A quilt of grace

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I'm going to publish a novel tonight, I think. Book Three of The Enran Chronicles is formatted, cover made, blurbs written.... All I need to do is upload it all onto Smashwords, then by morning it will be featured on their home page, lol. Since merging with Draft2 Digital, I have found it takes HOURS for a novel to appear in the Smashwords store. Might as well make time work for me overnight, then find a pleasant surprise tomorrow when I wake.

In the meantime, I have been moved to stitch Lucy Boston blocks, of which I have over twenty-five done. That project was one of my first EPP thrills, but the honeycombs are small (one inch per side), and the papers from Paper Pieces are somewhat stiff. I had tucked away all the finished blocks, but pulled them out today, trying to size up a Kawandi-version and I think it will work. This will definitely be a quilt of grace, because only by God's grace will I get it sorted, LOL! I have four blocks left to make for a total of thirty, and hopefully I'll start a new Kawandi project later this week or early next week.

What exactly is a quilt of grace, you might wonder. It's something I didn't think I needed to make, and only by accepting such grace will it emerge. I especially felt that last night stitching the block above; the dark blue fabric was stiff, and the honeycombs nestled against it were even MORE STIFF, in part that the selvedges of the fabric were included. Made for a LOT of tough fabric to work a needle through, and I used a stout needle instead of my slender EPP needles. Yes I poked my finger, and yes I have bandaids on the coffee table, usually employed as thimbles. Sometimes they are used for their intended purpose.

What I knew during that somewhat difficult stitching was a massive sense of peace, ease, meaning. Even if the sewing was tricky, it was doable, slowly and carefully. I thought about the dark pink fabric from a collection I used in a quilt for my eldest daughter. I considered the navy center honeycombs, that print one I bought years ago at Joann. The other outer print is also from Joann, while the thick sepia toned fabric was from a collection I ordered right after Covid hit. All the Lucy Boston blocks contain similar memories; I cut those fabrics over five years ago, and I am eager to finally give those blocks a quilty home.

We had a heap of rain today, more coming tomorrow and later this week, which is perfect sewing weather. I don't have a book to prep for immediate release, or I won't after tonight, so I can delve deeply into a new Kawandi joy, or work on EPP hearts, or maybe dabble with Alexandria. All these outlets are made possible by grace, varying levels of grace required. Yet grace permeates, because without that beautiful essence, the handiworks lack purpose, sparkle. They lack....grace.

And right now, we need as much grace as we can get.

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