Tag Archives: Blogtoberfest

God’s Jack

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BLOGTOBERFEST, Day 28

Most everyone who knows me, knows I have a thing for Halloween.  But I also have a thing for God.  While I do have fun celebrating a holiday that has pagan origins and ties to the occult — I celebrate it as a time to be a kid again, a time to express creativity, and a time to be silly and be “someone else” for a bit, even if only for a few hours.  Even as a kid and a teenager, I never did anything evil on or around Halloween.  Most people don’t, do they?

One of my favorite emails received (that I repost every year) is this:

It’s called “God’s Jack”…


Being a Christian is like being a pumpkin.
God lifts you up, takes you in,
and washes all the dirt off of you.
He opens you up, touches you deep inside
and scoops out all the yucky stuff–
including the seeds of doubt, hate, greed.
Then He carves you a new smiling face
and puts His light inside you to
shine for all the world to see.

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.  –Chronicles 2: 14

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Joining in the FUN again

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Last year, I participated in Blogtoberfest, (hosted by tinniegirl), and posted every day in October.  Hey, it’s my favorite month, the month with the birthday of MANY of my favorite people, and the month of my favorite holiday(!!), so why not?!  I was invited to participate once again, and so can you!

This year, Kat is hosting and the linking can be found on her blog, here.

I did. not. post. once. in. September.  Not once.  Busy?  Yes, too busy.  Overwhelmed?  Somewhat, but maybe what I really needed was a little break.  Nothing like daily posts for a month to get one back into the habit of posting!

 

Blogtoberfest Day XXXI–A Very Happy Halloween

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….from (in order of appearance…):
the Bull
Pig Will
Pig Won’t
the Mermaid
her Mama
Thing 1 (that’s Me!)
Thing 2
Richard Simmons
the Clown
the Gypsy
the Witch
the Ninja
Boba Fett
the Soldier
the Nudist
and the Game of Cat & Mouse
 
 
 
 

(Weren’t you relieved to see the nudist was on strike?!?)

Until next year, and another month of Halloween Fun!!!!!

Blogtoberfest Day XXX–Do Not Be Afraid

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Last year at Halloween, my nephew, who was hyper-excited for Halloween for at least a month leading up to it, was paralyzed by fear at the first “scary” mask he saw–nothing would calm him down or convince him that it was just another boy behind the mask.  He went home, petrified, after visiting five houses…  A few months later, he was again terrified, when his cousin pulled a Batman mask out of his toy box and put it on.  For some reason, he was paralyzed by just the sight of a dark mask.  
This year, his Aunt started working on him early to overcome his fear of masks.  She explained to him that God did not give him a spirit of fear, but rather a spirit of courage.  Eventually she convinced him to promise to wear the Batman mask when he visited her house, so he could see that it was just a mask, just a piece of plastic.  He was hesitant at first, but eventually tried it on, and decided it was no big deal, because, as he said, “It’s really just me under here!”  We’re hoping this practice carries through when it’s time to trick-or-treat this evening.
I loved the way my sister-in-law explained it to him, using Faith and God in her logic.  It reminded me of one of my favorite verses of the Bible, Psalm 91:

 1 Those who live in the shelter of the Most High
      will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
 2 This I declare about the Lord:
   He alone is my refuge, my place of safety;
      he is my God, and I trust him.
 3 For he will rescue you from every trap
      and protect you from deadly disease.
 4 He will cover you with his feathers.
      He will shelter you with his wings.
      His faithful promises are your armor and protection.
 5 Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night,
      nor the arrow that flies in the day.
 6 Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness,
      nor the disaster that strikes at midday.
 7 Though a thousand fall at your side,
      though ten thousand are dying around you,
      these evils will not touch you.
 8 Just open your eyes,
      and see how the wicked are punished.
 9 If you make the Lord your refuge,
      if you make the Most High your shelter,
 10 no evil will conquer you;
      no plague will come near your home.

I know Halloween is discouraged by many Christians, but I think it can represent more than fear and evil–it can also represent the joy of childhood, the Light of God within us,  and the blessings of the Harvest.  There’s a great article about this topic here.

We live in a busy, overwhelming, over-scheduled, world today.  Why not embrace your inner child and enjoying the release of being “someone” or “something” else for a few hours?  And, I want my nephew to enjoy Halloween as much as I do.  For me, it reminds me of the freedom of childhood; having fun outside, after dark, with my brothers and our neighbors, for just one night every year.  It sounds cliche, but it was a simpler time, and who doesn’t wish once in awhile you could go back to having the responsibilities you had in childhood?  Do a little vacuuming on Saturday morning for Mom, be good for the teachers, and help with dishes 4-5 nights a week?   Sign me up…

Blogtoberfest Day XXIX–October Stitching

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I’ve made 28 straight days of blogging–crazy.  (I missed October 1!)  Lest you think I’ve only sewn up Halloween themed things this month…

I completed a few more hand-pieced hexies for my Candied Hexagon Quilt:

 

I think that makes 71 completed hexagons now.  (33 to go…or something like that).  To view the rest, see my flickr set.  I made this tasty BEE block for Megan for One Block Over:

It’s only 6.5″ square, she asked for birthday cake blocks she is making a quilt of 60 of them for a friend’s 60th Birthday–isn’t that awesome?  Paper-pieced, of my own design–I embroidered the little flames on with my new obsession, Aurifil Wool 12 wt:

Here’s a sneak peek of my costumes for my sweetie and I, sorry sneak peeks only until after the party tonight!

Maybe you can guess what the ‘guise is with just this little peek?  I’ll be very impressed if you do…

Blogtoberfest Day XXVII–What A Tangled Web We Weave

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This is a TWO-for-ONE quilt.  Let me explain…

I started this quilt the first week of September– 2010 — by cutting random sized strips from every Halloween print I owned (I really like Halloween fabric, it’s a weakness) as well as a few solids and tone-on-tones that “play” well with Halloween fabrics.  I spent a  weekend retreat last September sewing together strips and cutting triangles to make spiderwebs. The other quilters at retreat kept asking how many spiderwebs I had left to make, I responded “I’m not sure, I haven’t counted”.  At the end of retreat, I had enough triangles (NOT complete spiderwebs) to make 32 spiderwebs, which was enough for a TWIN size a AND a THROW sized quilt!  So, eventually I will have two quilts.  See, Two-for-One, or “what happens when you just start cutting without planning ahead”. 

This is (a bad photo of) the Twin Sized Quilt, 20 spiderwebs, and a mitered border of an Alexander Henry fabric (Hallowe’en Night) I have been saving for years just for this project. The background for the spiderwebs is RJR’s Halloween Night in cream. I fussy cut stripes from another Halloween print to create the “HALLOWEEN” inner border. **Temporary Insanity**
As you can see, there is a little bit of everything else in here…

Candy Corn, Spiders, Witches, Bats, Rats, Cats, Skeletons, Jack-o-Lanterns, Leaves, Spellbooks, Owls, Broomsticks, you name it…

The backing fabric for this quilt is unhappy hour by Alexander Henry:

Photo courtesy of alidzia

I finished this top at a retreat THIS September–oh, how I enjoy a weekend quilt retreat… This one involved some birthday fun..with Hello Kitty party hats…

lots of laughter, new friendships made, some creative sewing (what you have to do when you leave part of your machine at home!):

and the biggest design wall floor, I’ve ever had to play with!

And, just because my Mom can’t get enough of seeing this photo of  Miss Zoe Seaweed in the costume I made for her:

That’s one is for you, Grandma!!!

Amy'sCreativeSide

To view the other Quilts in this Fall’s Bloggers Quilt Festival–see Amy’s site.

This Week’s Halloween Party Giveaway Winner is:

Fun!  I won Veronicamade‘s giveaway during Sew, Mama, Sew’s Giveaway Day earlier this year.  One of her sweet elephant pincushions…  Congrats, Veronica!

Big things are coming in NOVEMBER, an announcement, a Quilt-A-Long, more giveaways for my followers (from some of your favorite sponsors)….  Stay Tuned!