We received our internet a week ago Tuesday. It seems to have taken me a little while to get settled in our new "home". I have been to see the pecialist about my finger. The good news is, that I do not need surgery..the bad news is, it may take many many more months to heal. The bone is healing, but the tendon at the side of the knuckle where the bone broke, is "shredded" according to the Dr. There apparently is damage to other tendons on the outside and inside of the finger, as well. The insurance has paid for Dr. Appointments but will not pay for physio, so I am on my own in that dept. I have gone for two sessions and learned what regime I have to follow. At the time of my appointment I had 22% movement of the finger. I have been exercising it and stretching, and heating and wrapping etc. And a week later I have progressed to 42% movement. I seem to be at a bit of a standstill now, and I am beginning to believe that it is going to be a long road to complete recovery.
These are some of the instruments of torture that have become part of my daily regime. It all looks pretty innocent, but don't be fooled. I have recycled a cloth bag that once housed a little quilt kit to become a microwave heat bag. It has become a big help in the stretching exercises. The rest of the items cause a considerable amount of pain while being used. I see the Dr. again in a week or so to check my progress. Wish me luck!
Mr. O has been away this week for a few days. He drove back to the Grand Canyon for a solo adventure. He hiked to the bottom of the canyon, slept bunkhouse style, at the Ranch on the bottom of the canyon by the Colorado River an the next morning hiked back up. The route to the top was over 12 miles. OVER SIX HOURS OF CLIMBING! ( I am told that that is a little quicker than the average climber)
He called me to let me know, he had finished and was at the top. When I asked how it was, Mr O's answer to me was, " they don't call it the Grand Canyon for nothing". He did a lot of reading, researching, and prepping for it and I'm glad it went off without a hitch. Anorher thing off the old bucket list. Way to go Mr. O!
While he was hiking I was quilting.
http://missrosiesquiltco.bigcartel.com
I have been working on this months Schnibble. It is Hook. I really can't say I was "hooked" on the pattern, but this is not the first Schnibbles I was not thoroughly smitten with, and when finished, I was pleasantly surprised to find out I had learned to love it. The designer suggests using a 60% ruler for the cutting, but because I didn't care too much for it, I thought I might never use the ruler again, so I have opted to use the 60 % lines on my 4" square ruler. There is a lot of cutting, piecing, cutting again, more sewing, all of which is a little difficult with fingers that look like this
I will persevere though. Like it or not, I am learning different skills and that is a good thing.
Ok, this is some of my progress so far
After sewing this many hooks together, I started rethinking things and I am not sure I like the way they are assembled, so today I got out my trusty ripper and I am thinking I may assemble them in a more scrappy manner. I'm sure you must me getting tired of seeing this same colour scheme, but the bulk of the fabric I brought me was for my grand daughter's circle quilt and the black and tans for my Over The River and Through The Woods quilt.
What do you think? Which way do you think they look best. All one fabric choice for each hook or mixed up like the one above? I would love some feed back.
While Mr. O was away my sister came over with her fabric and machine and we had a sleepover and sewed and talked and ate and laughed and had a wonderful time. Barb worked on her Schnibbles as well. I am really cherishing these days together. It won't be long before we each go our different directions to our homes and I am not sure when we will see each other again.
What else have I been working on? Well I'm glad you asked!
I finally got around to making the Schnibbles I had not been able to do last Sept.
Carrie ( the designer) calls this pattern, Mercerie. It has another border of the background fabric in the original pattern but I have decided that I want it to finish a little smaller without borders, so it needs to be sandwiched and quilted and I will call it Done!
It was made with 2 French General charm packs, La Petit Ecole.
On to the next project. A very long table runner destined to be a gift for a friend. Pattern is called Family Table Runner by Cottage Creek Quilts.
http://www.cottagecreekquilts.com/patterns.html
I own a few of this company's patterns and love them all. You might like them too...
All pieced and waiting to be quilted....
Quilting all done. Binding is on and will be hand stitched tomorrow. I reall like this one and can see a few more of these in my future.
Remember that blue bag amongst the "instruments of torture"? Well before it was recycled to hold a couple pounds of rice for a microwave heating pad, it held a cute little project gifted to me by a very thoughtful friend. She knew I was wanting to have some projects to work on while away so she put everything together to make a cute winter project in case I might be missing the snow and colder temps. Thanks Sue!
This is what it grew up to be.
I embroidered the snowman as per the pattern, then pieced everything together on Thursday. Today I sandwiched it, quilted it and attached the binding. Another hand project for tomorrow!
Tonight while Facetiming with my daughter, I showed it to her and she could have sworn she saw her name on it down in the corner...so it looks like I will be making multiples of this little gem too.
Today was International Quilting Day, and I think I did my part. I quilted and bound a tablerunner a small wall hanging, finished two tea wallets
And started prepping for a day workshop I am presenting at our quilting meeting on the 26th of this month. Happy Quilting Day y'all!
I attended 3 quilt shows last week and one more tomorrow.
Next post I will share a few pics from those.
Our winter in Arizona is winding down. Just a little better than 2 weeks and we will be on the road again. I should be home in approximately one month, so I hope there is a severe change in the weather between now and then because I really don't want to pack away my sandals.
It is twenty five to two! Good grief, I have to get to bed! I have things to do tomorrow. I'll meet you back here tomorrow night...I promise!
How delightful to hear from you! I was wondering how much longer until you head back home. I'm so sorry that your finger is giving you so much trouble. My husband worked with a guy who broke his and maybe it was similar to yours, but he was doctoring with it for ages. About Hook--I finally got mine all together. Those long seams joining everything together are just not fun. They aren't hard--just slow and tedious. I really don't like pressing seams open! I finally began pressing towards the alternate triangles and then it got a bit better, but it is still lumpy at all those seam junctures. I've no idea how I'll quilt it. I have to say that I like your block both ways--matching and scrappy--but if I had to choose, I think I would do them scrappy. That way, when you are arranging them, you won't have to fuss so much making sure that nothing too similar is too close together. Kudos to Mr. O! What an accomplishment!
ReplyDeleteSo sorry about your finger.....but I think that improvement percentage is huge in such a short time! I hope your complete recovery goes as quickly! And I'm in love with the scrappy version of your blocks! And WOW.....you sure are accomplishing a lot considering you're all bandaged up! WOW! :o)
ReplyDeleteI love the scrappy Wendy, the fabrics all look so nice together! I really can't wait until you can make it here again for a visit and we'll all get together for another "sewing retreat"!
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