Write a Word

This morning I was sewing on a baby quilt and listening to a podcast. It's the Dream Big podcast by Bob Goff. He's an awesome guy with a great message - a message of encouragement and freedom. It's obvious that Bob loves God and loves people. He doesn't feel the need to couch everything in bible verses. His love is contagious, because God's love is contagious. Bob inspires me. His courageous love motivates me to be willing to try new ways to love others, ways that may be outside my comfort zone.

His guest on this particular show is a gal named Bianca Olthoff. I've never before heard of her, but she is like Bob in her genuine enthusiasm for life. She is talking about how much good writing is coming out of prisons, jails and detention centers and the impact it is having. It inspired me, on this day after renewing my domain name Thankful Kim, to get to the laptop. In their conversation, they encouraged the listener to write just a sentence or even a word. So here I am.

I am Thankful Kim. There is so much to be thankful for ... all the time. It is so easy to get into a funk and focus on the stuff that I think are problems. My daughter would call them first world problems and she'd be right. My problems would be blessings to a lot of other people in the world. I love the saying, "Obstacles are opportunities". This puts the little irritations of life into perspective.

I've adopted a practice of writing a few things I'm grateful for every morning in my make-shift journal. It's funny how mundane I get sometimes. I look back at the previous day and pick a few things that went well or blessed me in some way. Today I wrote... I paid the bills. Yep, that's a highlight. I had money in the bank and the budget isn't too far out of whack, so it's a good thing. This daily practice has really helps me start my day on the right note and keeps me on the lookout for a positive spin on even the worst days. It may take a little energy and creative looking at things, but there is always something to for which I can be thankful.

So, that's my word, or words. Okay, it's a lot of words. I've been told I have a lot of words. I'm embracing it. You're welcome.

Quote from a Guru

Gretchin Rubin is a self-proclaimed Happiness Bully. And I'm so glad she is. I have learned a lot listening to her podcast Happier. Together, she and her sister, Elizabeth Craft share about ways you make your life happier. Their practical insights are refreshing and thought provoking, with a little levity thrown in the mix. Because of my commute I am fortunate enough to get to listen to most episodes and learn from their sage wisdom. This nugget speaks so much truth for me - truth I need to be reminded of over and over and over.

Verse of the Week - February 11, 2019

So much practical wisdom is packed into these 3 short verses. The doing - rejoice, pray and give thanks. The reason - it's God's will. It seems so simple, right? But in practice, it is quite challenging to rejoice always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances, yet that is what we are called to do...in Christ Jesus. We have his power, his perspective, his encouragement. It is because we are in Christ Jesus that we can do those things. Sometimes I brush right past those words and think that I can do the things all by myself, but that just isn't true. It is only in him that I can do these things the way God wants me to do these things - always, continually and in all circumstances. 

Verse of the Week - February 3, 2019

Because God is worthy of my praise, I will give it to him - today and as long as I live. 

On My Design Wall

This is Moda Love.

I just couldn't help myself. As soon as I heard about the Moda Love Sew-Along I was hooked. I even started encouraging all my co-workers and students at the quilt shop to join me. I was so transfixed that I thought I could get this "quick quilt" done in a single evening.

It's done, as in done being laid out. It only took me about an hour and a half to cut and sew the individual squares (I'm loving my new Bloc-Loc rulers). It was the placement of those squares that took me f-o-r-e-v-e-r. By then I was tired. I just love looking at the picture though. This is a bit out of my wheelhouse, but I'm enjoying the stretch. I've got my eyes open for  just the right border. I think I've found it. More on that later. 

Tomorrow is the weekend. My goal is to get this baby sewn together by Sunday night. 

A Little Spring in the Winter

A trip to the local nursery's greenhouse yielded these lovely pictures. My soul was craving some color, so I went there to find it and I wasn't disappointed. I tried to find the color in my neighborhood, but could only find brown. Brown is fine, but...I wanted color - natural, fresh color. It is tough to find color in Wintery Texas, but not impossible. I just had to go out of the way a bit and there it was in abundance. I'm so thankful that I live in place where all is not white for months on end. That is NOT my thing! 

Trying Hand Quilting Again

It's been a few years since my last hand quilting project. And that project took a few years to complete. So why did I embark on another? Because there really is something soothing about hand work. I also need something to do while I watch T.V. or I'll fall asleep. Plus, I really wanted to f-i-n-i-s-h something and the prospect of quilting the top on the machine just wasn't exciting me.

I completed this top as part of Bonnie Hunter's leader-ender challenge a year or so ago. My scraps seemed to have a plethora of pastels so this is one of two quilt tops that I completed.

Since this is a fairly small quilt, I figured it wouldn't take too long. I've been at it for about two and half months now and this is what I've got to show for that time.

I just stitched the tumblers down the middle. Not super creative - oh well. The inner border has some quilting next to the seam. I think I'll stitch on the outside of the inner border in a similar fashion. I've still got to come up with a simple design for the outer border (I think I've almost got that worked out). Then I'll trim it up and add a binding. I'm hoping to have this completed for a silent auction coming up in a couple of months. 

Overall, I'm pretty happy with it. 😊