, I always encourage readers of this blog to share their talents and skills with others, and today’s post is about sewing for others, and in this case, almost literally sewing a sunset by volunteering to sew for people who are experiencing those final sunset days of life. A couple of days ago, I received a request from someone who manages volunteers for a hospice in Mississippi. She was looking for volunteers to sew for her hospice patients and was asking me for resources. I will be sewing for this hospice, Odyssey Healthcare (www.odsyhealth.com) as well as continuing to sew for Mission of Hope (www.missionofhope.org). I would like to encourage you to sew simple projects for this hospice, or perhaps one like it in your area. Although my dad was never put on hospice care before he died, I had the opportunity to watch the hospice staff as they visited other patients in the nursing home, and I was always impressed with their unique ability to bring smiles to people who were in situations where all they wanted to do was cry. I think that people who are directly involved in hospice work must be very special people indeed.

Anyone who sews, knits, crochets, or quilts can volunteer to donate simple projects. Blankets, pillows, pillowcases, adult bibs, crafts, and quilts are all acceptable. Apparently, there are no restrictions and any donations will be used, with nothing going to waste.

If you should decide to volunteer to sew, knit, quilt, or crochet for this worthy cause, here is the contact information

TClark@odsyhealth.com or 228-297-5976 (NB. This is a USA phone number)

(I would suggest that initial contact be made via e-mail or phone because there are a few guidelines that must be followed.)

The mailing address is : Tiffany Clark, Manager of Volunteer Services, Odyssey Healthcare, 9414 Three Rivers Road, Suite 3, Gulfport, MS 39503

I hope that some of the readers of this blog will consider sharing sewing, quilting, crocheting, or knitting skills, even if it’s just one time. You might play a small part in making someone’s final sunset just a little bit easier, and after they have passed through that final sunset, the blanket or pillow that you made might bring some comfort to the family left behind. At first, they might see through tears, but eventually, they will be able to look at a project that someone sewed or quilted, and remember happier times with their loved ones. The tears may still come, but with each passing day, it may become just a little bit easier to smile through those tears. Wouldn’t it be a great feeling to know that perhaps by creating just one simple project, you might play a part in bringing a small measure of comfort to someone?

Source: Sewing Sunsets of Life

If you listen to quilters chatting among themselves you will often hear them talking about their UFOs and sometimes also calling them WIPs. No, these are not those weird sightings in the sky that have the scoffers irritating the convinced observers, and vice versa. These are those projects that were started and then stopped, put away, sometimes forgotten, but often causing little twinges of conscience when their numbers begin to mount up - as they invariably tend to do. They are the Un Finished Objects, the Works In Progress.

Like most quilters, I also have some UFOs and WIPs. Just lately I have got up the courage to face them again, and to work through each one to completion. I managed three last month, all full-size bed quilts. Today I hauled out another one - the one in the photo here - and discovered why it was I had put it down in the first place. The top and bottom borders were cut just a little too short, one whole inch short either end. It is an appliqué quilt, which means those flowerpots of flowers, those vines and leaves, are all cut from different fabrics and sewn to the fabric underneath. The vines are sewn with the very finest of silk thread such that the tiny stitches can barely be seen, and the leaves, flowers and the pot are sewn more boldly with a buttonhole stitch and thick variegated coloured cottons to make them more obvious. A lot of work has gone into it already, and I can remember now how dismayed I was to find I had cut those end borders too short. But these things happen occasionally, and there is usually a way to recover if one doesn’t give up. I had put it away because “out of sight, out of mind” and I didn’t want to be reminded of my heartbreaking mistake. How much easier it is to walk away from things, rather than to face them and work through them. Making quilts can be pretty much like “real life” in that way.

Seeing it again today, a remedy jumped out at me! It will involve going back and unpicking just a few inches of the vine on either end, shortening the piece further, and stitching a new square of background fabric into each corner such that it will look as though it was really meant to be that way all along. Now why hadn’t I seen that “fix” in the first place? I was too disappointed, I guess. But now it seems all so obvious.

There is a little more appliqué work to do to the top border, then the “fix”, then something more to each corner - the vine carried around to join full circle, more leaves and flowers. I know how I will finish it off - with a wool batting, straight machine “in the ditch” quilting, hand quilting around the appliqué parts, and tied by tiny contrasting coloured buttons sewn through all layers in the centre of each flower. It promises to look really good when all done. And now I am off with new energy and purpose. This WIP is soon to be a UFO no longer.

A Quilt Gallery has recently been added to Judah’s Site on this page here. As my number of UFOs reduce, you may expect this gallery to grow. There is not a great pile of them, but I am not saying anything about those other secret things every quilter knows about… the fabric stash. That has to be for another day.

Meanwhile, the quilter’s motto: If life gives you scraps, make a quilt from them.

Easter Saturday… the day in between. The shops are legally allowed to open today, so all those eager consumers may race to the malls to empty their wallets. But just in case you caught a note of something-or-rather in that, I’m on my way too. I have some Easter Eggs to get, and a quilt top to take in to be quilted.

Yep, that is it here, sitting folded on my cutting board, with the backing fabric to go with it. And please note the fluffy yellow chick that sneaked into the picture. How could I leave it out, this weekend of all weekends?

Now what happened that the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ has become a celebration of chickens, bunnies and decorated eggs? What on earth is going on here? Just how “PC” have we been scared into being now? When folk wish me “Easter Greetings” with pictures of the Easter Bunny, and tales of him trotting along with baskets of coloured eggs, and baby chicks in tow… what is that all about? Do they really know and don’t like to speak of it, or don’t they know, only kind of know, don’t want to know… but just go for the sweet treats instead?

Has anybody out there heard of “the wrath of God” ? One thing that our Creator absolutely is not, is a hot-head. But did you know that, in this post-Christian era where God has been sanitized to represent LOVE which supposedly cancels out everything else about Him, the word for God’s anger or wrath actually occurs more frequently in the New Testament than does any statement concerning His love or mercy? True!

His wrath is His response to all unrighteousness. It is vehement furious anger. It is fury. And it is directed to all unrighteousness and sinfulness of men. And who has not sinned? All of us have sinned! What, you think that your own little sins don’t really matter, that they can be brushed aside? Well, just think again!

Imagine the searing heat of the inside of our planet, and think how a volcanic eruption spews it forth high into the atmosphere, then down in rivers of molten lava. Imagine being caught up in that. Would you not burn instantly to a crisp? Your little sins put you right in the firing line of God’s fury, to be nuked by it as easily as though caught in a lava flow. And thinking of that, you are now in position to think of what the Crucifixion was all about. Think of that scourging Jesus took. Ribbons of flesh hanging from his bleeding back as the whip cracked through the air to cut him further to shreds without mercy, the huge coarse iron nails hammered through his wrists and his feet, hoisted up there in the searing heat, parched from thirst, each breath causing more excruciating pain, and the shame, shame, shame… the humiliation of this treatment for the innocent Son, King of King, Lord of Lords, very God of very God!

The Crucifixion was not about bunnies and cute fluffy chicks and decorated eggs. Get real, everybody! It was about the Son of God bearing the wrath of a righteous God, taking what is due to us for our sin - yes, even those tiny little seemingly harmless sins that only go to make us human. This is about propitiation, about atonement, about taking it all on Himself for us so that, if we make Him our Lord, seeking His forgiveness, we do not need to suffer this payment for our sin.

So how did bunnies, chicks and eggs get in there? You have probably been told the same thing I was… that the eggs represent “new life” which has something to do with resurrection, the victory of life over death. Yes, but don’t just stop there. Our culture has generalized the specifics, sanitized the message, nullified it, removed it from our minds. Sit down to a breakfast of treats tomorrow, but don’t forget what this is really all about. If you have not made Him your Lord, turned yourself over to Him in every which way, then get your head out of the sand and note these words of Psalm 7… for (sorry to be so blunt) they surely apply directly to you.

11 God is a righteous judge,
a God who expresses his wrath every day.

12 If he does not relent,
he will sharpen his sword;
he will bend and string his bow.

13 He has prepared his deadly weapons;
he makes ready his flaming arrows.

Yep, serious stuff. His arrow is aimed at your heart, and all it takes is for Him to move His finger. That is the real message of Good Friday… the bad news part. God’s fury is couched in His justice, but only if you have made your peace with Him, have taken part in His offer of salvation - salvation from the furious wrath of our holy God - can you truly take part in the good news that dawns tomorrow on Easter Sunday.

So, on this day in between, reflect on the real story of this Easter weekend. The Easter Bunny tells a tall tale, delivering decorated eggs with those cute little chicks in tow - but don’t be duped by fantasy at the expense of reality! And meantime, I’m off to the quilt shop. I have a quilt to be quilted. Happy Easter to you too!

The Pixie Quilt (shown here) was made by me for two friends of mine. It was given to them on the occasion that I, with my family, were able to visit and enjoy their generous hospitality back in January 2004. The quilt illustrates a poem I had written (dare I admit to that?) about a little pixie who contemplates something of both a worldly and spiritual nature, and comes to the realization of an important spiritual truth.

In his book “True Spirituality” (1971) Dr Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984) discusses this same spiritual truth, pointing out significant connections between covetness and the lack of thankfulness that underlies this sin, and how it interfers with substantial healing in one’s relationship with God (and others). In simple terms, it works like this…

We are by nature selfish creatures, prone to putting ourselves first, putting ourselves in the centre, and wanting for ourselves those things we do not have. The Tenth Commandment tells us we are not to covet. To covet means to want that which is not ours, that to which we have no claim and no entitlement. God is our Creator, the Creator of the universe and it is He, sovereign over all, who has sole authority to decide all matters concerning us. Covetness arises from a dissatisfaction with what we have already, and the envying of others accordingly. It arises from a lack of gratitude for what we have already. That does not mean we are to ignore our needs and not ask for them to be met, nor ask for good things on behalf of others. The Lord’s Prayer includes such asking, and we are told to ask in faith and as God ordains, so it will be given. Covetness is sinful desire, something quite different again.

The content of Judah’s Journal is copyright. If you are NOT reading this on Judah’s Journal, then it has been copied from there and is re-published illegally - in other words, stolen. Those who would do that are common thieves and lack moral integrity. Judah’s Journal

The Bible tells us in many places that we are to be thankful, to give thanks, and even to give thanks for all things. While it may not be too difficult to give thanks for those things that we want, like having, and happen to enjoy, we are actually instructed to do more than that.

Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(Ephesians 5:19,20)

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
(1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

We are to give thanks for everything, and to give thanks in all circumstances. This is the crunch. How inclusive should we consider those words? Dr Schaeffer points out another verse which also mentions “all things” and we cannot accept the comfort of the following verse without keeping the same meaning in the ones above.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
(Romans 8:28)

But surely we should not be thankful for those things that have gone wrong, that have hurt and upset us, that are causing problems for ourselves and those whom we love?

Well… that’s not what it says in the Bible. And if you are going to take any notice of those verses (and many more like them) just quoted, then how can you reconcile this disturbing thing?

Reconciliation occurs when you consider the role of trust in your relationship with God. Dr Schaeffer explains it this way…

Two things are immediately involved here, if we are to see this in the Christian framework rather than a non-Christian one. The first is that as Christians we say we live in a personal universe, in the sense that it was created by a personal God. Now that we have accepted Christ as our Savior, God the Father is our Father. When we say we live in a personal universe and God the Father is our Father, to the extent that we have less than a trusting attitude we are denying what we say we believe. We say that, as Christians, we have by choice taken the place of creatures before the Creator, but as we show a lack of trust, we are exhibiting at that moment, in practice, we have not really so chosen.

The second thing we must comprehend in order to understand a contented heart in the Christian framework, rather than a non-Christian one, is illustrated by Camus’s dilemma in “The Plague“. As Christians we say we live in a supernatural universe and that there is a battle, since the fall of man, and that this battle is in both the seen world and the unseen world. This is what we say we believe; we insist on this against the naturalists and against the anti-supernaturalists. If we really believe this, first, we can be contented and yet fight evil, and second, surely it is God’s right to put us as Christians where he judges best in the battle.

In a Christian understanding of contentment, we must see contentment in relation to these things. To summarize, there is a personal God. He is my Father since I have accepted Christ as my Savior. Then surely when I lack trust, I am denying what I say I believe. At the same time, I say there is a battle in the universe, and God is God. Then, if I lack trust, what I am really doing is denying in practice that he has a right, as my God, to use me where he wants in the spiritual battle that exists in the seen and the unseen world. The trust and contentment must be in the Christian framework, but in the proper framework the contentment is deeply important.

If the contentment goes and the giving of thanks goes, we are not loving God as we should, and proper desire has become coveting against God [wanting to grant for ourselves what He alone has authority to decide to grant].

True Spirituality, pp 10,11 (Tyndale, 1971)

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
(Romans 1:21)

And so we also come to know life without the joy of a substantially healed relationship with God when we forget to give thanks in all things, even those things that throw our plans awry and cause us heartbreak and grief.

Pixie knew that he had found the answer to his quest;
How he was always certain, at peace and richly blest.
He trusted God beyond all doubt, gave thanks in everything
With praise and humble gratitude, his joy was never ceasing.

Taking a break from the serious stuff for a few moments… (although my quilting friends are bound to take issue with that, quiltmaking being very serious stuff of course!)

Back in March I mentioned I was making a Grandmother’s Garden Quilt. It wasn’t going to be the usual kind of Grandmother’s Garden quilt, but something a little different based on the quilt featured on the cover of a quilt book by Jaynette Huff and published in 2005 by Martingale & Company, USA. It was going to take 750 fabric-covered paper hexagons and I had managed to get a whole 63 of them already done.

Well, here I am reporting in again with some progress. Since then I have done another 266. And there they are, all 329 of them spilled out into a pile on the floor for you to see. That is an average of around 5½ a night between then and now. I do think I had better get cracking and improve my nightly rate. That should surely be possible with the calibre of national TV here at present. Nothing worthwhile watching does mean I can pay better attention to what I am doing.

I have not written before about quilting and quilts, but since I am a passionate quilter (some will have known this but maybe not most who visit my Journal) it seemed well past time that I wrote something on this subject as well.

The image to the left is that of a quilt book published in 2005 by Martingale & Company, USA, and is my latest quilt book acquisition, one full of wonderful projects. This book describes a new way of using an old method of piecing a quilt, that of covering each paper hexagon with a piece of fabric which is basted into place, then hand sewing the hexagons together through the fabric only using tiny stitches that are practically invisible afterwards. The paper hexagons are removed from the back of the work, then with the same tiny stitches the hexagon piecework is hand-sewn on to the larger background fabric. Sewing one piece of fabric on top of another piece of fabric is called appliqué work and is one of my favourite ways of making a quilt. The rest of the design - the flower pot with vines, leaves and hexagon pieced flowers - is constructed and appliquéd on to the background in the same way.

(Permission to use this image on my site has been granted by the publisher - to use it without permission violates copyright. )

This is my latest quilt project. I am making a quilt following this design - more or less - using a darker green, burgundy reds, a junior navy instead of brown (just to be different) and all rich, deep, saturated jewel colours. Whereas the quilt in the book is a minature, mine will be proportionally the same but full size. There is a lot of hand sewing required. Indeed, all of the quilt top, except for adding the green border to the cream background, is hand sewn. Would you like to guess how many paper hexagons I will need to cover with fabric? I can tell you now that this will keep me going all through the forthcoming winter evenings. There are no less than 750 hexagons involved in that quilt. Just as well I actually like English paper piecing. Yep, I sure am a pretty patient type.

March is the first month of Autumn “down under” and already the temperatures have cooled. The winds have picked up, blustery and strong, blowing the leaves from the exotics while the evergreen natives come to life as great Tolkien-like monsters, whole bodies waving, bending and swaying, but feet firmly grounded. They will keep the flesh on their bones - green leaves on their branches - while the imports are fast turning to skeletons, littering the lawn in crunchy carpets of gold, red and brown.

There are still many flowers in my garden, some sheltered places for sitting out in the sun, and the fun of watching clouds scudding in ever-distorting shapes while surprised birds fly unwittingly backwards. The last of the Monarch caterpillars are “J”-ing on the swanplants - the late ones who will now take longer than their older siblings to re-birth into butterflies as the warmth disappears from the sunlight. I have pulled most of the weeds, and trimmed and pruned. Now it is time to tend to my Grandmother’s Garden, the one made to provide warmth for the winter. Already 63 hexagons covered - only another 687 to go!

Ecclesiastes 3:

1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

9 What does the worker gain from his toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on men. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. 13 That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.