Biding Time...

I've been looking for things I can do with my right hand (and a little help from the fingers on my left hand) and decided I could prep the September Afternoon Delight blocks for applique. Hopefully I'll be able to do some hand stitching soon. 

I also managed to complete my paint by number that I started about 2 years ago (I had lost interest in it almost right away). It's not the most creative way to spend one's time, but the more I worked on it these last few weeks, the more I enjoyed it--kind of mindless fun and kept me occupied..... 

....but, not occupied enough to keep me from doing some on line shopping. I splurged on a half yard bundle of Judie Rothermel's latest line of fabric, Coming to America. I don't have any plans for the fabric, but just had to have it! I can't wait until I can't start sewing again!

 

September One Monthly Goal

 

The night before my wrist surgery I was looking for something to occupy myself and ended up marking all of the squares and rectangles for Butter Butterscotch by Linda Koenig.

Because of the screws in my hand (feels more like ice picks!), any pressure I put on it is pretty painful, but I think I can push fabric through my sewing machine--maybe not right away but later in September. 

My One Monthly Goal for September is to get all 348 triangles sewn. I don't think I will be able to square everything up though. My instructions are to NOT push, pull, or lift anything over one pound. It's hard to know if pushing down on a ruler to square up a half square triangle exerts more than one pound of pressure, so until I get the okay from the doctor, I best avoid it! 

Linking with One Monthly Goal HERE

August One Monthly Goal Complete

Before this happened.....

...my August Afternoon Delight applique blocks were finished. 

They were my One Monthly Goal for August and, I admit, not a very lofty goal. I didn't want to get too stressed before my wrist surgery on the 6th, so I went pretty easy on myself. I hope to make up for it later this year and get back to completing entire quilts, although that may be what contributed to wearing out my wrist cartilage in the first place--lol!

I was getting pretty desperate to find something to occupy my time (aside from reading and one handed weed pulling). I decided to try my hand (pun intended!) at an adult coloring page from Mary Engelbreit's site.  It was a nice diversion, but after spending so much time on it, what the heck do I do with it? Also, any ideas what the half circle is next to the W? 

Hello thumb--I've missed you! I got my removable brace last week. It's so nice to be able to wash my arm and scratch an itch. I'm trying hard to not do too much yet, but I'm getting pretty antsy!

Linking with Elm Street Quilts HERE for One Monthly Goal 

 

Reading and reading and....

 It's only been a week since my surgery, and I am already feeling reader's fatigue. 

Even though I can't do any stitching, my Lap App has come in pretty handy. I'm using a strip of tee shirt sleeve (from what's left of my go-to mask making shirt) as a phone holder while I read. it's been working great--glad I thought of it! I have two Kindles but they are old school push-button navigation, so I prefer swiping on my phone's Kindle app.

It's also is helpful for reading books--wish I had realized this a long time ago!

I haven't tried a magazine but I'm excited to dig into this one--just arrived yesterday. 

The last thing I worked on before my wrist surgery were the appliques for my Di Ford quilt. It's hard to know that everything is ready to go but I have to leave it all untouched.

  My post-op appt. is still a week away, so I am trying to be good. The most strenuous thing I have done is to deadhead my petunias--lol! Actually, writing this post hasn't been easy. Thank goodness for the undo button! If I post again, I may forego caps and punctuation--just a warning. 

August One Monthly Goal

My One Monthly Goal for August is to complete the applique blocks for this months Afternoon Delight BOM. I have five days to get them done. I'm going easy on myself since after the sixth I will be "out of commission". I'm finally biting the bullet and having bone fusion surgery on my left wrist as the cortisone hasn't been helping with the pain anymore. I've had my Covid test and am self isolating until the "big day". 

I was hoping to get all twenty Clayton James blocks completed before surgery, but only managed to get this far. I've been cleaning cupboards, relining shelves and drawers, washing windows and weeding my gardens. I have been feeling like I will never be able to do anything ever again! My instructions are to keep my wrist absolutely immobile after surgery for up to 6 weeks (possibly longer) to allow the fusion to heal, so I won't attempt to finish any of more of these blocks for quite a while. 

In anticipation of getting back to sewing this fall, I have cut out and made test blocks for several quilts from Linda Koenig's Ratsburg Road Quilts book. 

In the meantime, I will be catching up on my reading! 

Linking with One Monthly Goal here:

 https://www.elmstreetquilts.com/2020/08/one-monthly-goal-august-link-up.html

July One Monthly Goal Finish

My July One Monthly Goal was to complete the Broken Star quilt. You can see I did  an edge to edge design--Amoebas Gone Wild. 

I originally began quilting this with straight lines, but when I was almost a third of the way through, I realized that I didn't like the way it was looking--so many lines going on between the blocks and the quilting! Too bad I didn't figure that out before I was so far into it.
Needless to say, the next two days were not happy--especially since my sewing room registered 89 degrees--whew! 

I managed to use up some nice chunks of leftover fabric for the backing--always a good thing. 

And a sweet check that was gifted to me, cut on the bias for the binding--love it! 

Linking with One Monthly Goal HERE

The Parade Continues.....

Are you feeling the Sweet William block parade fatigue? I know I am, so here are all the rest of the blocks in one fell swoop. I think I managed not to repeat any of the previously shown blocks. 

Now I have some big decisions to make. 

I am having second thoughts on the yellow gingham alternate blocks (do I really want a yellow quilt?). Also, do I set the blocks like the original quilt or a regular on point setting?

 So many things to ponder!