August Barn

July 14 Lacey Austin rode through Spanish Fork Canyon with two friends. One friend drove, the other sat in the passenger seat, and Lacey slept in the back. Passing another car, the driver rolled their Saturn down an embankment to the railroad tracks below. "I saw the train coming," Lacey said. "I couldn't feel my hands. I couldn't move. I couldn't pull myself out of the car." Lacey’s friends pulled her free before the train hit and two passersby kept her calm and stabilized until the ambulance arrived. Lacey had a concussion and a broken neck. Her doctors said if it hadn’t been for the two strangers, she might have been paralyzed. It took a few weeks, but Lacey finally found her good Samaritans, Donovan and Terra Kay of Arizona. The Kays had stopped for pictures when they saw Lacey’s car below. Lacey doesn’t believe it was a coincidence. “You guys were meant to be there,” she says.

Hemstitch Block

The name of today’s block refers to a type of handwork that was once used to decorate the edges of clothing, handkerchiefs or table linens. Hemstitching was often done with embroidery thread in a color that contrasted with the article it decorated, to draw attention to itself. It consisted of crisscrossing lines of thread to pull apart and bundle the web and woof threads of the fabric, creating rows of little “windows” in between. This block is a seven-patch; meaning that it was assembled using a grid pattern with seven squares across and seven down. It can also be described as “scrappy,” because I constructed it using little leftover scraps from a block-of-the-month class. I mean to make eleven more blocks like this (if my scraps can stretch that far) and use them as intermediary blocks between the B.O.M.s. It’ll be a clever trick if I can pull it off: a quilt that uses its own scraps.

Home of the Brave

A precursor to the American Red Cross, the U.S. Sanitary Commission was a volunteer organization charged with overseeing the sanitary conditions of the Union military hospitals during and after the American Civil War. Responding to a terrible shortage of bed linens, bandages, socks and other basic articles of clothing among the wounded, the Sanitary Commission arranged a massive supply drive. In just four years women from the Union states stitched and donated more than 250,000 quilts – including many that used this simple but striking block pattern. Most were made from scraps on hand, leftover from handmade shirts, aprons and dresses. But I’m sure the quilts brought a great deal of relief to the soldiers that received them. Today’s block is destined for a similar project; to bring comfort to soldiers wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq, or to the families of fallen heroes.

Quarter Square

"The Savior could have called upon legions of angels to take Him down from the cross, but He made His own choice to obediently endure to the end and complete His atoning sacrifice, even though it meant great suffering, even death. Spiritually mature obedience is motivated by true love for Heavenly Father and His Son. When we willingly obey, as our Savior did, we cherish the words of our Heavenly Father: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” And we look forward to hearing, upon entering our Heavenly Father’s presence, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: enter into the joy of thy lord.” Using our agency to obey means choosing to do what is right and letting the consequence follow.  It requires self-mastery and brings confidence, eternal happiness, and a sense of fulfillment to us and, by example, to those around us; and it always includes a deep personal commitment to sustain priesthood leaders and follow their teachings and counsel." - Robert D. Hales

Winged Square

“I don't believe there is only one right person for you. I fell in love with my wife, Harriet, from the first moment I saw her. Nevertheless, had she decided to marry someone else, I believe I would have met and fallen in love with someone else. I don't believe she was my one chance at happiness in this life, nor was I hers. Another error you might easily make in dating is expecting to find perfection in the person you are with. The truth is the only perfect people you might know are those you don't know very well. Everyone has imperfections. One of the things I've realized is that if someone is willing to accept me — imperfect as I am — then I should be willing to be patient with others' imperfections as well. Since you won't find perfection in your partner, and your partner won't find it in you, your only chance at perfection is in creating perfection together.” – Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Zigzag Tile

When I was young I used to walk from my grandparents’ home to the Dan’s on Fort Union and Highland Drive. The trip took roughly 20 minutes. There wasn’t a sidewalk; the roadside was full of dust and bull thorns. But it was worth the trouble because at Dan’s you could buy an ice cream cone for a nickel. When we lived in California most of my friends were within walking distance, but more often I played by myself in vacant lots and empty fields, hunting for horned toads and the like. Yesterday I read about a Florida mom who was arrested and charged with child neglect. She had let her seven-year-old son walk alone (with a cell phone) half a mile to the park to play. Is seven too young to walk a few blocks alone? It certainly wasn’t when I was that age. But back then no one assumed my neighborhood was full of pedophiles.