Harvest Season

The project I am featuring in this blog post isn't new, but it is one that seemed fitting to close out September. I really did write this post in September, it took me until early October to get the pictures included. Throughout September and October our weekends tend to be filled with harvesting the produce from our garden. Here's a quick look at some of the tomatoes that became roasted tomato basil soup earlier this season. 

Last week I pulled some of the beets from our garden and chopped them to make borscht. In case you don't know what borscht is, it is a Russian beet soup, and it is very good despite what my daughter may say. You can also see some of the acorn squash from our garden behind the beets. We will be making them into stuffed squash with sausage and wild rice. 

So, let's get back to this project. This table runner is one that was included in a pattern published by Red Rooster Fabrics back in 2010 for use with their Harvest Town fabric line. Although the pattern is still available as a free download, the fabric is a little harder to find anymore. As August fades away, I'm one who is eager to bring out the fall decorations. That being said, the more overt Halloween items need to wait until October. For me, designs like this one are great for filling that gap during September and can continue to celebrate fall even through the Thanksgiving season.

This is also a project that features some of my attempts at machine quilting. I've shared some of the techniques for machine quilting using a walking foot, a machine quilting technique with which I am becoming more confident. I also used free motion machine quilting on this project, a technique with which I am much less confident. 

Free motion machine quilting can be thought of as drawing by having the pencil remain in place while the artist moves the paper around. The above picture illustrates the foot that is placed on the machine. Free motion quilting also requires that the feed dogs on the machine are lowered so that the quilt "sandwich" can be maneuvered more easily. Another challenge with this technique is keeping an even speed and motion so that the stitch lengths are equal. Let's just say that I am still developing with this technique. Here are a few close ups of my efforts. For some of the free motion work, I tried to trace along the print of the fabric. In other areas, I used more of a freestyle approach.

Over the past few weeks, I've become more convicted of a different type of harvest - this one involving people. Through some recent conversations, I've seen evidence of how God is at work in the lives of people, seeking them and drawing them to Himself. These encounters have reminded me of Paul's instruction to Timothy to "be ready in season and out of season." I've also been reminded of the need to pray for others to join in the work of the harvest and that the harvest is not mine, but God's. I will close with Jesus' instructions as he was sending out the seventy:

The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Luke 10:2