Lemonade out of Lemons, or should I say quilts out of scraps!

           Hi my name is Jena Giest. I as many of you know am one of the techs in the sewing department here at Pine Needles Quilt and Sew. I love my job, and where I am at.  I have had many jobs in my life and many events that have gotten me to where I am and none of which I would change for the world.  In life it seems like we are given a lot of lemons to deal with, some of us more than others. When we are lucky enough to be given them, and yes I said lucky enough, we get to choose what we do with them. We can always leave them and watch them turn bad, get yucky and start to stink, or we can choose to do something wonderful with them. We can choose to make lemonade, pies, or any variety of sweet treats that with a little work and effort will be well worth the time and effort put into it.

     My life has been dealt a lot of lemons, enough to stink up the room, but threw them all I have been able to see the beauty these challenges can provide. If I hadn't have had each and every single difficult one, I wouldn't be where I am today. I have been able to find peace and hope in a lot of things, but the main one has been my quilting. I can get lost in it for hours, and sometimes even days. I usually have my long arm running in front of me, while I sit at my Bernina 790 piecing, while I listen to my other 7 embroider up a storm. Its my peace in the storm of life. When I feel like I can't control or change anything, I choose to make something beautiful.

      Life is much like quilting, when you start you have a perfectly good piece or several pieces of fabric.They are beautiful just as they are, sometimes some are more wonderful than others.  Then we choose what we should do with them and start cutting, before we know it we have a huge pile of bits and pieces that look like a total mess, all mixed up with no rhyme or reason. Usually when we do this the beauty is lost in the chaos. We take these odd mismatched pieces, one by one and choose to make something spectacular with them. We can add all types of shapes together and one by one we can start to see the beauty again. With patience and hard work this once huge pile of scraps and pieces, becomes a beautiful quilt. Made up of all colors and shapes that we have chosen to use. These pieces in themselves were useless, but together they make artwork. Something we can use to brighten a room, snuggle with loved ones under, or give as gifts.                                                                      .

     With everything going on in this world today, we have been dealt a lot lemons, or scraps as we quilters like to call it where we can chose to make things worse or we can choose to do wonderful things with them. Next time you are sitting behind your sewing machine with a huge pile of scraps staring at you remember that you are choosing to make something beautiful, it may not be perfect, or every seam match up just so, but it wonderful in its own way and its something you can be proud of. And maybe the next life challenge that is given to you, you can decide to turn chaos in something you can be proud of.

Happy Quilting.                          !

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