A Run-around Day

There was enough time yesterday morning for me to get in a good round of stitching on the Heartland Barns piece. I finished stitching most of the tree.

It was time to get ready to leave when I had it that far, but I took time to move my hoop a little lower to capture the rest of the leaves on the ground. I'll start stitching those today.

When I had it that far, it was time to get ready to leave for my first physical therapy appointment. It went pretty well...not too painful. My therapist, Matt, sent me home with these implements of torture. Actually the dowel was one Mike cut for me back in the beginning, and I've used it intermittently for some exercises even before doing any formal PT. I can maneuver my arm into different positions using my left hand with the dowel and allowing the right arm to ride along as a passenger. Many of the exercises I'll be doing operate on the same principle. The green rubber strap is to wrap around a door knob and do some stretching with it. I'm told this will also make an excellent slingshot for water balloons. Good to know. You just never know when you're going to want to lob a water balloon at someone or something.

 

As I'd hoped, I'll be doing most of this at home, only going into the clinic once per week for now. The biggest challenge will be actually doing what I'm supposed to do twice per day. While we watched the news last night, I did the exercises. I'll have to figure out some way to anchor them into my morning routine as well. Maybe after breakfast...or after stitching...or something. I'll figure it out.

There were several other errands I needed to run in town. All of them took longer than expected, and so it was a frustrating trip after leaving the PT clinic. I was glad to be home and I took a long nap. It was late in the day by the time I got to my sewing. I finished adding details to the cat.

Here's the photo we took for his driver's license. Have you ever noticed how those are always the worst photos you ever take, and then you have to show the world how truly unattractive you can possibly be for the next eight years? Sometimes I have to cover my mouth and avoid making excuses when I'm asked to show my identification. 

The details are stitched in by machine. Big Bertha badly needs to go into the shop for cleaning and adjusting. She's been having some timing issues, and starting to skip stitches. I'm thinking about taking her in this week and getting a start on some quilting with Eliza.

The only other thing I did was to add the black flange around the edge.

Today I'll add some red sashing squares along the right side, and this one will be finished. 

Next up would ordinarily be my "Quilter's Choice" project. I believe I'll skip it this time around, although I haven't decided for sure. I spent several days this week working on my art quilt for The Endeavourers Color Theory challenge, and that should really count as my "Quilter's Choice." Next up on my list would be to make the last row for Jenny's Flower Garden. Here's how it looked when I worked on it back in November.

It's getting so big, I'm having a hard time capturing the whole thing in a single image. On the other hand, this quilt requires cutting lots of little squares. Given my recent go-round with my rotary cutter (pun totally intended), I might decide to do another "Quilter's Choice" project first. As I'm writing this, I haven't made up my mind yet. I have some cute little minis that might get my attention first. 

Today will be an NBS day, with laundry breaks added in. Also, I noticed I need to fill the bird feeders. These spotted towhees were stationed in the lilac bush outside, letting me know their feeder needs attention. 

It's time for breakfast though, and then I'll probably do my exercises before rewarding myself with some slow stitching. After so much excitement yesterday, a low-key day is sounding pretty good.