The past several weeks have been a time of great progress for Lea as she recovered from her knee replacement, reduced her pain medication as quickly as she was able to, and began to come out of the mental fog she has been in for the past couple of years.

I have been working with her all along trying to get her to use her mind for creative thinking, or simply get interested in keeping up with her email, just to improve her alertness and over all mental acuity. Our dear friend, Lou, tried to get Lea interested in one of Lou’s avocations; quilting. I was pretty dubious at first, concerned whether Lea would have the ability to stay interested long enough to finish a project, let alone be able to do the calculations necessary for measuring and cutting the pieces that are fitted together.

But, while Lea and I were in Missouri for a short visit last fall, she and her sister were visiting a cousin, Dora, who is a long time quilter. Dora said that she would give each of them a supply of  embroidered squares that she had completed if they would use them to make a quilt. Both of them assured Dora they would.

This appeared to be quite a motivator for Lea, who got excited enough about making a quilt for her bed that she got Lou to go with her to shop for fabric. We took the fabric with us to Hawaii, where we met Bonnie, who was one of the ladies attending bible study home group at my son’s house. Bonnie, also a quilter, got Lea started designing the quilt, and actually started cutting out some of the hundreds of pieces that would be needed.

After her fall that resulted in a broken hip, Lea was so medicated that she didn’t really have any interest in the quilt, and the project was put aside for months. Then, after her knee surgery recovery was well under way, she was invited to a baby shower for our daughter-in-law in Austin. The timing was just right! She and Lou went shopping for material to make a quilt for our grandson’s crib. He is expected to arrive within the next few days, by the way.

The quilt turned out beautifully, and she was so satisfied with the final product, she actually started working immediately on the original quilt. She and Lou spent several days together cutting, piecing, sewing, bordering, and pinning the king size quilt. Now, Lea is doing all the hand quilting, and enjoying her craftsmanship a great deal.

I have pieced together some random photos and video segments of the two quilts and assembled them into the final production which you can link to by clicking on the “arrow” in the middle of the frame, at about her left elbow, above. If you have been following Lea’s healing, you will be as delighted as I have been. Thank God for His miraculous healing!