MAGPIE'S MUMBLINGS

A blog about my interests, which include fabric landscapes and various and assorted other artsy pursuits and sometimes known to contain mumblings of a random nature.

Friday, January 13, 2017

A hodge podge

First of all I thought I'd show you what I ended up with when I used the colour generator . 


I uploaded the Harrison Fisher illustration and the program generated the strip of colour suggestions that you see along the bottom.  I was then able to print this and use it while selecting my fabrics.







Here you can see the pieced block that I created...




The fabrics aren't all 'spot on' with the colour swatches, however they are the best I can do with the stash I have.


Buying fabrics is not an option when I have so many that I need to use up!



It's difficult to see in the above picture, but I am using a hexagon shape for each of my blocks and the layout is tentatively as shown below..


This afternoon I pieced all the blocks and now I'm ready to start with the fun part - embroidery!  

I came across this wonderful poem, from an author unknown...

Quilt of Holes

As I faced my Maker at the last judgment, I knelt
before the Lord along with all the other souls.

Before each of us laid our lives like the squares
of a quilt in many
piles; an angel sat before each of us sewing our
quilt squares together into a tapestry that is our life.

But as my angel took each piece of cloth off the
pile, I noticed how ragged
and empty each of my squares was. They were filled with giant holes. Each
square was labeled with a part of my life that had
been difficult, the
challenges and temptations I was faced with in
every day life. I saw hardships that I endured, which were the largest holes of all.

I glanced around me. Nobody else had such
squares. Other than a tiny hole here and there, the other tapestries were filled
with rich color and the bright hues of worldly fortune. I gazed upon my own
life and was disheartened.

My angel was sewing the ragged pieces of cloth together, threadbare and empty, like binding air.

Finally the time came when each life was to be
displayed, held up to the the scrutiny of truth. The others rose; each
in turn, holding up their tapestries. So filled their lives had been.
My angel looked upon me, and nodded for me to rise.

My gaze dropped to the ground in shame. I hadn't
had all the earthly fortunes. I had love in my life, and laughter. But
there had also been trials of illness, and wealth, and false
accusations that took from me my
world, as I knew it. I had to start over many
times. I often struggled with
the temptation to quit, only to somehow muster the strength to pick up and
begin again. I spent many nights on my knees in
prayer, asking for help and
guidance in my life. I had often been held up to
ridicule, which I endured
painfully, each time offering it up to the Father
in hopes that I would not
melt within my skin beneath the judgmental gaze of
those who unfairly judged me.

And now, I had to face the truth. My life was
what it was, and I had to accept it for what it was.
I rose and slowly lifted the combined squares of
my life to the light.

An awe-filled gasp filled the air. I gazed around
at the others who stared at me with wide eyes.

Then, I looked upon the tapestry before me. Light
flooded the many holes,
creating an image, the face of Christ. Then our
Lord stood before me, with
warmth and love in His eyes. He said, "Every time
you gave over your life
to Me, it became My life, My hardships, and My
struggles.

Each point of light in your life is when you
stepped aside and let Me shine
through, until there was more of Me than there was
of you."

May all our quilts be threadbare and worn, allowing
Christ to shine through!





13 comments:

  1. Your color chart is amazing and such a great tool for working with Fisher's images. Your fabric block looks ready for you to work your magic. Fun links and a very thought provoking poem. Blessings Dear XO

    ReplyDelete
  2. Happy weekend. You matched that color scheme pretty darned well. I'll enjoy watching your hexes progress. Thanks for the links too. I saw that button article and was reminded how much I love shrink art plastic.
    xx, Carol

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love your colors! Isn't it amazing our stash is never quite right. The colors look spot on to me

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love your base block Mary Anne, I hope you have a lot of fun embellishing them! Those mini motions bags are just too cute and the poem was a very interesting one! Have a good weekend! Christine x

    ReplyDelete
  5. It is Sunday morning down here and as my husband and I are driving through the countryside, I am reading 'your' poem, thinking upon the beauty of it. It is so moving.....thank you, lovely Mary Anne. It has made my heart smile. Now.....I must say I am loving the look of this next pretty you are fashioning. Love the colours and of course the hexagon shapes.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Let our quilts be threadbare indeed. It's great how the colour chart works with the image. Your colours look great.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ooh that colour generator is fun!
    I love the palette it found from your image

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow! Your fabrics match your photo beautifully. I cannot wait to see more of your progress on this project.

    I love the Quilt of Holes. Thank you for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I like your progress! I'll stay tuned for more.

    His light is the only light, after all.

    ReplyDelete
  10. That poem..beautiful lines..sigh!!
    Love those little bags, the link has been bookmarked, thank you :)

    Regards,
    Deepa

    ReplyDelete
  11. colour generators are wonderful tools....another distraction for me!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous9:21 PM

    Thanks, I never thought to use Palette Builder that way. It could help choosing thread colors, too.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous9:08 PM

    Good info. Lucky me I discovered your site by accident (stumbleupon).
    I have bookmarked it for later!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for leaving comments! I appreciate you taking the time out of your busy life to talk to me. It's wonderful to know that someone is actually reading my mumblings and even more fun if I can connect with you and visit your blog.