DRIVNG ON THE NEW FRAME!

It felt so good to load up a quilt on the 'new' frame! 

 I still had a lot of going from the front and back but I had lots of room to move around and the quilting moved along beautifully!

I used a simple meander for this donation quilt 

which was a good introduction for my right hand.

Prior to the quilting frame work, I did some 'surgery' on my brace.  With the bandaging off, the brace didn't fit wel anymorel.  I made it shorter on my forearm and used the heat gun to warm up the material so I could cut and shape it as needed!

It went very well and now my thumb is protected and held straight so that tendon will have a chance to heal!  And at the same time, the fit on the rest of my hand/arm is comfortable, too! 

(FYI, the knitting and crocheting will have to wait until I have a functioning thumb....it was worth the try.)

BOUNCING BACK

The stitches are out and I am glad that is behind me!  The swelling is still pronounced but I think things will keep looking up.  I have to make friends with the orthodic but I am going to take the heat gun to it today and make some of my own modifications! lol  No, really!  With the thick bandages off, it has gaps and rubs on my baby finger, the base of my index finger and the top of my thumb.  I'll let you know how it goes.  I'm looking forward to a shower without a plastic bag, but I do need to keep the brace on--should be interesting!  I have clearance to use all four fingers so will try to devise a new way to knit and crochet!  I might have a show and tell tomorrow!

 

PT

This bougainvillea and Live Oak is across the street from the PT buiding.  What drew my eye was the vining plant up the middle of the tree!  It looks like Hawaiian Pothos but I have never seen it so large up a tree before!  Very cool.

Today I go to get my stitches removed at the hand dr's office.

I anticipate a good lunch date, if I'm good!

 

SINGLE-HANDED PIECING

I decided to piece a row a day and then to add it to the rest of the top.  it takes a LOT longer than with two hands in case you wonder!  i patiently pinned and slowly stitched until finised.

Another row added to the top 

and determination will see the rest done. 

 Off to PT first , lunch and then onward to some sewing!

 

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

I know it's the end of March when my fringe tree bursts into bloom! This one goes from looking like a dead tree to a dead tree with these ghostly large blooms almost overnight!

The blooms are beautiful and smell sweetly aromatic. 

If we get enough rain, they last for a few weeks.

My project for the day, was to take off this broken old folding door and replace it with a new one!

I was able to remove the old door and all the mess, but could not single handedly get the new door hardware put together or to use the drill over my head to attach the hardware! Since Bill was outside working, the conclusion of this job will have to wait till it rains again and he's stuck in the house!

 

SORTING A CORNER

Since I am cut off from my yarn adventures, I thought it would be a good time to organize this corner of my bedroom!

I pulled out each of the items, one shelf at a time.  

The printed patterns were stuck in willy-nilly and took the longest to organize and place in the appropirate file!  I did toss a ton, too.

The yaran was taken to the studio and put in the shelves for the weight/fiber bins. 

And just like that, everything is organized and my mind is refreshed about which project is in which bag!

 

FRIDAY FELINES AND FRANKENSTEIN

Rainy days bring the cats in and make me lazy! 

 We make a good pair!

 This is what the bandages and brace hide.... A bit gruesome.  The incision on my index finger it's where they snipped the tendon that used to go there so they could use it to reattach at the tip of my thumb hence the incision at my thumb . The incision at my wrist was to smooth over the rough part of the bone so this won't happen again !

 But it does look better than it did on Tuesday.  

The bandages were too tightly by the nurse so I had Bill wrap much more loosely this time!

SWEETNESS

One of the best things about March is that it's strawberry season! Bill and I will be cutting these up;

 some for eating fresh and some right to the freezer.

After a bit of rain the orange amaryllis throughout the yard are almost done but look at this almost the best for last! So delicate and pretty.  I hope this one spreads like the orange ones have.

And it's never too late to enjoy a good Shamrock 

or even a whole pot of them! 

 And while puttering yesterday, I finished the leader fabrics-cutting them down in size and serging the ends so they won't ravel. Then I applied the double stick tape to each of the metal bars so that I could attach each leader fabric.

  It felt good to get that completed.

SOLO

Look at the incredible handmade book that I received in the mail from Kim. It is exactly my colors and style!

She used watercolor paper for the pages so I can start drawing and adding touches of color to my heart's delight. 

(perhaps in a little while, that is)

since my precious Georgia Peaches had to head home, 

Bill drove me about an hour away to have a customized orthotic designed for my hand. It felt good to remove the cast and the old bandages; having your hand bathed gently by someone else felt incrediblly good!

The new brace is lightweight and sturdy. It holds that thumb at just the right angle so that the tendon can heal. I can still move all of my fingers to do my daily exercises, and it's even easier to swing my arm for my elbow and shoulder exercises!

Unfortunately, I can't take it off to shower until the stitches are out which is another week away. So Bill will have the fun job of wrapping up a grocery bag around it and using duct tape to seal it up against my skin! LOL

THE GRAND FINALE

We moved in the quilting machine onto the frame; we rearranged and purged all of the piles! 

The cloth hanging on the front of the bars are the leader fabric panels to attach the quilt backing to the frame. They have to be trimmed and reattached.

While I rested, Marsel got a break with Nyki for company...Nyki doesn't like us to tan evenly!

David got an hour break from doing the welding for me when Grandpa needed some help repairing his tractor bucket!

Marsel trimmed plants on my front porch for me (because I can't use a pair of clippers yet, much to my frustration). While she was trimming, she discovered this little guy...look hard, you can see him!

On the way home from PT, we saw this beautiful display of amaryllis! The old Florida house is just a bonus for the photo. PT went well; I really liked the people a lot, which is great since I have to go twice a week for a few months! Today I am going to head to Gainesville for a custom orthotic for my hand instead of the cast. Exciting stuff!

(I have found out how to use speech-to-text to catch up on your blogs -- I've missed you all!)

SPRING!

 After thunderstorms last night, we took a refreshing walk this morning, since morning strength is the best. The azaleas are in full bloom and these are my favorites.

Some of the loquat trees are producing fruit; they are hard and green as they ripen...

...and here they are orange, soft, and delicious.

On our way to smell the orange trees, we spotted this little guy and had to find out who he was. He is an eight-spotted forester moth. He is one of many pollinators we've seen this spring.

This is me all of the rest of the time! My hand is doing well; the pain is a little bit more than I expected. PT is this afternoon and I will let you know tomorrow how it goes! I am curious to see what is underneath all of these bandages and I hope to get my first peek while I am there.

WELDING FOR QUILTING

David got the new welder out this morning and got it

all set up...

...then he tested it on some scrap metal and adjusted it until it was running how he wanted it to.

                                         

Here he is mid-job today, showing the work-in-progress

and the welder.

By the end of today, the newly-sized frame was back in the studio and ready for us girls to add the finishing touches soon. I started out the day with more energy but faded rather fast in the afternoon, and my warden nurse wanted me to rest more instead of doing more.

         The guys celebrated a job well done by taking a nighttime swim!

WHAT WE'RE DOING

Here's David hard at work cutting down my quilting frame. Today he begins welding with the welding machine he and his grandfather bought last night; they couldn't get the old one working right.

Abigail is making good use of the pool, and when she's in the lounger, you can see that Nyki has a buddy!

And if Lena's not in my lap, she's in the recliner in my room to be close by!

I am doing pretty good; my daughter is typing this for me because I have only one hand again and typing is a misery. I'm trying to catch up on your blogs and I am going as fast as I can; until then, you will understand why I am absent from the comments!

NEW ACCESSORY

 

This is what I'll be wearing for the next few months, but the best part is that the surgery was successful, because I can still move my pointer finger and now I can move the tip of my thumb.

What a gift!

SURGERY DAY!

It's beautiful Azalea time in Florida!

My daughter, Marsel, and my two oldest grands are here to help post-op; surgery to repair my thumb tendon is today!  The DR will be taking one of the two index finger tendons to repair my thumb so both of those digits will be in physical therapy for 6-8 weeks.  Lots of time to relearn how to knit and crochet and paint and sew and quilt and garden and write and type! 

Surgery is about 90 minutes. 

 Ready or not, here it comes!

PREP WORK

 Bill has the welder up and working for the big job of cutting down the quilting frame!  It hasn't been used for 16 years so it needed a bit of work! 

 I spent the day getting cards sent out that were long over due--it hurts to write but I got it done before it gets worse! lol  The house is cleaned and the laundry done, my bed has new sheets and the house is ready for most of my Georgia peaches to visit as traveling nurses!