My walk with faith

Today I am posting for the first time in a very long time.  I'm changing course with this blog for now and making it a testimony to my faith in God.  Last week I got the results of my biopsy, I have uterine cancer.  My first thought was "this sucks!"  And then my next thought was Dear Lord I need you to help me through this journey every step of the way. 

In the past few months my faith has grown prior to even knowing what was in my future.  I have a friend who is going through an ordeal that has grown her faith immensely and we have talked and shared at length about what God is doing in her life.  Also at the beginning of this year my son started a family group to keep each other focused to read the Bible completely in a year.   Coincidence? No I do not believe so.

I admit I was shaken and upset at first, totally expected I'm sure, after all I'm human!!  But then my faith kicked in and I called my family and friends who started the prayers coming my way.  I know God is hearing all of the prayers and will see me though this.  I don't know all the details of what is going to happen until I see the surgeon Thursday. 

This was what I read today on Facebook!  This gives me so much encouragement.  I have prayed for unwavering faith, to keep my eyes on the Lord and not doubt.  I have to be positive and have a good mental attitude about this.   



I have also chosen this as my motto through this.   I am going through a valley for a reason, what reason I do not know yet and may not until I see Jesus in heaven.  We have an awesome God who knows what we have been chosen to do and uses us to be the light for this world.  I am praying that this journey will make me stronger and help me to see clearer what God wants me to do.   



My two stress relievers are cooking and sewing, I have been doing a lot of cooking today with plans to continue working on a quilt later today.  I am focusing on all things positive!  God, family, friends, and my creative outlets.  In just the past two days I am overwhelmed by the friends God has given me, they are praying me through this!  My family is awesome, so supportive and I have the most amazing husband! 

Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.  Isaiah 41:10

After 2 years I finally finished my son and daughter-in-laws quilt, they were patient with me but very glad it was finally finished.

I had everyone at their wedding and reception sign the fabric squares, then Katy picked the fabric and quilt block designs she liked.
 

I machine embroidered their names, wedding date and their chosen Bible verse in the center square.

Since there was some blank space in the blocks I filled in with either a machine embroidered design or an applique.

Been too long since I blogged!

Wow!  I can't believe it has been so long since I made an entry for my blog.  One problems is I am still trying to decide what camera to buy since I lost my old one and I still have an old phone that is not hooked to WiFi.  I know, I am a bit outdated but with the computer right on my dinning room table I just don't see the need for a new phone.   Anyway, I am still sewing up a storm and enjoying every minute of retirement.

Some of my time is spent visiting my daughter and son who both live in TN and this year I started my garden from seeds.  It was a learning process and I hope next year it will be even better since I had problems with getting the plants hardened off prior to planting.  The weather was not real cooperative added to the fact I should not have taken vacation in May right before time to plan.

I have been improving my knitting skills and and expanded my horizons to making doll sweaters, which are very tedious!  Not sure I will make any more of them, but the hats are quick and do turn out real cute.  I also have been knitting chemo caps with some ladies at our church so I am learning new stitches to use with the hats.

Pillowcase Dress

Here is another little dress made from a vintage pillowcase and some leftover fabric. The flower arrangement are yoyos and some vintage buttons. I love making these dresses they take very little fabric and the ideas are endless to decorate them.

Pillows

I've been doing some more creating the last couple days before I start another quilt. I have to let my mind rest and create something besides quilts from time to time so here is what I came up with.

I had a vintage dresser scarf that had holes and stains on one half of it so I cut it in half and made this pillow using two pieces of upholstery fabric. The back is a very pretty piece of upholstery fabric that matches the colors in the dresser scarf.

And of course I had to make another owl, these little fellows just call my name when I'm looking through my fabric stash.

I made my sister-in-law this cowboy jack-o-lantern pillow. The embroidery is called twilling which consists of connected knots. It is similar to the old style candle wicking, but much easier than doing all those individual french knots.

For Christmas I made her a western table runner. I love the pattern I used for this table runner, it can be increased or decreased for different lengths and it is a quilt as you go so when you have it sewn together the only thing left to do is the binding around the edge. Its so fast and easy!

I found some vintage embroidered pillow cases that were in good condition except for some fraying and holes at the very tops of them. I really wanted to use them since the embroidery was so pretty so I re-purposed them into cute little girls dresses.

I am way behind and have not spent much time blogging lately. But I have been busy creating so here are a few of the projects I have completed in the past few months.

 This is a Queen size blue jean quilt and when you get this folded up it is VERY heavy. It was a bit tricky to get this monster quilted using my regular sewing machine.  My client loved it and was very happy with it.

  My next project was a t-shirt quilt for a lady who runs marathons for breast cancer. I love the flannel she picked for the back and binding, I loved working with it.

My current project is another t-shirt quilt. This one is for a guy using his college football t-shirts and I've added a couple pictures to this one and a block with his number and name.  I am ready to do the quilting on this one now.