Two More Days

 I'm getting pretty excited here.  In just two more days I will have my stitches out and be ready to quilt.  Actually I could probably go mount my next customer quilt right now, but I don't work on Sundays--at least not for money.  Tomorrow we have a meeting out of town so I probably won't accomplish much at home.  Not that I won't try.  At this point I can move my hand and thumb around without pain but the hand does fatigue easily.  It is amazing how much strength is lost when muscles aren't used, and it doesn't take much time to lose that strength.

It is cold here today.  Just 5 degrees with light to moderate snowfall.  A good day for staying in the house and doing whatever you are in the mood for doing.  That might be why I have strawberries thawing on the counter.  A strawberry desert, piping hot from the oven, is what I'm in the mood for.  It really is too bad that we don't have any ice cream in the house.  

I did manage to stitch up a pillow today.  I have some pillow forms that I ordered last month and fabric to cover them, so what better time to get started.  Since I only had one zipper on hand, I could only make one pillow.  I decided to start with the pillow that I need for the small of my back when I'm sitting on the loveseat.  I found some fabric that I had initially planned on using to make a bag.  There is still enough fabric left from the pillow, that by adding some contrasting fabric, I can make a bag.  The pillow's not fancy, but it is already serving the purpose.  

Time Off From Quilting

On January 28, I had surgery on my thumb.  Having trigger finger in my thumb wasn't something that I would have anticipated a couple of years ago, any more than I would have expected a pandemic.   But since when has life been predictable, right?  

Last year was a busy one for the business so to be brutally honest, a couple of weeks off feels pretty good.  The surgery did cause a flair in my myasthenia gravis and that has not been pleasant.  I have honestly not been able to get many of the things done that I had planned for my time off, and that has been a bit of a bummer.  On the bright side, however, I did get one quilt of mine quilted after Christmas.  It is still waiting for binding, which is prepared and ready to go when I can again use my left hand for more than very light tasks.  I also finished a customer quilt which is custom quilted.  Hopefully you will enjoy the pictures of both.  First up is my king sized Labyrinth quilt.

Back:

Borders:

On occasion I get quilts that require hand guided quilting.  These quilts must be reasonably small for me to accept them, as again, there is a limit to how long my muscles will hold out while machine guiding.  This is a quilt from Julie, which needed hand guided background fill around the applique.  

 

The back: 

I was so happy to hear back from Julie that she liked the quilting.  Customer feedback is so much needed so that I can continue to refine what I do.  Thank you Julie.