The Men Who Brought Her to Jesus

Devotion for the week...

Last week we looked at the story of the woman caught in adultery, found in John, chapter 8. Today I want us to consider the men who dragged her to Jesus in an attempt to trick Him into saying something they could use against Him. This two-part series was originally part of the Moments with Jesus QAL and Devotional Journey. 

We don’t know much about these men, except that they were "the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees" (John 8:30), meaning they held positions of authority in the community, and they were threatened by Jesus' popularity with the people.

From their actions with this unnamed woman, we can deduce a few other things. Since they couldn’t know how Jesus would answer them, they had to have been okay with the possibility that taking her to Him for judgement would mean her death. They didn’t mind shaming her in front of the crowd, either. It’s obvious they had no consideration for her whatsoever, probably because they saw her as 'sinful' which meant she was beneath them.

But then Jesus wrote…something… on the ground, and stood up and told them they could go right ahead and stone her, but "let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!" (John 8:7).

Can you picture the men shuffling their feet, maybe looking sideways at each other, wondering who would move first? Did any of them dare to pretend they had never sinned? And then "they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman" (John 8:9). I’m guessing the oldest left first because they were better able to see the truth about themselves, or maybe because they didn’t feel the need to pretend they were without sin like the younger ones may have.

When they dragged the woman in front of Jesus, these men were so sure of themselves, so confident they were in the right, and only she was in need of judgement. Whatever Jesus wrote in the dirt, though, it was enough to challenge their view of themselves and their right to judge her. Jesus was gentle even as He corrected them. He could have pointed to each one individually and listed off their sins for everyone to hear, but He didn’t. Instead He wrote something that made them realize the truth on their own.

I don’t want to compare myself to these men at all, and you probably don’t either. I don’t want to even entertain the possibility that I’m like them, but maybe we, too, need a reminder that we aren’t as sinless as we’d like to think we are. 

Thankfully, God is gentle with us, too. He might use something someone says, a song we hear, or a verse that stands out as we read our Bibles, to call us out and remind us that we’re not without sin. That reminder should serve to remind us, too, that we shouldn’t be so quick to judge, and especially to broadcast, the sins of other people.

12 Years of Devoted Quilter

On this day in 2013, I hit publish on my first blog post. I had no idea if anyone would ever read it, or how I would connect with other quilt bloggers out there, but I published that post anyway. I figured I could figure out the connecting with others part once the blog was actually started 😄 

Thankfully there were linky parties and blog hops to help make those connections, so it was surprisingly easy to find other people who share my obsession with quilting. In fact, by my second month of blogging, I had already connected with the TGIFF linky party (of which I'm now one of three managers). I still use the thread catcher I shared the first time I linked to TGIFF. I keep it in my hand stitching bag, so it appears in pictures now and then, too. Here it is in the background of a picture I took of a hexie flower I made Tuesday morning as we were driving out of town.

I read my very first post again while writing this post, and I was entertained to see the two projects I shared as examples of my WIPs. Neither of them are finished 😂 The blocks I shared then are still just blocks today. I ran out of some of the fabrics in the kit, so I couldn't finish the blocks that are missing, and just set the whole thing aside. I should use the finished blocks for something so they can be set free from the box.

The hexagon flowers I shared in the post were pieced into a quilt top in 2014, which was basted for hand quilting in 2017. I think I quilted around one flower and then gave up! As I've been doing the big stitch hand quilting on my Hexie Rainbow quilt, I've been thinking about doing big stitch quilting on that old hexie flower quilt, too, so there's hope it may actually get finished someday. Obviously I've always been in need of a good WIPS-B-GONE challenge!

I'm planning to make a chocolate cake today to celebrate my anniversary. Since I can't send chocolate cake through the screen to share it with you, I'm having my annual Anniversary Pattern Sale so you can join the celebration, too. Saving money and dreaming about the next quilt (and the one after that, and the one after that...) is just as good as having cake!

From now through Thursday, March 6th, save 25% on all patterns in my shop (printed or PDF), no coupon code needed. The sale price is already applied.

Whether you've been here since last week or since 2013, I'm so glad we're able to connect over our love of fabric and thread! The friendships are my favourite part of this online quilting community (and the reason I get serious FOMO every year when people are sharing pictures of their QuiltCon meetups)! Let's keep making the world more beautiful, one quilt at a time 😊

My First Quilt with Lori Nawyn

It's time for this month's My First Quilt interview! I love reading these stories of how people got started making quilts, don't you? Today Lori Nawyn is sharing how and why she made her first quilt. Lori is a nationally licensed artist who creates art for manufacturers to use on products ranging from stationery to puzzles, textiles and cross stitch and embroidery kits, and home and garden decor. She has a tiny brick and mortar store where she sells her art and her own line of greeting cards and hand painted barn stars.

You can connect with Lori at her website, on Facebook, and on her Instagram accounts for her art, her shop, and her fabric.

And now, here's (one of) Lori's first quilt(s)! Isn't it cute?

What year did you make your first quilt? What prompted you to make it?

2023. I've been designing fabric for national manufacturers for a little over three years. I've always dreamed of making quilts with my own fabric, but didn't think I had the skill...and I thought I was too old to learn! With a lot of encouragement from my local quilt guilds (that I joined just with the hope of watching others quilt), I decided to give it a try. I designed a fabric collection--Good Tidings of Skate Joy--that I uploaded to Spoonflower. When I got the fabric in the mail, I didn't know where to even begin. So I put the fabric aside for several weeks.

However, seeing all the quilts others were making with my fabric--and really wanting to learn how to quilt--I finally summoned the courage to create three 9x9 wall hangings which I used my embroidery skills to stitch the blocks to squares of felt; I also made a few small ornaments. I then used the fourth 9x9 block to try my hand at binding. It didn't turn out too bad! I had fun and decided to make a porch quilt to match the decor I'd made for our fireplace. I created a simple panel that I made loads of mistakes on--like adding batting that was much too thick, and really messing up the binding. After unpicking everything three times and ultimately getting the batting somewhat right, I finally finished it!

What techniques were used in that first quilt? Did you quilt it yourself?

On the porch quilt, I was really winging it and just used my machine--straight stitch and buttonhole stitch. 

Who taught you to make the quilt?

I mainly taught myself by trial and error. I watched almost a dozen YouTube videos to learn how to do the binding.

Are the colours you chose for your first quilt ones you would still choose today?

Yes, because I really loved designing this fabric collection.

Did you fall in love with quilting right away? Or was there a gap between making the first quilt and the next one?

I didn't fall in love with it right away! After so many mistakes on just a small porch quilt, I didn't think quilting was something I'd be very good at--I'm too much of a perfectionist and  really hard on myself! But a lady in one of my guilds helped me take a lighthearted look at myself and my creative aspirations. She said, "If you can't see the mistakes from the back of a galloping horse, they don't matter!" That made me laugh! I decided I was going to jump into quilting and just make what I loved without worrying what anyone else thought.

Where is the quilt now?

Hanging behind the cash register in my fabric and gift shop, Huckleberry Moose.

Is there anything you wish you could go back and tell yourself as you made that first quilt?

Yes! Just have fun and enjoy the process. Make mistakes and learn from them; they are part of the wonderful journey of learning how to quilt!

Anything else you want to share about your first quilt?

All my art, and thus my fabric, has a story. The girl depicted in the quilt is based on my childhood experiences watching my mother ice skate on a pond in rural Utah. Being on the ice, pirouetting like a ballerina, brought her such joy! Those memories bring me great joy and I wanted to capture them. I added the geese as whimsical characters who I envisioned would also love the wonder of winter.

Thank you for sharing your first quilts with us, Lori! I love that you used fabric you designed yourself!