My Design Wall and God is Good!

 

Hello friends, and I'm sorry for the long absence. It has been the most challenging month of my life! My husband of 44 years has had 2 surgeries and we are thanking God that He has allowed us to have more time together. Very long story short--hubby was on Cumadin and had a brain bleed. Then he fractured a disk in his back and was in incredible pain. Both surgeries went well, and he is on the road to recovery. This week he only has 2 doctor appointments! And today, for the first time in over a month, I sat down at my sewing machine! Life is wonderful and God is sooo good!

 

The first thing I did was hem a pair of sweat pants for hubby. Then I made some more blocks to go with my Soldiers Cot Quilt. This quilt is from Kathy Tracy's book "The Civil War Sewing Circle." Kathy's directions call for (12) 12" blocks, her quilt finishes to 54x79 inches. I decided to downsize my blocks, and started with 5 inch squares of background fabric. The center square is cut at 1.5" square and the "x" strips are cut 1.5" x 4". My quilt will have a 5" border and will finish at about 40 inches square...a nice size for a table topper. Notice in the block above--I actually managed to keep the background fabric all going in the correct direction.  

 

Until hubby is fully recovered he has to limit his trips upstairs, which is where the master bedroom is. Our son and daughter-in-law spent a day taking down our dining room table and setting up a twin bed in its place. Our dining room is really a very pleasant, versatile room. It's on the front of the house, with a bay window that looks out over the cul-de-sac where the neighborhood children like to ride their bikes and trikes and tractors. It also looks over our front yard and driveway, so he can see anyone coming and going (mail carrier/ups man, etc). Today I did a little shuffling of furniture, and moved in the little green cabinet from my sewing room. It held my "Cricut die cutting center." I put it in the bay window and now it houses hubby socks, undies, t-shirts, etc. Then I took all but 2 of the winter coats out of the front closet and brought some of his shirts and pants on hangers to that closet. Hubby frequently naps on the bed or in the blue recliner in his new "studio."

 

 

And while I was at it, something I've wanted to do for a long time, is to create a "plug-in" station for our phones and my Nook. I like to read the Storage and Organizing magazines you can find at the bookstore. They frequently feature a neat wooden box with slots for the cables, to the tune of $35 or so. Well, I raided hubby's upstairs office space, where he has about 12 of these cute storage boxes, full of misc. office supplies. I plugged the 3 devices in, and made slots with a scissors to accommodate the cords. I labeled each plug with a small post-it and used clear tape to adhere it to the cord. 

 

It frequently amazes me that it is the simple things in life that can make you feel so good. Getting organized really is helping me deal with the stress in my life. Every Thursday is my "toss it in the trash day" as Friday is our trash pickup day. I'm currently working my way through boxes of old papers and magazines. And my other stress reliever is prayer. People all over the US have been praying for hubby and me, and I am so grateful that our God is one who hears our cry. We are truly thankful for His great care, and the incredible care provided by many nurses and doctors. If you are a health care professional, I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your work!

 

Till next time, keep stitchin'!

Mary