Cute Little Bag!

My sweet friend Elly quilted my ugly brown quilt for me, so in return, I made her this cute little bag using the dresden plate featured on my title.

And Life Continues...

I surely thought I would be posting a picture of some completed quilts by now, but life has had other ideas. So much has happened this year.

On June 7th, my Father-in-law passed away after a long battle with Alzhiemer's. Working in Hospice, I see deaths every day, one would think I would be quite able to confort my family as they grieved. It is difficult under any circumstances, but, experiencing death personally only reminds me that when families we take care of at work lose a loved one, it is a once in a lifetime moment for them and I must remain vigilent to comfort them, never letting it become a daily occurance for me. My husband had a difficult time with his father's death- he is doing better day by day.

On top of having a death in the family, our 23 year old daughter decided that house rules didn't apply to her, that she would not be told what to do or when to come home and that she was moving out despite the fact that she was fired from her job of two years. She has broken my heart into. I hope she will be ok. I haven't heard from her in 5 days. Please pray for her. She has always had to work a little harder than her peers to get by and I am not certain she understands the ramifications of what she is doing. She has Mosaic Down Syndrome and has accomplished more than we ever dreamed she would. She graduated from High School and Trade school, drives herself all over the place and has always been a great young lady ( yet, a stubborn one.) I pray that she makes good choices and seeks the Lord in her dealings. I pray that she is successful in her endeavors. I miss her.

Experiencing all of these things while I have been recovering from surgery have been difficult. However, I have has some solice in several different things.

Firstly, I have the promise that Jesus loves me and He loves my daughter. I have my wonderful husband and son. I have a great job that keeps me grounded.

Secondly, I can lose myself in sewing. Each stitch I make, each garment I complete or block I sash together work out the pain and joy of life.

Thirdly, I am an avid gardener. While all of this has been going on, I have canned corn, peas tomatoes, squash and peppers. Put away hundreds of quarts of food for my family, all while tending my beautiful cottage garden full of every flower imaginable.

Nothing makes me feel more womanly or peaceful or successful than creating something from a peice of fabric or putting food away for my family.

I think I will end this long, pictureless, rambling post with a little poem I wrote a few years ago. I am sorry for airing my laundry here, but I felt if I wrote it down, I might somehow feel lighter.

So, Let me prepare a meal for you; it nourishes my spirit.
Let me sew you a quilt; it warms my heart.
Let me tend your garden; it feeds my soul.
Let me comfort you; it heals me.
Glenda Beasley, 2006

I am Back!

Well, sort of. My surgery went very well, of course, recovery is slower than I would like it to be. I have to wear a huge rigid neck brace all of the time, with the exception of when I am showering. It is ugly and miserable, especially in this South Mississippi summer. That said, I am so thankful to have this behind me and can't wait to get back in the swing of things.

Now, a little sewing talk. I decided to sell a few quilts at a local shop. I priced them well and left them at the shop. And, I grieved and grieved and grieved over them. So, I went back and got them! One is on my bed and the other is on the back of my sofa!

Follows is a few pictures of them when they were in the lovely little shop, Lilli Belles-

The first quilt is made of fabric from the Essence collection from Moda. The pattern is Easy Hexagons. I almost didn't finish this quilt. I just couldn't get into it! The pattern was easy enough, I just..., well, I don't know what my problem was.
I had all of the rows put together but hadn't put the borders on it. My dear friend, Elly, came over and MADE me finish it! I am glad she did, it is a lovely quilt.

The quilt hanging above is my second quilt. The pattern is Turning Twenty and the fabric is randomly selected fat quarters from my favorite quilt shop, Kelley's Pins and Needles. I will try to get pictures of both quilts in my home. These pictures don't do them justice.

I want to thank all of you for the prayers and well wishes and request that you continue to pray for me. I especially want too thank Elly, Dianne, Kelley, Lynnette, Jan and my co-workers for the visits, the food and gifts as well as the love I felt from each of you. You are all the best!

Having Surgery in the Morning

Hello everyone! I wanted to let you all know that I am having surgery Friday morning. I am supposed to be there at 7:30, hopefully they can get started right away. Please pray for me!

I wanted to also let you all know why I have been away. Two years ago I started having terrible achy pain in my shoulders, forearms, and hands. I went to every doctor one can imagine and was finally diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I started taking the new medication, Savella, and became severely depressed( and it didn't help my pain). I finally stopped taking it, my pain persisted, but I refused to let it get the better of me.

A few months ago, I was working in my yard, and became aware that my shoulder was hurting terribly. I was certain I had torn a rotator cuff, so I visited my FP and he agreed. He thought it was to painful to try and do an MRI on, prescribed me some meds and told me to come back in a few weeks for an MRI. Well...I just couldn't find the time to get back into the doctor( even though my pain was ever-increasing) for about 6 weeks. He was still certain that it was a rotator cuff injury, but I asked him if he thought we should image my neck also, because it seemed to "crunch" when I moved it. He said it wouldn't hurt to look, but to prepare myself for rotator cuff repair.

When my results came back, my shoulder was fine, but, I learned that my neck was a mess! So!!! Tomorrow morning I will be having a 2 level anterior cervical fusion and discectomy. I will be in a collar for about three weeks and hopefully, finally, and thankfully pain free.

I have missed sharing my days with you all and have finished some quilts. I have taken pictures of them and hopefully can share them with you all while I am recuperating from the procedure.

Please pray for me, my surgeon and my family. I will let you all know how I am doing as soon as I can type.

Love,

Glenda

Life Happened!

I know I have been away for a long, long time. Things have been a bit crazy in my neck of the woods. Long, boring story, so I won't burden you with it! I hope to get back in the swing of things soon!

Dresden Dreaming...

I love, love, love dresden quilts! I have always yearned to make one, but was just to dang scared. It looks difficult and very time consuming, both categories I do not have much patience with. Sometime ago, I ordered an easy dresden tool and promptly forgot about it. It finally arrived in the mail today and I thought I would give it a try! Oh me, oh me, oh my! My poor scrap box is in trouble!

I present to you my very first Dresden plate. Let's call her....uhmmm, Spring Sunrise! Or, Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me, or (oh, this is so fitting) Rhapsody in Redneck! Ha!

Isn't it FABULOUS!!! (Don't let the untrimmed threads allow you to think otherwise, they will be gone in a snapola! err, or a snipola!) I am on a roll tonight, aren't I???

And, just in case you didn't "get" the fabulousness of this plate, one more looky!

See ya! I am off to "fix some more dresden plates"!

Saturday at my LQS and more dresses.

My Mother-in-law and staff at my LQS, Kelley's Pins and Needles. We had a fabulous time at the quilt shop where we found two future quilters sewing away on some gorgeous bags! After finishing our visit at Kelley's, we had lunch at Cracker Barrel. It was soooo good. I had hamburger steak and she got ( of all things) chicken livers and had enough left over to bring home a doggy plate. My son, Bailey was home working on the fence, so we ordered him a "to go" plate of hamburger steak, turnip greans and potato casserole. We put both his to go order and her left-overs in the same bag. When we got home with them, he grabbed the bag and tore into a plate of food. I noticed he had a yucky, funny look on his face and discovered that he had Mother-in-Laws chicken livers. When I told him what they were he turned white as a sheet and was unable to eat his order. Funny, funny, funny! I wouldn't touch a chicken liver with a ten foot pole and he insisted that they had no place " in his house"! Poor boy!

Future quilters:Below is my new little peasant top and pants, the pattern will be ready next week.

The next two pictures ( not so good pictures) are photos of another one of my new designs, The Elizabeth Play Suit.

Another photo of the peasant play suit. I will be teaching both of these outfits and the Sherri dress this Spring. The peasant outfit was designed to feature the use of the serger in making children's garments. It was a ton of fun to make.

This wonderful Carpenter Star, made by Laura Hensleigh, is creatively made using bright and cheerful Batiks set against Kona black. I love it!

Mom and I both were exhausted after our day and happy to get back home for a nap!

Oh, and here is my "hunka chunka" of burning love, my baby boy, Bailey.