Desperate Times
The old adage is that desperate times call for desperate measures. I dispute that on every point.
Coming upon challenging issues, indicates to me that I need to think things through before it comes desperate.
You all know that I have had a stroke that makes the left portion of me less than it was . . . less than I would wish. I have carried on with all that I had previous to the stroke. It may take me a bit longer, but try, try, try again. The leaf raking several days ago didn’t go too badly. Granted, my rake is only 6 inches across, it still managed to roust the piles that were as matted at the manure in a calf pen. Yes . . . one layer at a time.
My true joy is the studio. So named as there is no one choice of activity down in the studio. All is fair game. My goal is to keep it zeroed onto one project at a time. I get nervous when there are UFOs, unfinished objects. It’s not that I think I won’t have time to finish them, I just want to honor the effort and resources that have gone into them thus far.
There have been quite a few posts on here, of this beast of a king sized t-shirt quilt I am doing for Dennis’ grandson, AJ. All has gone well with the slow and steady technique. Once all thirty blocks had found themselves sewn together, I didn’t have to think about it for awhile. I dumped the project onto Old Alley Quilt Shop to do the longarming. I knew I would have a several week hiatus before I would get the call to come and pick it up. Yes, it did make me feel good when I got the invoice and the notations were “Fantastic quilt, I loved the embroidered blocks.” Bless her heart.
The meandering on the quilt top looked great. Hmm. Here I was with the last step. Four hundred and sixty inches of binding was going to be my best friend. I prepared as much flat surface as I could to distribute the bulk. Feeding the quilt under the needle ever so slowly. It really did go slow. The left hand could not grip the heft to take it away as the needle stitched. Creativity to the recue. One of my 2 lb. weights had a surface of fabric much like sticky felt. It didn’t take me long to use that weight as my rudder as the sea of fabric threatened to swallow me. The left hand had only to gently push it and the fabric followed suit. Oh my gosh was this fantastic or what! If the hand didn’t have to work hard the left shoulder also benefited. You can be sure, this little beauty will be close at all times. The 5 lb. weights worked well for anchoring the yet-to-be-sewn quilt.
There comes a time when a break is needed. Tomorrow will be ready for more sewing.