Nothing-But-Sewing Day

As you know, I've been whining and complaining about my hands for a couple of weeks.  I stupidly spent one entire day cutting and leaning on my ruler to keep it from slipping.  I have paid for it dearly ever since.

I am too young for this (at least I think so), but I have osteoarthritis in almost every joint in my body.  I spent most of my life doing hard physical exercise.  I was a competitive swimmer.  I've been a runner at times.  I spent two years lifting weights, seeking that toned body that weightlifters have.  All of that "healthy" activity landed me in the hospital with six surgeries in four years, mainly for overuse injuries.  (Sigh.)  I'm not complaining here--just explaining.  I don't think I did anything that any avid exerciser wouldn't do; but for some reason, my body didn't respond in the way I hoped it would.  I felt good, no doubt, being in such good shape.  But it's just like losing weight.  The benefits of such rigorous training disappear much more quickly than they arrive.

So here I am.  There is almost no form of exercise I can do now that doesn't make something hurt.  I've taken a full year off from any kind of exercise to let my joints heal.  I've only had limited success with that.  My hands are still a problem all the time.  I'm wearing custom (and expensive) orthotics to help my feet.  My knees crackle when I get up and down, and I'm constantly applying some sort of topical medicine to them to dull the pain.  On the positive side, my shoulders are much better.  That's where the surgeries started--on both shoulders.  My neck doesn't give me any problems any more, and my back feels surprisingly good.

I do still walk with a my dear friend, Sue, once per week.  We were social workers together before I quit the biz. We'd walk more often except that my feet and knees can't take it. I've committed to going back to swimming, and I'm going to begin achingly slowly in an attempt to avoid reinjuring myself.  I had planned to start that this week (since the kiddies are out of the pool after Labor Day).  In fact, I was all set to jump out of bed on Tuesday ("jump" being a euphemism for what I actually do) and get to it.  And now . . . here it is Thursday and I still haven't gone.  Okay, so I need a little more time to work up to it.  I consider this a precursor to the "achingly slow" part.

All of that to say that today I'm going to spend the day sewing.  I had to take several days off after messing up my wrist a couple of weeks ago.  I would have sewn yesterday, but I spent the day in town going to doctors' appointments.  (I try to combine as much as possible when I drive into town because a) it's a long drive; and b) I hate going into town any more than I absolutely have to.)  One of the doctors I saw was my incredible pain specialist.  She works with an RN who is also a licensed massage therapist.  Together, they are a dynamic pain duo and seem to be able to diagnose and fix whatever is ailing me on any given day.  Although my wrist has been hurting for weeks, Sue (the RN) was able to work her magic and get it to stop.  Since I saw her, it's been pain free for the first time in weeks.  I pledge to myself right here and right now not to overdo it today.  (It is to laugh, because that isn't my way.)

I love these days when I make a decision to do nothing but sew.  Of course, I do fit a few household things in there because I take breaks fairly frequently throughout the day.  But it makes for a pretty enjoyable day.  I get minor chores done with a minimum of hassle, and I feel as if I've done nothing but sew.  I have a bunch of "Interrupters" I need to get busy on.  I have a Downy quilt I haven't even started.  I want to get going on it because I'm going to use it to practice quilting.  I still need to quilt my finished "Flip Flop" quilt

I want to do a sort of sand dune looking thing on the yellow squares, and I'm going to try to quilt a line of flip flops in the sashing.  It shouldn't be difficult to do . . . a kidney bean shape with an upside down "V" for the thong . . . but I still want to try it out on the Downy quilt first.  It will kill two birds with one stone, I figure.

I have two more BOM's yet to finish in order to get caught up on those, and I need to stitch around the edges of the applique on one I have sitting waiting on me right now.  Since one of the BOM's is another one of those applique blocks, I figure I'll do that one first and then stitch both at the same time.  I use thread to match the applique, and it should cut down on the number of times I have to change thread if I do them both together.  I'll be glad when I feel more caught up . . . it'll be just in time to receive my next months' BOM and then I'll be behind again!

I don't know about you, but in quilting, I never really, honestly feel as if there is any "behind" or "caught up."  It all just is what it is.  I love doing it and so I just take each project as it comes.  I'm still wanting to get at my apple pie filling, but I'm waiting on the ClearJel.  I expect I'll get it tomorrow or the next day.  I hope so because I don't want to keep the apples sitting around forever.

With all of that . . . I'm off to sew.  I hope you're doing something equally fun with your day.