Sunday Sundry 9-19-21

It's been a minute.  I've been neglectful of this blog for a month or so, but rest assured all is well.  Just living life and enjoying the last that summer has to offer.  

If you give any credence to The Old Farmers Almanac predictions of the winter ahead, it may be one of the coldest and longest we've seen in awhile.  Whether or not that comes to pass, I've been reveling in the warmth of the sun as much as I can right now.  

That involves many walks, regular time spent on the deck (under the umbrella) reading, bird watching, cloud gazing, etc.  A day trip here or there.  

(Historic Indian Agency House at Fort Winnebago)

How I wish I could store it all up like a battery, but that's not the way it works.  Or is it?  Having those memories does help get me through the cold and dark days.  That and a full-spectrum light box.

One thing I have missed this summer, though, is biking.  You need functional hands to use the caliper brakes, but my left hand grip strength was very weak following finger surgery in early July.  By mid-August, my range of motion was better, the scar was healed, and it was time to start concentrating on strengthening exercises.  On the recommendation of my physical therapist, I bought the Therapy Putty she suggested and was very diligent with the exercises. 

Unfortunately, I may have worked a little too hard.  Although my grip strength normalized in the left hand, I gave myself the beginning of trigger finger in the process (by way of a somewhat tender lump at the base of the finger where the tendon moves through the sheath).  Not in the surgery finger, but the middle finger on my left hand.  

So now I have to back off the gripping motions and hopefully it'll calm down.  At my next therapy appointment, she'll reassess and see if I need to wear a splint on the left middle finger.  She did already size me for the splint, which is a ring-like contraption that immobilizes the middle finger joint.  

I really hope I don't have to wear it, though; if I do, my middle finger will be in permanent "salute" for several weeks, which will be a dead giveaway as to how I really feel about the subject.

* * * * *

Nevertheless, I have made progress on a couple things in the sewing room.  I put a green border on the small quilt I made from the County Fair quilt scraps, bringing it up to a more ample size for a baby quilt.  I basted it recently and it's awaiting quilting.

I also finished piecing the Waverly quilt top that I intend to gift to a nephew.  It went together really nicely.  

I did buy the suggested ruler, and I'm glad I did.  It helped both in cutting the diamond shaped pieces, and also in the block trimming process.  Normally I try to get by with what I've got when it comes to rulers, but after watching a YouTube video on how to use the DiamondRects ruler when making a Storm-At-Sea quilt and seeing how helpful it seemed to be, I went for it.  Again, very glad I did, and I would highly recommend it.

Honestly, I was feeling a little unenthusiastic about this quilt, thinking it'd be all ho-hum sewing with dull colors, but I really, really like how it turned out.  In fact, I'm thinking I might like to make another one to keep.

* * * * *

I came upon this old quilt pattern among a group of vintage sewing patterns a friend gave me several years ago.  

It had a handwritten note on it that said is was from the 1940s.  It's an applique quilt pattern called "Early to Bed," with a little boy in his pajamas holding a candlestick.  

I thought it was an interesting and charming quilt idea.  I've seen a lot of Sunbonnet Sue and Sam quilts, but not one like this.  Have you ever seen this motif?

Redwork Baskets

Last week I put together a donation quilt top from some beautiful redwork embroidery blocks by Evelyn (Evie) in California.  You may recall she also embroidered the animal themed blocks in this quilt.  Her work is meticulous! 

This time it was 12 basket blocks that I worked with, each one a little different, but all very beautifully done.  

I'm still trying to use my stash whenever possible, and sometimes that leads to interesting fabric combinations.  I went back and forth between some of the options I was considering, but hopefully I've done her blocks justice in the end.

I wanted to make this lap quilt size, so I needed to add as wide a border as I could eke out of that outer red print fabric.  With a little creativity, I was able to cut an 8-inch border.  The top measures around 49x59, which seems like a good size.

As far as the quilting goes, that will have to wait until my hand is a bit further along in its recovery.  Or I may send it off to be quilted and donated.  We'll see.

I'm four weeks out from surgery as of tomorrow.  I'm supposed to start squeezing exercises, beginning with a sponge and progressing to a stress ball.

The bruising on the tip of the finger is almost gone.  The scar is healing, but still a little scabby especially at the crease of the joint.  The finger still tends to swell during the day, so I wrap it when it gets too sausage-y.  The therapist gave me a sample of a support tube (think compression stocking type thing) for the swelling, but it doesn't fit well so I just use the stretchy wrap.  

I can make a loose fist, and I'm typing this post with all 10 fingers, so there continues to be steady progress.  Hopefully by next month, I'll be able to squeeze the brakes on my bike so I can go for a ride!

Sewing Therapy

I watched my 20-something occupational therapist, Kylie, make my splint yesterday. She traced my hand and then cut and molded the plastic in what looked like a steam table and with a heat gun. The way she custom tailored it with such ease, I asked if she sewed. She did! Said she learned to make baby quilts during 2020 when she had downtime due to the pandemic. 

We had a nice conversation. Then we went over my home exercises, which look a lot like the chicken dance.  :)

There was some bleeding when she removed the bandage to redress the finger, so I have to keep it elevated a few more days and basically walk around like I'm hailing a cab.  

[I don't know why my font size is smaller in some places and not others in this post, but I haven't the bandwidth to figure it out today. My apologies.]

One-handed sewing continues.  I sewed some more light/dark pairs together.  I ran out of 3.5-inch strips that I'd cut before surgery, but I found some my friend Marei had sent in a goody box of scraps a couple years ago.  I'm freehand cutting some of those into 6.5-inch long bricks.

Here's what's on the design wall so far.  

This is meant to be a utilitarian quilt, and it is not exactly pretty.  That's okay.  The point was to use up what I had cut into 6x9 pieces for mask making this past year and other scraps.  Secondarily, it's something I can sew easily one-handed while the other heals, and keep my mind occupied.  Sewing therapy, truly. 

Many of the novelty fabrics were given to me to make masks with, so there's quite the eclectic mix, including sugar skulls, tattooed ladies, Disney characters, red pickup trucks, peace signs, cupcakes, and Star Wars.  As a result, it will be a  memory quilt of sorts, and I'm actually kind of digging the crazy mishmash.  

Working close up with all these different prints, I was concerned about having enough light/dark contrast.  I ended up having to set aside a bunch of medium value strips because of that.  

Looking at this photo in black and white, I can see a block or two on the right side that I'll have to swap out.  Otherwise it seems to be going okay so far.

 

High Five

Hand surgery went well yesterday.  I'm sitting here typing one-handed while the bandaged hand looms in my peripheral vision like the Queen's wave.  Once in awhile I do the elbow-elbow-wrist-wrist motion, mostly just to amuse myself.

I'm supposed to keep it elevated above heart level yet today to minimize swelling (and throbbing).  Thankfully, so far it doesn't seem to be too much of a royal pain.

I did have some weird dreams last night.  Twice I woke up after having dreamt I'd accidentally put my hand in a sink full of water and gotten it wet.  My brain was working overtime to reinforce a big no-no of wound care, apparently.

As I said to the surgeon as he was wrapping it up, "that's my get-out-of-housework-free pass" for the next few weeks.  The folks in the OR laughed.

I'd asked not to be fully sedated as was their plan, requesting just local anesthetic and a mild sedative instead.  It worked out fine.  Total tourniquet time, I heard him say, was 14 minutes.  Glad I went the lighter route.

I heard him tell his assistant when he made the incision and saw what the lumps were beneath the skin that it was Dupuytren's.  That surprised me.  My grandma had that, and she had permanent contractures of her ring and little fingers on one hand.  My dad had the beginning of some thickening on his palm, but no fingers bent down.  I was able to tell the surgeon that bit of family history right then and there.  

So apparently it wasn't cysts after all.  It was proof that I'm a Viking.  ;)

Dupuytren's has been called Viking's disease because it tends to affect people of Nordic, Celtic, and Northern European heritage.  Lucky me, I tick all those boxes.

Hopefully, healing will go well.  Meanwhile I did put some fabric through the sewing machine yesterday and today, some light/dark pairs I had cut prior to Tuesday.  Nothing fancy, just nice and easy sewing therapy.

 

Sunday Sundry 7-4-2021

This episode of Sunday Sundry runs the gamut, from half-square triangles to hand surgery on the horizon.  Let's have at it!

Little Farmer Baby Quilt

I'm calling this small quilt "Little Farmer."  It's made from bonus half-square triangles left over from the County Fair quilt—and there were a LOT of them—starting with the largest, which went into the center pinwheels, to the smallest, which made the mini plaid pinwheels in the outer border.

It'll be around 36 inches square when it's finished.  It could be a wall hanging or a large table topper, I suppose, but I think I'll donate it as a baby quilt.  

Garage Sale Haul

We stopped at a rummage sale a week or so ago as we were out walking.  I saw a box full of patterns that looked interesting, but because it was too hot to poke through them all, I offered five bucks for the whole lot.  The woman running the sale accepted and helped me pack them all into an oversized shopping bag.  My hubby raised an eyebrow and muttered under his breath (imagining he'd be the one to lug the bag home), but it was totally worth it (and I carried it myself!).

I still haven't looked at them all in detail to see what's all there, but I'll have some down time to do that soon, because...

A Handy Solution

I will be having surgery this week to remove some kind of cysts or growths on my left pinky.  I've had them for a year and a half or so, but in the past few months they've started to distort my finger to the point that I can't fully extend it anymore.  They don't hurt; they're just hard lumps that have grown to the point they're putting stress on the tendons.

I may be approaching crone status, but I feel like I'm still too young for witchy-looking fingers if it can be helped.  Hopefully, the growths can be removed without further injury to the finger and I'll be able to regain full range of motion in it with some therapy.

The doctor didn't say what the lumps might be, except that it could be "many things," but they'll be sent to pathology and we'll be enlightened from there.

Cutting While the Cutting's Good

In the meantime, anticipating that I may be out of commission for a bit after surgery, I started cutting into 3.5-inch bricks the fabric I had left from making masks during 2020.  It's a wild and crazy bunch, which may not play well together...or maybe they will?  

The plan is to just sew a light and a dark brick together and arrange them in a scrappy zigzag or rail fence way.  I hope to be able to sew something simple as that while the finger heals.

Gardening and Grandma

My flower garden is nothing to write home about at the moment, but the coral bells plant next to the foundation is going gonzo this year!  

That thing never did much when I had it in the flower garden, so a few years ago I dug it out and plopped it in the gravel next to the house.  I had seen someone's coral bells doing well in what seemed like a hot and dry area like that, so I gave it a shot and then pretty much ignored it except to squirt it with the hose now and then.  It took awhile, but this year it's never looked better!  

Grandma Gatewood's Walk is a book I started reading today and so far I really like it.  I can't remember if I saw it on somebody's blog or if it was mentioned in a podcast, but it sounded like something I'd enjoy.  Our local library happened to have a copy, so now I've got a good read for this week.

I've also started Nothing Daunted by Dorothy Wickenden, which was another book mentioned by a fellow blogger recently that sounded interesting, and I like that too. 

I've been into pioneer stories this summer.  I listened to the audiobook version of The Pioneers by David McCullough, about the settling of the wilderness north of the Ohio River, as well as Wau-Bun: The Early Day in the Northwest by Juliette Kinzie, first published in 1856, about the early days of my home state.  Nonfiction and historical books are my jam.  Both of these were excellent.

I'm also making my way through the environmentalist classic, A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold.  What's on your summer reading list?

Positivity Blocks

Have you heard The Joyful Quilter is having a Positivity Quilt Along Block Drive?  I was going to send her one or two, but just like that I had six...then seven.  I'll be mailing these off to her soon.

They go together fast.  Check out the link for the details and see if you'd like to make a couple.  Block mailing deadline is July 30.

Well, that's it for now, friends.  Hopefully, all goes well this week and I'll see you on the flip side of finger surgery after "taking my lumps."  ;) 

Sunday Sundry 2-5-17

Superbowl Sunday Sundry might be an alternate title for this post, but I really don't follow football all that much, the fourth quarter of any Green Bay Packers game excepted.  I'm pretty consistent about catching at least the final quarter if the Pack is playing.  But I actually had to ask someone who was playing in the Superbowl, that's how much I (don't) know.  So "GO _______!" [insert your team of choice], and enjoy the game today.  I might catch a few commercials and most definitely the halftime show!

I've been a little scattered this past month.  My dad slipped on some ice outside his house in the middle of January and shattered his ankle.  He's had one surgery to put an external fixation contraption on the left lower leg.  This coming week he'll have a second surgery for internal fixation, involving the installation of other hardware.  This has meant quite the change in lifestyle, as you can imagine, but he manages to maintain a positive attitude.  I really admire that.

Still keeping up with the Solstice Challenge quilt-along, making one block per week.  Here are weeks 4, 5, and 6.  Later today, I'll tackle Block 7.  Football pun, anyone?

Right now I've got some low-FODMAP chicken stock simmering away in the slow cooker.  The other thing I've been dealing with is my persnickety gut.  If you've been reading this blog for a while, you'll know that I already eat gluten-free and mostly dairy-free, and have done that for 10 years now.  Things got out of whack somehow this past year, and especially after the holidays, which had me searching for other dietary culprits.  

Enter FODMAPs.  If you don't know what a FODMAP is, well, neither did my primary care physician.  But she did hook me up with a gastroenterologist that I'll be seeing in a couple weeks.  Meanwhile, I've delved into the subject online, and just looking at the list of high FODMAP foods had me muttering, "Yep, yep, uh-huh, oh yes..." to the list of gastric offenders.

So now I'm journaling my food intake and reactions, and what fun that is, lemme tell ya.  But I am seeing a definite improvement by cutting back on the FODs and other changes I've made.  Bummer that the onions and garlic have had to go (and apples and asparagus and avocados...oh my), but there are work-arounds for flavor (chives, the green leafy of green onions, garlic-infused oil).  And the chicken stock does smell wonderful! 

Speaking of reactions, I put my usual tinted moisturizer on yesterday and yowza!  Instead of giving me an overall even skin tone, my face went bright red, hot, and tingly.  Not exactly the effect I was looking for.  So off came the makeup, on went a fragrance-free moisturizer with aloe, and in went an antihistamine tablet.  I think it's one of the sunscreen ingredients that I reacted to.  Why now, all of a sudden, I don't know.  I've used that Olay product for years.  Now it's been tossed and I'll be going commando, facially speaking, for a while.  Please don't tell me I look tired.

In the sewing room, I've got a quilt basted and ready to go, a kennel quilt made from old scrubs.  

Not fancy but functional.  Kind of like I feel lately.  

P.S. - Is it spring yet?  I'm dreaming of an herb garden...

Out the Door

I am in a decluttering mode.  I feel like there is too much stuff around and it's bugging me on both a physical (navigationally speaking) and psychological level.  So I am declaring this month "Out-the-Door October."

I'm going to spend a concentrated effort on dealing with stuff—donate it, sell it, organize it, shred it, toss it—and, of course, do some cleaning in the process.  The situation has reached critical mass and action must be taken.

So far, I've sold one typewriter on Craigslist and a bunch of shirts on eBay.  I listed more items this weekend.  Like this ladies' leather jacket.

Also, over the weekend, I cleaned the workshop, where my treadmill is located.  Since the days are getting cooler and it gets dark earlier, I'm walking more indoors again.  But ee-gads, the musty, dustiness in that room!  The workshop is not so much a man cave as it is a general storage area in the basement.  I Shop-Vac'd my heart out on Saturday and then took a small trunk load of stuff to Goodwill.  It felt good.

In the sewing department, I have started working on some things which may potentially be Christmas gifts.  Bummer that I can't share pictures of them at present, but you know how that goes.  I also need to get the sewing space organized better...somehow, some way.

And now for some whine: 

First it was burning mouth.  I've sort of gotten used to that, and it's mostly now a minor nuisance.  A couple weeks ago, though, my eyes started feeling really dry, burning, irritated, and red all the time.  I went to the doctor and got some drops for a possible infection, which didn't help because that apparently wasn't the cause.  Then I saw my optometrist last week because it was still bugging me (and I needed a general eye exam), and he said I've got chronic dry eyes.  He gave me some different, thicker, lubricating eye drops to use at least 6 times a day, probably for freakin' ever.

And of course, what irritates my eyes the most?  Computer work.  Hello?!  IT'S WHAT I DO—for a living and for fun! 

As Roseanne Roseannadana says, "It's always something."

I know that in the scheme of things, this is some petty B.S.  I have many blessings to count (and believe me, I do).  But man, it still ticks me off.  I want my 40s back, and all my hormones and all that went with them, and while I'm at it with the unreasonable requests, may I please have back the ability to digest wheat and dairy products?  Oh, and my retirement account balance pre-2008. Thanks.

I guess if there is a "good" takeaway, it is that this reminds me about balance (remember that computer ejector seat I joked about?).  Meanwhile, it helps to laugh, right?  Some classic Roseanne Roseannadana (below) works for me.

Have a good week, all.  But wait—I almost forgot the point—posting may be light for the rest of this month due to the aforementioned cleaning/decluttering and giving the peepers a break.  I might pop in here or there, maybe show you what I'm getting rid of, progress pics, or if I have something more profound to share.  

How about you?  Does fall give you the urge to clear out?  Anything in particular ticking you off lately? 

Was It Something I Said?

Dudes...ladies...especially ladies.  As if being 50-something isn't already hard enough, what with hormonal changes and all the weirdness that comes with it.  Now come to find out there's more shit that can happen.

Like Burning Mouth Syndrome, which my doctor just diagnosed me with today.

Maybe it was all those naughty words.  Karma's a...well, you know.

I mean, we've all burned our tongues, right?  Which is what I thought a dozen or so days ago, though I could not remember a specific incident.  And it's an annoying feeling, but a burnt tongue heals and it goes away.  Except when it doesn't.  Then it continues to be annoying.  Like, possibly forever annoying.

What causes it?  Get this: Nobody knows for sure.  Could be stress (check).  Menopause or perimenopause (check).  Being female (check).  Anxiety or depression (I didn't think so, but maybe I'm in denial). 

So the pamphlet I brought home says, "One-half to two-thirds of patients will experience at least a partial improvement in symptoms within SIX to SEVEN YEARS [emphasis mine] after symptoms began.  A SMALL NUMBER will return to normal with no residual burning.  [For the others] symptoms tend to remain at about the same intensity."

I hope I'm among the "small number."  In the meantime, it's a good thing I've always liked spicy stuff, because it feels like a never-ending jalapeno pepper up in there. 

I'm going to hit it with everything that may help—extra B vitamins, alpha lipoic acid, baking soda rinses and/or Tabasco sauce rinses (I kid you not, it's on my sheet here).  Everything short of prescription pharmaceuticals, because I just don't want to go down that road if I can help it, and they are only sometimes effective plus have side effects.

Okay, so...end of rant.  On a positive note, before the week got busy work-wise, I went thrift store browsing and found the cutest little vintage covered sugar bowl.

It's from the Horizons line by Steubenville, though I can't find the name of this particular design.  Farm scene?  Anyway, it's a mid-century piece, probably from the 1950s.

I love the colors.  I thought about pretty pinks and greens in my fabric stash. 

One thing led to another and pretty soon I was making a mini.  I got as far as piecing the front and back and sandwiching it. Then I got slammed with work, so I don't know when I'll get back to quilting and finishing it.  I decided not to wait until that day, though, to show you.

The doc's parting words were, "Try to have some fun this weekend," a prescription I do hope to fill.

Heard this song on the radio recently, from John Mayer's newest album.  I like the laid back vibe.

Have a good one, all!