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Yikes! With all of the demands of June, I didn't get my second June posting completed. Let's just pretend that today is actually June 31, and that this still counts as a June entry.

I thought I would use this entry to revisit a project that I featured in a January entry. At that time, I featured a couple of projects that I had begun at a quilting retreat sponsored by Village Dry Goods in Brigham City. Although I can claim credit for the wool appliqué work on this project, I paid to have the machine quilting done. Here are a few up close images of the machine quilting on this piece.

I love the detail on the flag portion that draws out the stars and stripes.

This image features the detail on the vase. The stitching around the leaves and vase as well as on the hydrangea blossoms is my own.

One of the reasons I particularly like this piece is its purpose of conveying welcome and hospitality. From the time that we began construction on our home three years ago, we have viewed our home as a means of being able to serve and welcome others. Our prayer is that our home will be a place of hospitality for many years to come.

I am also reminded that even our best welcoming efforts pale in comparison to the ultimate welcome we anticipate as Christ's followers. As Paul anticipates in his second letter to Timothy:

There is reserved for me in the future the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me, but to all those who have loved his appearing. 

2 Timothy 4:8

The apostle John was allowed the privilege of gaining additional glimpses of the welcome that awaits us in the presence of God Himself:

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will no longer exist; grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer, because the previous things have passed away.

Revelation 21:4