Dayspring Quilter on the move....

If you read my last few blog posts, I mentioned that we have listed our house for sale.  The biggest question I receive is "where are you moving to?"  And the real answer is "we don't know".  Am I worried?  Nope!

It's been a time of family reflection, prayer, faith, adjustment, recalibration, pause and adventure.  We are feeling the need for a pivot.  We have loved our time in Brentwood Bay and will miss this place a lot, but when you feel the Lord asking you to lay things down and trust Him, you know that He has something good in store.

I've 'paused' my quilting business and put my longarm in storage, we have staged the house and are in the cycle of showings hoping for that offer that we want.  We have felt that we are to follow the Lord one step at a time and not to go ahead of Him.  He is the one that directs our steps after all, so we would be wise to let Him lead us.  It's a daily surrender of our plans, hopes and dreams.  He knows them all and He is a good God.  That's all we need to know right now.

That's about all I can share at the moment.  We are planning on finding a condo and taking a road trip and spending some family time adventuring (daughter and grandson included) and you can be sure there will be travel blog posts coming and pictures but we really don't have anything mapped out so you will find out as we find out!

So if you're wondering why the quilting pictures have been paused, now you know.  Staging a house with an echo and less furniture is nice for awhile but I will be so happy to get back to stitching.  My featherweight is going on the road with us and so are my hexies. \o/

We will hope in the Lord for good things and are very excited to follow Him as we sojourn together as a family. You can follow us here for the adventure.

Isaiah 30:21

New International Version

21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

The last adventure I took with the Lord like this was in 1984/85 when I was 27. I left my job and my condo, sold my car and lived on a Kibbutz in Israel for a year. It was one of the best years of my life and the relationships formed during that adventure are still precious to me.  In fact, I hope to connect face to face with some of these precious friends on our road trip. 

Excitedly!

Mavis

Have you ever wondered how I chose the name Dayspring?

It all started back when we bought our former property.  It was five acres and had a humungous house and a non-functioning hobby farm with over 50 rhodos on it.  When we bought it, it had a sign out front that said "Bonita Place".  It means beautiful in Spanish.   We felt the name was a bit boastful and wanted to rename it with a name that reflected something biblical. We had dedicated the property to the Lord and wanted a name that honoured Him.  We arrived at "Dayspring Farm" and always felt it suited the property and it was a code name for those that might wonder if we were believers.  It had a deep well with plenty of water so that fit the name too.  

I started my quilting blog about the same time and became "dayspringquilter".  We ended up running a Bed and Breakfast there for about six years until we sold that property.  It was a place of refreshing for a multitude of guests from around the world.  We have such great memories of that time.

I really wondered if I should keep "Dayspring" for my quilting business/blog or start with a new name. Was it just for the property or did it also reflect something in me?  We moved to Brentwood Bay and I mulled over things like "Seaside Quilter", "Bayside Quilter" but nothing felt right.  I decided to keep it.  And here we are.

We are now getting ready for another move and once again, I'm pondering if I should be rebranding to something else or keeping dayspringquilter.  I think all the marketing gurus out there would say, don't change your name.  You've spent years branding and you don't want to lose the traction.  I'm feeling kind of the same way and it still reflects my biblical values.  Yes, it's kind of old fashioned sounding, and not smart and sassy like some of the younger quilters' handles, but I still like it and it's staying!

For those curious types regarding the biblical reference to Dayspring, here you go!

The term dayspring is only found in two places in the Bible and is used primarily in the King James Version (KJV) or Bible versions published before the second half of the twentieth century. Dayspring is an archaic word meaning “dawn” or “morning.” The King James Version uses the word dayspring in Job 38:12: “Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place?” The New International Version (NIV) translates Job 38:12 this way: “Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place?” In this passage the Lord emphasizes His all-encompassing power—He is the only One who can cause the dawn.

The word dayspring is also found in Zacharias’s prophecy at the birth of his son, John. Zacharias says that “the dayspring from on high hath visited us” (Luke 1:78, KJV). In this instance, the dayspring is a metaphor for the promised Messiah, Jesus, who would soon arrive. The NIV translates the word for “dayspring” as “the rising sun”; the New American Standard Version (NASB) translates it as “the Sunrise from on high.” The word Sunrise is capitalized in the NASB because it refers to the Son of God who would rise like the sun to bring light to all men (see Malachi 4:2 and John 1:4, 9–10).

The word dayspring is still used today as a generic term for “a new era,” but it is no longer used for “sunrise.” Words like dayspring that have lost or changed their meanings with the passage of time are one reason for newer Bible versions. When the King James Bible was first translated into English, the word dayspring was commonly used. In the past 400 years, dayspring has become archaic and can cause confusion to modern readers.

Archaic?  Confusion?  Well maybe it will be a good icebreaker question and give me a chance to answer the questions of those readers who don't understand and in doing so open up a conversation about our soon coming King!

Until next time,

Mavis

Drunkards Path UFO - it's a quilt top!

Further to my last post, this is how these drunkards' path blocks ended up.  I didn't get to get it quilted before we took my longarm apart for storage in preparation for listing the house for sale, so it will be quilted at some point in the future.  But it felt good to get another UFO out of the closet and 'mostly' done.

Until next time,

Mavis

Kaffe Fassett prints - UFO busting 2022

I decided to pull this out of the UFO closet. It was tucked away for a little over a year.  I started sewing it during evening babysitting for my daughter and then packed it up, brought it home and didn't pull it back out.

I have quite a few blocks to sew still and I haven't decided on the layout. I don't want it really uniform.  I'm favouring the third layout picture. So we will see how it goes.  Check back here for progress.....in say a week?  I'm severely sleep deprived. Circadian rhythm is out of whack.   I want to sew tonight but don't know if I have the juice.  But these blocks are so fun and colourful I know I will be drawn back to them soon enough.

Until next time,

Mavis

Scrappy nine patch blocks

As I was digging for 1 1/2" squares for my Plaidish quilt in the previous post, I found a lovely inventory of nine patches in various stages of construction.  Some were leftover from my Tumalo Trail Quilt which I just realized I never put on my blog lists. That might be because I haven't quilted it yet.  Oh my, that just sunk in.  It's been over a year awaiting its turn.  Best get on that!

Some were leftover from another quilt called Chippewa Nine Patch that I finished in 2017.

Chippewa Nine Patch.

I've been a lover of small pieces as far back as I can remember.  These are all constructed from 1 1/2" strips and/or 1 1/2" squares.

So I have an assortment of nine patches, about 43 so far, and I am entertaining some ideas to make them into blocks.

I'm going to play with them on the design wall and see what if anything comes to me.  If nothing else, they have been pressed and counted for a someday quilt that needs 3 1/2" nine patches.  But I'm really hoping I come up with something for them now.

Check back for status update!

Mavis

Binge Quilting (AKA how I deal with an attitude I'd rather not be having)

I'm betting that title caught your attention. 

I've heard of people who 'angry clean' their houses, or cook or bake to deal with their frustration.  Me?  I find that sewing soothes me like not much else can. And last night I "angry sewed" into the wee hours.  

Here's the thing...I know God wants our hearts and He wants us to walk in forgiveness.  If after praying  I'm having a difficult time letting something go I find that keeping my hands busy doing mindless tasks helps me push through to the point of working it out.  It's just the way I'm wired...fidgety-like!  If I'm left to sit quietly and process something I short circuit. I mean really I do.  As soon as I can push fabric through the sewing machine my heart and mind are free to pray and receive peace and process problems.  This is not the time to tackle those complex quilt patterns but it's a perfect time for easy scrappy quilts.

So ANYWAY!!.....yesterday I saw a quilt posted on one of my quilting Facebook groups.  For some reason, I globbed onto it.  

1.    It was scrappy 

2.    It was not huge

3.    I loved it!

Pretty right?  When I saw the pattern was a free download I downloaded it and saw that it would make a great dent in my bin of 5" charm squares.  It is called "Plaidish" and can be found on the  Kitchen Table Quilting website:  Free Pattern Here

I proceeded to sort into values (dark, medium, and light). (scrap quilters' secret weapon is value!)  I pulled out some 1 1/2" strips from my bins and subcut some of those.  Now I was ready to sew.   So I put on my Sabbath worship playlist on Youtube and just started sewing fabrics together. And the tension I was feeling slowly dissipated as I took in the beauty of the colour and texture.  And the truth of God's Word in song definitely lifted my spirits and turned my heart heavenward.

I shared my progress with a friend on the same Facebook group last night and we had a brief discussion about matchy matchy perfectionist tendencies vs scrappy abandon.  I encouraged my friend to be  not control the process. I know it's hard for us perfectionist types. I was liberated from matchy matchy in 2010 when I did my first Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt (Double Delight).  Here are some blog posts about my liberation process:  Double Delight mystery quilt.  I've been a scrappy quilt lover ever since. 

So let's show you some progress!

The first block

Three different variations.  Tested all three! Dark, medium and light blocks. I subsequently lightened the light blocks.

And slowly it grew and the piles of charms went down.

Production line

Getting it done.

I can see the secondary design starting to emerge.

So that's where I left off last night (or should I say early this morning).   All the blocks were done. Today, I sewed them into rows and decided that I would sneak it in for quilting before I start back to customer quilts tomorrow. 

Ta da! Pressed and ready for quilting.

Loaded and ready for quilting.  Now to choose pantograph.

I chose 'Feathered Hearts' for curves and movement.

Well, that was fun! And now I'm on a roll in the scrap bins.  It's such a nice diversion from the not so fun stuff of life.

I've got another idea brewing.  So stay tuned and see what happens on the design wall.

Until next time!

Mavis

365 Challenge Quilt - Progress Update

I'm doing a major happy dance over here.  After finishing 2 more 6 1/2" light blocks yesterday I had enough to finish the fourth light border on my 365 challenge quilt.  And I did exactly that!  The light border is 12 1/2" wide. And the quilt top is surprisingly heavy because of all those seams and 3 1/2 lbs of thread (best guess) 😉

The next border is 6 1/2" wide and is dark.  It will have a mixture of dark 6 1/2" blocks and 3 1/2" blocks sewn together some of which have already been made. 

Below is the diagram from the quilt designer, Kathryn Kerr, from Australia.  You can see how far I still have to go.

I'm half way through the year which should mean half way through the blocks and yet it looks like the quilt is almost finished. Math conundrum...at least for me.  I suspect the smaller dark blue blocks get more difficult as we near the end of the year but that's okay....all this tiny piecing has accomplished one thing...ok maybe two...it has bettered my piecing skills and it has given me a good dose of patience.

Onward!

Mavis