Tingling Feet

Today is Monday, April 27, 2009. The sun is shining brightly and I hope it will be nice and warm.
Yesterday in Sunday School class we talked about the gifts of the Spirit as outlined in Corinthians and detailed in the Doctrine and Covenants. Right now the gift I seek is the gift of being healed. I've asked for a blessing and I want that person to have the gift of healing.
As you know I had knee surgery about two months ago. I think that is doing very well. But now my feet have started tingling, tingling, tingling. Not just one, but both. You know, when your foot has been asleep and then the circulation starts again, well, that is just how it feels, only worse.
I can ease the pain some by rubbing my feet on the carpet or over a little pill bottle but it never completely goes away. I wiggle my toes and rub my feet. It feels good while it is in motion but the tingling doesn't go away.
A friend brought me a little foot massager which feels good while I am doing it. But oh, boy! I just want the tingling to stop. Another friend who has fibromiaglia (it's spelled something like that) says that her feet get to tingling sometimes too. And sometimes it feels like that all over her body.
"What do you do about it?" I asked.
"My Dr. said to double up on my pain medication."
Oh, boy! I still have pain medication, which I have nearly stopped taking because my knee doesn't hurt. I guess the double dose might help for a while. But I want it to go away permanently.
Then I think of people much worse off than me and try to accept my problems better. I've had good health most of my life and very little aches and pains. I just wanted it to be that way forever but maybe the Lord has other plans for me. I need the faith to withstand whatever comes my way. Oh, and I've always felt like I have a lot of faith, too. This will be a test for me, I guess.
I am filled with gratitude for all the wonderful blessings I've had in my life - My Incredible Adventure. Will this be a new and different part of that adventure? I guess I will find out as the days go by.
That's all for today.

My Sampler Quilt

Today is Friday, April 3, 2009. The sun is shining and it is nice and warm.
Well, here is a picture of that infamous quilt. I am so happy to have it finished - after all these years. I started it a long time ago in Bakersfield. I took a quilting class at Bakersfield College. I've always been fascinated with quilts. My grandma loved to make quilts and I loved to watch her sew the pieces together and then set up the quilt on a frame and do the quilting. Of course, her neighbors would come in, sit down, take up a needle and sew while they visited. I liked to listen to their stories.
This quilting class was very interesting. Each square was a technique of a different sort or a different design. I created three quilting notebooks along with the squares we made. Our final grade was to have 4 squares sewed together with their sashing and all the quilting done. It was common in the Victorian Era to work just a small piece of the quilt at a time. Many people lived in small living quarters and had no place to set up a frame to quilt it all at one time.
Step one was to make a plan on graph paper - planning the square and how to apply the sashing.
Step two was to cut the pieces for the 1st square. I don't remember which one we did first. There's a folded star, a cracker keeper, a bisquit square, Grandmother's flower garden, cathedral windows, several different types of applique, Grandmother's fan, Dresden plate, string quilt, and the log cabin design. Those I did during the class.
After the design square was complete, it was necessary to add the sashing. Then I cut a square of batting to fit and a piece of the backing to fit. Then the quilting started. My grandma could get seven stitches on her quilting needle but she told me the important thing was to make your stitches even. They were supposed to look the same on the front and on the back. As I quilted I got so I could five on the needle but never seven. I did work hard at making them even. The teacher was pleased that I could get 5 at a time.
When the class ended, I had several squares over and above the four that we had to have sewn together. The teacher said we could finish off the edges and make a wall hanging. I, however, intended to some day finish that quilt. I carefully folded it all up and put it neatly into a box to be finished someday.
Each time Glen found the box he would say, "You know, you ought to finish this quilt." I would get out all the pieces, look at them, savor the memories, look at my plan, and never decide to work on it. Back it would go into the box.
Well, when my left knee gave out and I could hardly walk, be brought it in to me. I decided this was the time to finish that old quilt. I changed the plan. With the new plan I had to create two more squares and plan wide sashings to make it big enough to fit our queen size bed. I love graph paper. It's fun to design stuff with graph paper.
Anyway, I went to work to cut, sew, strip and quilt. And I did that for many, many hours. I had to buy new brown fabric to go around the edges and to make the prairie points for the edging.
And here it is for you to look at. The QUILT is finished and we put it on our bed today. And I feel almost lost after all these days of stitching, stitching, stitching. Never again will Glen find that box full of squares and say "You know, you really ought to finish up that quilt."
That's all for today.