With God All Things are possible Good or Bad

Image by dannie4852 via FlickrI had a very perplexing day yesterday. Everywhere, everyone is talking about the disaster in Japan. Confused by some reactions of how people are saying that we should not pray for them because they are an Atheist country. Really! There are also Christian survivors there that have lost loved ones, and Atheists that have lost loved ones. We should pray that all of them find peace from all that they have lost.  We should also pray that many will see this as a sign of what God told us would come our way. I am not saying this as a doomsday post, I am merely saying we should all at all times be prepared for his coming by accepting Jesus as our Savior so that when our own time comes we are prepared. That is what love is about. Loving all that believe AND do not believe.  It is our purpose to share the word of god with others, but it is EVEN MORE PURPOSEFUL now to empathize and pray for those that have lost so much and so many.  Even more pray with gratitude for all that we have. Being grateful everyday for all that God has given us, and that is EVERYTHING.
Remembering that everything is thought first, think only good thoughts. Praise God with gratitude that we are not the survivors of such a tumultuous disaster, but remembering that we could be at anytime. Are you ready to leave this earth?
The greatest fear that most people have is the "fear of death," but those that have accepted Christ as their savior do not fear death, instead they believe that whatever happens in their life God is always with them. Relieve yourself of the greatest fear, the Fear of death, and realize if that is greatest fear, then "Fear is not a rational thought."This is a thought that I often play in my mind when plagued by Agoraphobia (fear of open spaces.)
My family's cookbook called "Traveling Recipes" is for sale as a pdf file on Etsy, all of the proceeds this from the sales this month are going to Autism Intervention Specialists.
Also try to turn the world BLUE on April 1,2, 2011 for Autism Awareness.

Simple Fabric Origami

Image by Staindrop via Flickr

Greetings Quilter,

It seemed like centuries ago when my dad visited Japan.  But
actually it's only been about 47 years.

My dad was a chemist helping to set up a chemical plant, and he
was over there for about six weeks.  As you can imagine, he had
lots of time to explore the wonders of Japan, and he came home
with many fun and interesting things – which were especially
welcomed by a teenager.

One of the prized treasures was a small camera.  Way back then,
cameras were fairly large and used 35 mm film.  This one was a
shiny silver camera that measured about 3 inches by 1½ inches
by about ¾ of an inch high, and used 16 mm film.

Quite fun!  Hundreds of pictures taken with it - - - I wonder
what ever happened to it??

Anyway, one of the other things my dad came back with were
instructions for paper folding – origami – and, yes, the
beautiful colored paper to fold.

I spent hours folding little shapes and decorating all of the
empty shelves in my room.  Some of them even became special
treasures for my friends.

With fond memories of creating interesting animals and flowers
from paper, you can imagine how excited I was to find an
origami book when quilting daughter Stephanie was young – I
think she was about 8 when she got started with origami.

But it was all paper folding.  It was only a few years later
that I invested in a book showing how to fold fabric in a
similar style to origami, and create gorgeous, 3-dimensional
quilts.

I loved to look at the pictures and dream of the quilts that
could be made using the technique.  But, frankly, it took
years for me to have the courage to try to make one of those
beautiful quilts.  They looked like they would take forever to
make, and I wasn't sure I would really like the finished quilt.

But, one day – with Stephanie's prompting – I chose one and
started cutting and folding fabric.  It turned out to be very
fun, and really easy!

And now, many years later, there are several resources
available – not just the one or two that were around all those
years ago.  The thing is, the folds in the fabric are easy and
pretty basic – not like the folds you think of when you think
of intricate traditional origami.

The quilt I made was a flower quilt using circles of fabric
that were folded and then stacked.  It's difficult to describe,
but you can see a picture and  more detailed description of the
technique and possibilities here:

http://www.how-to-quilt.com/articles/1165-fabric-origami.php

Happy Quilting!

Penny Halgren
www.How-to-Quilt.com
www.TheQuiltingCoach.com

P.S.  You'll also find a link to an article that shows a
close-up of the flowers:

http://www.how-to-quilt.com/articles/1165-fabric-origami.php

P.P.S.  For additional resources, check out my blog:

http://quilterpenny.wordpress.com/

You'll find all of the daily emails so you can search for
articles about tons of quilting topics!
www.How-to-Quilt.com
www.TheQuiltingCoach.com
www.QuiltBlockLibrary.com

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