Looking Up

Image by Kerry Barbour from Pixabay

Hello my quilting friends.  Well, it has been some time since I last posted anything, it's been quite some time since I have done any sewing as well.  Without going into much detail I have spent the last year just recovering mentally and physically from an illness that took me by surprise and impacted my life in equally surprising ways. 

This summer I have been working on building up my strength and stamina, which has been a slow process.  I just celebrated 62 years this month and this gal does not seem to bounce back like she used to, but I am just so happy that I was up to short hikes earlier this month with some of my family on a trip to Yellowstone and Grand Tetons.  Best birthday present was getting to celebrate our oldest son's birthday with him during that trip.  (He was an early birthday gift the year of his birth, coming just three days before my birthday.)

I chose the golden aspen trees in this photo as a reminder that things are looking up.  As we head into fall I am getting the urge to create again, which so far has meant taking up watercolor again-something I've not done since college years.  Finding beauty in the little things has been really therapeutic.  The changing leaves in all their beauty also signify an end and a beginning.  The year is starting to draw to a close, the leaves will fall, the trees will go dormant, and yet they reveal an inner treasure that is hard to appreciate when they are covered in their leaves.  This year I am embracing the fall as the beginning of renewal, which seems at odds with how it us usually viewed.  But the old is falling away and new life is waiting to spring forth.  Sometimes we have to let the old go, sometimes we have to make changes that are difficult.  But for me at this time, the gloom of depression is lifting and I am looking up.  If you have followed me for long you know that I have placed my faith in Jesus Christ.  This is the faith that has sustained me in the valley and has me looking forward with anticipation to what lies ahead.  Even in my darker places His love has surrounded me in such palpable ways.

All of that to say, I am getting anxious to start quilting again.  I have a plan in place for a project to begin in January 2024, the one I was hoping to start last year with you.  But first I need to clean out my sewing studio.  Oh boy!  It has become a dumping ground for things I've not wanted to deal with this past year.  I am too embarrassed to even show you a photo of the work I have to do.  Maybe I'll start doing before and after photos as you cheer me on to a space that I can once again love to enter and spend time in.  So my short term goals...refresh my sewing space, share with you the quilt plan for a sew-along that will take us through 2024 together,  find something beautiful in each day, and thank God for each breath He gives me, even when sometimes it does not come easy.

Have a blessed day, and if you are on my facebook group please share photos of any thing that has been bringing you joy.  Inspire me with your quilts, or whatever.  I am looking forward to connecting with you again, you have become my dear quilting friends.

Debra