Creativity is good for the soul

It has been so warm here in Texas that my latest electric bill was higher than any electric bill for this month since we lived here! Thankfully it seems that maybe fall has finally arrived with a trend of weather nice enough to have the windows open at least half the time or more. And I love that kind of weather!

Several years ago my husband got me a very nice quilting machine. I was able to quilt several quilts and then something happened and I started having issues with it - the stitching would go along nicely for a while and then there would be some very long stitches. Well we have worked with it and worked with it and then about a year ago when I spent ALOT of time unsewing the quilting that I had done to a quilt caused me to just put a sheet over my quilting machine and give up for a while. Although I have been so very busy lately - I decided I really need to get it running again so I can get moving on my quilts - I have 3 baby quilts ready to be quilted along with another quilt. So my husband came up with a great idea! You see the way the machine is on the quilting frame - it makes it hard to really work with the computer part of it. So he decided we would take the machine off the frame and see if I could get the machine to do even stitches that way. So last night I spent about an hour playing with the machine. Turns out it isn't as complicated as I thought it was- when you can get to it - it really is easier. It seems to be working smoothly. So next step will be to put it back on the frame and do a practice run on a small project. And I am praying that the problem has been resolved. It would truly be an answer to prayer if it has!

I also spent some time painting this week end.

Sorry this photo didn't capture the whole thing - but gives you an idea of what it looks like. Yes - i cheated a bit - by using some stencils - but trust me there was still a lot of creativity with this. And it helped restore my soul a bit.

I am trying to spend some extra time thinking on my blessings, especially since I have had some real blows lately that just eat away at my peace. Situations I can not control can cause a lot of pain and discouragement if I let them. And I have struggled with discouragement the last few days. Anyway working on these projects have really helped me alot!

I better close- Will be heading out again shortly to take my MIL to the first appointment of 4 this week! Thankfully I have a fun appointment coming up this week for me as well - And it's fun to look forward to this!  :O)