Firing myself up!!

Firing myself up consistently has been a bit of an uphill struggle for several months.  The achiness of osteoarthritis was taking it's toll and finally I relented last month.  After a long talk with my physician and some blood tests, I'm trying to manage the pain with medication.  Early returns are encouraging although as those of you who have the similar issues know, just taking a pill doesn't do the entire job.  We'll evaluate the benefits against the side effects the end of January and in the meantime I have to modify and find routines that minimize aggravating my body.

 

At this point, I'm delighted to be feeling more energetic!!  Saturday morning, I was inspired to set up George for a morning of machine quilting and tackle one of the stack of layered quilts that has been waiting patiently for me!  I was headed to a Therapy Balls Workshop at my yoga studio in the afternoon and thought a morning of being hunched over my machine would set me up perfectly to see if the ball therapy would give me relief from the upper back tightness. 

(Yes, I know I'm not suppose to "hunch" but it's proving to be a hard habit to break.)

 

The easiest piece at hand was a Christmas wall hanging that I put together a couple years ago.  Rather than struggle with "how to quilt" the fussy cut motifs and balance that out with the pieced stars, I went for a simple approach.

I turned the quilt upside down and quilted it from the back with simple wavy lines that followed the contours of the fabric design.

Since the bands of "sand" were narrow, I quilted along each side of them. 

Then I came back and added a line through the mid-section of the "sky" areas pausing every so often to stitch out a funky little star.  There's one in the picture below just behind the wiseman's head - they were disoriented at that point  (-;

I'm pleased with the results -- it was fun, it works with the design of the front, and it only took about 90 minutes which is the upper limit of the time I can "hunch".

I left for the workshop with aching shoulders and the beginnings of a crick in my neck.

Happily, the ball therapy worked and when I returned home, I was able to bind the quilt.

That evening, I added a casing and it's ready to sell!! 

I listed it yesterday in my Etsy Shop (which I'm currently revitalizing) along with two other small quilts.  Wanna' take a peak?

  It's right HERE!

There's only one and I've set it up with FREE shipping!

 

Today I'll be back at the machine -- my group still has a handful of quilts to finish quilting by mid-December to gift to children at The City Mission!!

 

You can check out the Yoga Tune-up Therapy Balls HERE and see if your local yoga studio is offering workshops with them.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

 

Mary Huey