It’s Week Eight of massive rotator cuff repair recuperation. One of these weeks, I’ll finally stop counting and then you will know I’ve fully recovered. I’m still supposed to be wearing my sling 24/7, but I have to admit I’m not. When I tried to get them to at least say I didn’t have to wear it to bed, they held the line, and I just thought that was ridiculous so I completely rebelled. You can DIE of sleep deprivation, you know. I really don’t need the sling anymore— my shoulder feels great, I’m not in any pain and I’m being careful not to move the wrong way. And you won’t catch me whining about my results— I take full responsibility for the lack of sling. So from now on, I’m just using it to walk in and out of appointments. 🤣

I’m happy to say I’ve reached the acceptance phase of shoulder grief. I’m almost glad I took the fall last February that precipitated all this. It’s a fact— this shoulder was probably worn out anyway from rotary cutting, long arming, and sewing those long borders on those big quilts. I’m hopeful it will be as good as new and I’ll get another fifteen years out of it!

More good news… I finished something! Harvest Stars is a wrap. I’ve also accepted all my perceived mistakes. While I did like people’s versions with the all-orange stars, I think I got quite a good mix of scrappy going on this quilt. I’m not one to make a pattern twice, but for this one I’d consider it! A very enjoyable make.

It’s the September Sew Sampler Box from Fat Quarter Shop if you haven’t been following along. They’ve really hit it out of the park this year with these boxes. I got two last month. The long lost August box final arrived— presumably the butterfly template was the thing that was stuck on a cargo ship. It’s a relief I’m not in love with the box this time because I have two or three I purchased this summer with finishing kits, untouched. The pattern isn’t fantastic– octagons with appliqued butterflies— I’m no butterfly fan.

And the converse sneakers don’t really reflect who I am today. 😂 So it may do time in my stash until sweet Harlow is a teenager.

Then the October box came right on its heels and it’s another winner, in my opinion. The fabric, by Minky Kim, is modern and fresh. Love the apples and the cute little cherry doily print!

It’s definitely on my to do list— but not before making this bag which was also in the box!
I’ve been wanting to try a bag for a while— the zipper was included and I already have the stabilizer that is recommended. It’s made from the leftovers after the quilt— so I even cut the quilt out first so I have enough for both.

I’m not going to spend for the finishing kit— this time, I’m shopping at Mardens for $6.99 a yard. It should be easy to get a white background— or I may even go with a really light pink since I have this in mind for a baby quilt. Tons of babies right now— which reminds me, Wyatt will be here any day and we’ll be heading down to meet him.

I finished my puzzle! We’re a productive family here— does this count? I’m going to glue it down to the foam core I built it on and scramble up a cheap frame somewhere to start my holiday decorating. When I Googled “what to do with a finished puzzle,” one of the suggestions was to cut it up into ornaments. It sounded cute— I could cut up the people, the trees, and the little buildings into fun shapes. But in the end I decided they are probably too big. I’m not sure how anyone just takes a puzzle apart and puts it back in the box— it was too much work! Anyway, I really enjoyed this relaxing pastime and sincerely hope I don’t buy another one.

I forgot to show you my finished circus lion last week! That’s three finishes for this blog post. I love him, and my cross stitch skills are back 100%. I’m going to wait a few weeks before sewing him into a freestanding character until my sewing skills have also completely returned.

I started right back in on Charlie’s Christmas stocking— I wish I had that software that tells you, you are 65.43% done with the project, but my guess would be 81.83%. It’s not looking like his family will be heading down to SC for Christmas now, so I’m not getting my expected deadline extension. And I do want to fully finish it! This is a BIG stocking compared to Harlow’s horse one I did last year, and that toe area is full coverage.

Love this little lantern- such cute details. The top half is already backstitched at least.

I took a look at my box or two of cross stitch projects. I have about 3 or 4 started and maybe 20 more patterns stashed. Compared to my quilty stuff, that is SELF-CONTROL! I’m already planning what I’ll work on next and when I’m ready, I’ll give you a tour of my boxes. There are some interesting vintage kits in them.

Since I’m now in the market for a new quilt project, I made a list of seven things I’d like to finish— it was scary how fast I was able to do that without even looking. So next week, I’m going to use a random number generator and pick the next one— I was going to work on a different one each night, but I don’t think that’s going to be too efficient, so maybe just a couple of nights, or maybe a block or two. We’ll see.

I couldn’t wait and already found out the first one I will be working on– I’m thrilled!

So that was Week Eight! Thank you to everyone who has taken this shoulder journey (by reading about it 😊) with me. I don’t get many comments except from my inner circle, but I can see on my statistics page that you are there, all over the world. I hope you can get a laugh at my antics and maybe recognize a little something in yourself. We’re all on the struggle bus together right now, aren’t we?

xox
Carol