A Hitch in my Gettiup

Oh my, what a week!

 

Let me preface this blog by plainly stating I am a list maker.  Before I go to bed every night, I make a list of the things I need to get done the next day.  It’s the last thing I see when I go to bed at night and the first thing I see when I wake up the next morning.  It keeps me focused and crossing all the items off makes me feel accomplished.

 

I’ve done this for years and this system works for me.  It may stress other people out, but I’ve done this little exercise since I was in middle school.  I like getting things done.  However, this week I’ve been a little hamstrung in more ways than one.  If you’re a regular reader, you will remember that back in August of 2016, I pulled a tendon in my left knee while walking across a perfectly level, dry floor at the Teeter (my local grocery store).  Well, a couple of weeks ago, I pulled the same tendon AGAIN either loading my sewing machine in the car or unloading it at class or at home.  And no, it wasn’t Big Red (my Janome 7700), it was the small Juki I use for teaching, classes, and all day sew-ins.

 

So it’s this….

 

And this…

For at least three more weeks.  Coupled with ice and heat and not being on my knee more than about 45 minutes at a time.  Needless to say this doesn’t fit into my lifestyle at all.  I’m not getting enough done and what I can do is taking forever. The only thing I’ve got going in this situation is that my cane is leopard print.

 

I did tell you folks about the Snowman Challenge my quilt group is undertaking.  You take a traditional 6-inch block and put a snowman in it somehow.  I did get three of these done this week.  I’m using white wool for my snowmen so that the background fabrics don’t show through.  I think they’re kind of cute and it really is wonderfully creative.

And then there’s the Halo Medallion.  I did get the first floater, the setting triangles, and the second floater put on.  I plan to work on the half-square triangles tonight.

 

I’m still working on the Farmer’s Wife Quilt.  I’ve nearly got all the blocks done.

 

Meanwhile, let me give you an update on Santa’s Loading Dock.  I have all my blue fabric picked out for the background.  At some point this weekend, I have to cut them into 6 ½-inch squares and sew them into the background for the globe.  Lisa and Linda have finished theirs, so I’ve got to catch up.

We did discover, after we worked up our timeline, that you really need to make the background and floor, and at least have the sleigh and window printed out so you know where to place the continents.  The struggle has been to enlarge these pieces as much as the pattern calls for (which is sometimes as much as 200%).  Much of my morning was taken up with this battle.

 

I knew that however I decided to enlarge my pattern, it would be easier if I had my book spiral-bound.  So I headed over to my local Office Depo this morning at 10:30, book in one hand and cane in the other.  I hobbled over to the service desk and a nice young man told me he certainly could put the book on a spiral, just stand right there and he’d have it back to me in a few minutes.

 

The key words here are “stand” and “a few minutes.”

 

Right now, neither do very well for me.  I’m not sure what happened in the process, but it took an hour to get that spiral put on the book because one of the machines kept malfunctioning.  I had to stand the entire time because there was nowhere to sit.  When me and my bum knee finally got out of there, the pain was overwhelming.  I didn’t dare ask about enlarging the patterns because I was deathly afraid something else would malfunction and I have to stand another hour.

 

Needless to say, the pain medication has been my best friend this afternoon.

 

If all goes well, I’m heading back to Office Depot tomorrow or Sunday and get what I need enlarged and continue to work on the Loading Dock.  If this is a precursor to my Year of Fearless Quilting, it should be a wild 365-day trip around the sun.

 

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Sam