Bethel United Church - Part 3

I finished weaving the little historic church here on western Prince Edward Island that I blogged about in august. It was hard to know what to leave in and what to leave out as there were so many stories to tell. In the end I went with my observations from the first visit. The ending of a tapestry and the beginning of a new warp is a good way for me to end one year and begin another. I am so very thankful for God's care and for the opportunity to be here on the east coast. It has been an amazing, adventure filled year that I could never have done without God. <The God of Israel is He who gives strength and power to His people. Blessed be God. Psalm 68:35>

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A Christmas Tapestry

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! 2 Cor. 9:15
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Angels

My dog became an unexpected Angel to me when she came into my life at a time when I didn't know I needed an Angel but I did. Lately, in a twisted turn of events in a dark world filled with suffering I became her angel. I marvel at the subtle way's we communicate with each other. I see deeper than ever before her capacity to see and feel life. I am privileged to have this animal and her complete trust. I wanted to humour her a bit so one dark day I wrapped her up in a wool blanket I wove and took her picture. The blanket is thick and cushy for I wove it in double weave to get a very large width and than I felted it in a washing machine. The yarn I hand dyed with various flower blossoms and leaves. I wanted simply organic. My Angel is ok now but the dark days had an effect on her personality and I am continuing to work with her. This sad experience has reminded me that we each have the capacity to help one another and our earth, including animals when we act with kindness and love towards each other. >This is my command: Love each other. John 15: 17>
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Autumn butterfly

One October afternoon amidst the falling leaves  a butterfly winged its way through our yard. My daughter caught it in her net on echinacea blossoms which had evaded the several frosts that have touched the yard. We looked it up in a field guide and learned it was an American Painted Lady. They apparently do not overwinter in Canada and are considered migratory. They also have a higher tolerance for the cold and are seen in the fall. We were very thrilled with its appearance and I decided to sketch it. I used pencil crayons for colour. ( the actual butterfly is at the top of the page.) Art is but a reflection of the soul of its maker and the butterfly speaks to the heart of God.


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Tapestry

This small tapestry that I wove is an 8 inch square. It was inspired by Michael Joncas song titled- On Eagle's Wings which is based on Psalm 91. The words in the song - And He will raise you up on eagle's wings, bear you on the breath of dawn, make you to shine like the sun, and hold you in the palm of His hand - are also the words of my own long experience. Unlike man, God does keep his word as found in scripture. He will do for you what He has done and is doing for me.
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The lie

I believed it for most of my life. It was taught to me in university. Anne Frank says it this way; In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart." But than I remember watching my very young child choose what was not good at heart even though she had no way of knowing. And, it was at that point that I began to question what I had been taught. But the fullness of this lie was revealed to me several years later by the grace of God when I read in scripture, The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was ONLY evil all of the time. The Lord was grieved...." Genesis 6:5,6. I now believe all people including myself are naturally completely wicked because we have inherited sin. Psalm 51:5  - Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me." And Romans 3:10 -There is none righteous, NO NOT one." And just to make it clear again this is repeated in the following verse," there is NONE who does good, NO, NOT ONE." Our idea's of good is not God's.  Jeremiah 17:9 - The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?  I have watched much evil in the hearts of those closest to me. How can such cruelty spring forth from the heart if people are basically good? I understand now the wickedness in my own heart. I drew this last gladiola from the garden and than multiplied it. It uplifted me the way flower's always do. It tells me of God's love for us all. It's beauty gives me hope in His perfection and grace -in a very ugly world.

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Looking Up

This small cotton tapestry I wove measures 7 1/2" wide by 7 1/2" long and is woven with thread and cotton embroidery floss.                                                          

       "I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I." Psalm 61:2

Where is the monarch? - part two

My daughter caught a viceroy in our yard- and she gave it to me -you can see the actual butterfly on the right. I was so very pleased that I sketched it. I believe we saw a viceroy out our screened door the day that I wrote about in my first post. Year's ago I did a weaving of a monarch as a commission for a private client. I only had pictures to look at and since than I have always had a secret longing to see a live one. The viceroy which is called a monarch mimic and which I have never seen before either did not live at our island home on the west coast. I am so thankful for this east coast blessing.
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Where is the monarch?

I sketched my daughter with her butterfly net and myself holding the wildflowers that she picked me. We were looking for the monarch butterfly which does not live on the pacific coast island we called home. It was a late summer afternoon and we wondered along a red, dirt road to the sea. It seemed like we would not see a single monarch and we didn't that day. Than, one sunny afternoon while we sat inside the cottage and looked out through our screened door we both saw the butterfly. It was flitting around right in front of our eyes next to the screen. "Monarch!" my daughter cried. We ran to the outside door to gather our nets and than to the screened door but the butterfly was gone- forever. Was it really a monarch? I don't know but I thank God for graciously gifting us not only with memory but with good memories of a summer on PEI.

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Bethel United Church part 2

On what I thought was the last visit to Bethel United Church to view a discrepancy between my tapestry cartoon and the weaving in my mind I saw lilies that were not yet blooming across the road from the historical church located amongst the fields. So I returned mid summer to sketch their blooms. In the botanical book, " Wild Flowers of the Pacific Northwest Lewis Clark had this to say about the tiger lily (Lilium Columbianum) "Lily has become one of the best known of plant names. And that name is very familiar from the superb translation of the authorized version of King James: Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Matthew 6:28,29 Yet the derivation of lily is obscure. Professor George Black has been kind enough to compare the above passage, both in original Greek, and in the Latin translations. He points out: Letter for letter transcription of the Greek words there used for 'the lilies' is ta krona. However for lily early Greek had also leirion which is considered cognate with Latin lilium - whence comes the English lily." This tiger lily is not Columbianum as the leaves are alternate and not in whorls of 6-9 leaves. So the mystery of what it is and how it got here remains.  Sadly, the lesson of God's love designed to comfort us is bypassed in this botanical literature. The scripture says in NIV, "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?"

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Bethel United Church

I visited this church one Thursday morning. It is located at the end of a paved road amongst the fields before the road transitions into gravel. While my daughter caught grasshoppers I drew a sketch in my journal. A man with a ladder in the back of an old truck wearing work clothes showed up and parked. I watched from a respectable distance as he unloaded several buckets of water and carefully hand watered two graves that shared a tombstone. His gentle action brought tears to my eye's. Were they his parents? After he left I moved closer to the church and than I saw what looked like two white doves but in reality they must have been pigeon's take off together from a ledge above the church door. Like swirling ribbons they ascended into the blue sky. There was a monument stating a brief history. The church was constructed in 1873 as a Methodist church with Rev. Francis Metherall officiating. It would later became an United Church. Before we left I picked a bouquet of wildflowers that grew along the road at the edge of the field. I plan on weaving this church and this is the sketch I drew in my journal that day. The church tells of rural island life long ago and still appreciated today.

Bleeding heart

In the moving truck I brought along some of my flowers including bleeding hearts although at the time they were just roots that I packed into a tote. Sometimes it's hard to know when your moving what to bring and what to leave behind. My only regret was not to bring my ladder. But I am glad I brought the flowers. Bleeding hearts remind me of God's love and challenges me to have a heart like Jesus. "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers." 1 John 3: 16.

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The familiar

I am surrounded with the unfamiliar. There is the landscape of endless ocean and red earth, and there are tree's, shrubs and flowers I have never seen before. One morning as I drove slowly along a road near my cottage I saw something familiar and it was not a dandelion. Iris's were peeking up over the green stalks of leaves in the ditch and peering cautiously at me. It was blue-flag ( Iris Versicolor). This is the same iris's we grew in the goldfish pond I had made for my daughter on the west coast. I'm always cautious picking wildflowers and after determining that there were five or more growing nearby I brought one blooming stem home with me.  I drew it in my journal - happy for familiar company. Now when I'm out for a drive I see pops of candy purple everywhere in water filled ditches.  He put them there and he sends enough water to care for them. He put me here and I know that whatever happens like the blue flag He will care for me to. "He gives showers of rain to men, and plants of the field to everyone." Zechariah 10:1

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My help!

I wove this very small tapestry which measures 8 inches wide by 7 inches high from embroidery floss and thread while living on the west coast. When I walked the beaches I saw mountains and when they were snow covered in a sunrise they were spectacular. They reminded me to look -up to Him and that encouraged me. No matter what was overwhelming me - He was bigger. There are no mountains here but I am blessed with their memory and I have this tapestry to remind me of this Psalm.

Care

Praise God! In the grass around my cottage are little, wild purple violets. They make me smile. I know He put them there. 

<He gives showers of rain to men, and plants of the field to everyone.>  Zechariah 10:1

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Still creating

When I see the color of a sunrise or a sunset I am reminded He is STILL creating. Creation didn't end in Genesis 1. Despite all the ugliness in our world God is still at work creating beauty.  There is a balsam popular tree in my yard - this type of tree never grew on the island I came from on the west coast. When I gaze at this tree and watch the wind blowing the white, shimmering catkins backlit in sunlight I am deeply moved.  He cares enough to continue to create. Praise God! « All Your works shall praise You, O Lord. » Psalm 145:10

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God as Mother

No more cooking in the barn. I have a thankful heart. I have a new Premier propane gas range in my kitchen and I am using it. This is the 20inch model and it has battery ignition-I use rechargeable batteries. I had a difficult time and it took awhile for me to hook it up but throughout the process I felt again the caring, nurturing, mothering qualities of our God. In scripture Jesus say's, «I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gather's her chicks under her wings. » Luke 13:34. Is God like a mother? As a mother alone with a young child I see the pure form of His nurturing love. He has the qualities of a mother that I aspire to be.
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Tuesday

When I arrived at the cottage I bought unseen on Prince Edward Island I was afraid of getting the U-Haul truck stuck in the pretty red muddy driveway so I backed it off the road and thankfully it was dry there.  Than, I began to pack everything up the driveway into the cottage. I had brought my wheelbarrow with me and as soon as I unpacked it I used it. The next day I was blessed with sufficient strength to pack both the treadle sewing machine that is in a cabinet and a china cabinet that is taller than myself up the driveway and up several stairs before entering the cottage. After two days of unpacking I had unloaded everything except my 500 pound, six foot long floor loom. Five men loaded the loom for me. I'm just a middle aged woman so what was I going to do? I prayed trusting when the time came God would show me how.  The night before I needed to unload it I saw what to do. A north west wind was blowing hard and in the morning the soft ground would be frozen. It was minus four at daybreak. I backed up the truck and extended the ramp onto the deck. Using cardboard and some small appliance rollers I pushed and slid the loom. From the ramp onto the deck and up into the house I lifted one end of the loom and I was given sufficient  strength to lift it high enough so I could continue to slide it. "I will strengthen you and help you." Isaiah 41: 10. On this same day I needed to return the U-Haul and purchase a vehicle as there is no taxi or bus service where I live. I had been watching kijiji for weeks and I had been in contact with the local vehicle insurance company. Within an hour I made the prayerful decision to purchase a used truck. It was well past suppertime when we got back home. The next morning we experienced our first atlantic spring snow storm. It was snowing and there were high winds. I was so thankful to be home and not on the roads.  I will remember this move forever and I hope my daughter does to. The love of God towards me shows me what He wants me to be.

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The drive

I'm almost there. I am in Salisbury, NB. It's only a 3 or 4 hour drive and I will be home- if I don't get lost again. The drive across Canada from coast to coast will have taken me 10 days in this 15' U-Haul truck. The most amusing and irritating thing that has happened is that my daughter and I have been constantly covered in dog hair. The lint brush is somewhere in the back of the truck. There were numerous intense moments. My daughter who was wearing her seatbelt opened the locked truck door (yes- the door's open from the inside when locked) while I was driving in traffic entering the city of Regina, Saskatchewan. Did the wind blow it shut or was it an angel's hand? Other day's there were terrific wind gusts that threatened to pull us off the road. Another  intense moment was when a ferry worker on the horseshoe ferry directed my lane off the boat. Suddenly I realized that if I didn't stop NOW my mirror was going to scrape the car next to me. I got lost in Petersburg, Ontario and Montreal, Quebec. Both times I immediately began praying. I was driving randomly, turning, uncertain where to go. My prayers were answered when I saw signs directing me to the highway/freeway I needed just as I was beginning to feel claustrophobic- which meant it was quick. There was mental fatigue and times I wanted to fall asleep at the wheel. I also discovered I needed a stronger prescription in my glasses. I limited my night driving as much as possible and every night I was directed to a safe harbour. I have never driven a truck like this before, never drove so much before and I was doing something beyond my own comfort and capabilities and the Lord provided every single time. Every prayer was answered. In my time of need He was there. I have a thankful heart. "For He will deliver him who has no helper." Psalm 72:12 Yes- I have left my cabin behind but I know God is here on the east coast with me because of all the answered prayers. I do not understand His love, His care and why I matter to Him. How can God love me because of my flaws when my partner cannot? I will leave you with a picture of the truck parked outside of my gate the morning we left the cabin and the island we called home on the west coast to begin this fantastic journey to the east coast. A special thank you to each person for every single prayer.

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Trust

The moment arrived. It was time to go and get the 15' U-Haul truck I was going to drive across Canada. The actual length of the truck is 25' feet. It was also the smallest truck available. We took a taxi into town. The man at the rental shop patiently explained to me things like how to pull the ramp out of the back of the truck. I jotted down a few notes on my phone like how much air should be in the tires. I payed the bill and he handed me the keys. I buckled my daughter and myself in and we prayed. I needed those prayers as badly as I needed air to breathe. I have never driven a truck like this before. I wonder how I will get this truck on the barge and up the sandy back lane to my cabin and how am I going to drive over 6 thousand kms? That's when I remember I have help from above. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13. It's NOT about me. It's about God and HIS strength. The way forward is to trust and drive the truck. One km at a time.

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Always Indigo

Does indigo remind me of the ocean surrounding this island where I have chosen to live for most of 20 years or is it the mountains and sky? In ten days I sold my cabin. It took three years for an island realtor to sell a similar property. I knew God wanted me somewhere else. Now I am moving to an island across Canada on the east coast. Prince Edward Island will be our new home. As I reflect on the last seven years spent raising my precious daughter on this beautiful island I am thankful to God for his constant care. He has never let me down. While waiting for the lawyer's to do the paperwork on my cabin I made a much needed trip to town. After finishing errands while climbing up the steep hill out of town I noticed I was redlining the truck but there was nowhere to pull over. Soon steam was coming out from under the hood. At the gas station at the top of the hill I pulled over. I soon realized I had blown or cracked the head gasket. I didn't know what to do neither did I have much time. We needed to catch the last water taxi home so I prayed. I have learned it is the best option. I remembered God's faithfulness in all the problems and I got back into the steaming truck and drove it all the way back - a 40 minute drive and we caught the last water taxi home. I told the mechanic who bought my broken truck the story and he was surprised the vehicle had made it so far.  God's power is beyond our finite minds. Scripture says, "The Lord....sustains the fatherless." Psalm 146:9 and that has been my experience. God does exist and He does care and he is more selfless than myself or anybody I have ever known.  I've given this second, handwoven indigo blanket - which measures 52" wide by 6'5" long to my daughter and she loves it. There is a satisfaction in working with my hands and creating useful things that are made to last. I know I am insignificant in the universe and I am awed the Creator pays attention to me. I long to know this God more. 
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Weaving pink

God sent me a very special angel - a dog I named Angel. I wove this blanket from wool I dyed with lichens that I scraped off rocks. I combined the various shades of pinks and purples with natural wool. The blanket measures 52 inches wide and 70 inches long.

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Weaving blue: When I am blue

I wove this wool blanket from yarn I dyed with indigo that I grew in my garden. There were many skeins of subtle blue's reminding me of sky's of blue that are just ahead. The blanket measures 6 feet long and 52 inches wide.         

Weaving Yellow - a blanket

I dyed these various shades of yellow and orange from the meadows of wild goldenrod blossoms that I hand harvested from. Other blossoms like coreopsis and marigolds I grew in my garden. At a time of life when I feel metaphorically like I am in the midst of winter I gathered this bouquet of woolen yarn together and I found beauty weaving this blanket which I am gifting. What a blessing these simple flowers which once brightened my garden and summer day's again brought their joy into my life. If only I could be as beautiful as they are. Isn't that God's plan for each one of us? I take comfort knowing everything moves in circles. Winter is passing and spring will come. "Weeping May endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." Psalm 30:5 I see more of God's great love for us in this circle of life. "If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome." Anne Bradstreet in Meditations Divine and Moral. A special thank you for my precious daughter who modelled this blanket for her uncle in the forest near our cabin.

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Yellow

Yellow celebrates the return of the light. Scripture says, "God is light; in him there is no darkness at all" 1 John 1:5. I knit this sweater for my precious daughter. It was knit on 2mm needles with new zealand wool. I used Knitter's Pride Karbonz needles which are carbon fiber with brass tips. The needles are warm to the touch and the tips are not sharp but they are more pointed than natural wood tips. I really enjoyed using them. Sometimes it's hard to know how to say I love you but I feel hand made items that are made well are one way.

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When Christmas isn’t perfect

If I could have changed things- I would have but it was something beyond my control. There was nothing to do but accept the fact that christmas wasn't going to be perfect. And when I did I began to see a little beauty. I saw it in the face of my excited daughter and in the things around us like the advent wreath we made with fresh holly berries and fir evergreen boughs. I saw it in the white lights on the Christmas tree and in the cake we baked and decorated together. I felt grace fill my heart as I read luke's biblical account and as I contemplated the Christmas story it became a Spirit filled Christmas. It filled me with joy, and the peace that I so desperately needed. I learned that "Peace on earth" Luke 2:14 isn't just about the first advent - it's for me and anyone else who needs it now - anytime of the year.

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