The Youngest and the Adventures of the Baby Quilt

IT'S A ME MARIO ... Just Joking it's the Youngest

 

Alight - I have taken a small hiatus from blogging .... however I have not from sewing.

Now that my beautiful sewing room is done, the sewing fairy has sprinkled her sewing dust on me!

 

(probably fabric dust from a day of cutting)

 

 

With a little nudge from my Mum I have been using up what scraps I can find and putting together baby blankets. Why so many baby blankets you many ask HA well my oh so lovely Mother kindly reminded me that all my friends are at the baby age and wouldn't you know ... that's all I see ALL over my social media these days.

 

SO I might as well stock up on the quilts and hunker in for the baby storm that is blowing my way ☺

 

I have just recently completed a quilt for our neighbours. They are having their second child and the sex of the baby will be a surprise. Usually when you don't know if someone is having a beautiful baby boy or gracious baby girl the colour I find most are drawn to is that gender neutral yellow.

 

Well surprise surprise, I am not the biggest fan of yellow or overly bright colours ... but I stepped outside of the box on this baby quilt. I'm starting to learn that every time I venture out of my colour comfort zone I am astonished at how much I love the final product.

 

Lately I am all about being thrifty and using my left overs so I decided to use this jelly roll. I had it already half cut up and pieced together for another project that didn't quite see the end so I picked up right where I left off. My mom showed me a quick and easy way to turn those jelly rolls from just strips to really neat squares. I believe there is a quilt tutorial on this from Missouri Star Quilt Company - with 3 Dudes Quilting.  https://youtu.be/L5Ixvjje310

Below are some of the blocks sewn together.
 

 

 

Oh and as a side note - If you have not got the APP (application) for Missouri Star Quilt Company on your Phone or Tablet, it is a must. There are excellent tutorials on there. Also a good place to start if your looking for some inspiration.

Below is a picture of what the APP Icon looks like.

 

 

If you don't already know I am not a consistent quilter. I quilt in big spurts. I get a project and I have to work work work work until it is done and then I may not quilt for months after. My Mum laughs at me for this. Before I had a sewing room I would show up at my Mums door with fabric in tow and a BIG idea for a new quilt. Then I would basically squat at my Mums house until I got enough of the quilt done that I was satisfied. Sewing 12+ hours straight is a common occurrence when I get the quilting bug. Good thing my Mum is patient.

 

Well that sewing fairy sprinkled her sewing dust on me and I was bit by the quilting bug so I knew I had a long day ahead of me. I managed to get all the 3 Dudes Quilt blocks together in no time. However the quilt was a bit to small, even for a baby.
It definitely needed a boarder!

 

 I wasn't so keen on driving 45 minutes into the city just to get some extra fabric. So ... I drove 45 minutes and saw my Mum instead ☺ She had seen the project I was working on and had some spare stash that she said would work perfect.
Can't argue with the sensei.

 

My Mum gifted me the orange bumble bee boarder and the polka-dot binding.

(What a lucky girl I am)

 

Once I had the bumble bee border on it still looked a bit unfinished to me so I added a piano boarder with whatever remaining scraps I could find. The quilt really was about being resourceful.

 

 

I usually try my hardest to convince my Mum to sew the binding on for me.  The reality is that she is way better at it than me and you can NEVER see her stitches. But unfortunately for me she is out of commission since her hand surgery and I had no other choice but to go solo on hand stitching the binding.

 

Don't nit pick to much, but I am slowly getting better with each quilt binding I stitch on. My corners are turning into less of a monstrosity and the stitches are getting less and less noticeable. I do however have a new item on my wish list seeing that I will have to stitch the binding myself now.

 

BINDING CLIPS - Where have you been all my life !!! These are like gold.
 

 

With all the bright colours in the quilt just about any backing would have looked great. I chose to go with a baby soft fuzzy teal. What a good choice, I absolutely love how the bright orange pops against the teal. This is a winning colour combination, and I will definitely use it again! 

 

 

 

 

 

This quilt is just so fun looking, I can't wait to see what my neighbour thinks of it!

 

LAST BUT NOT LEAST HERE IS THE FINAL PRODUCT

As always thanks to my Mum for all the help !!!

 

Until we meet again - The Youngest

Basal thumb arthroplasty with tendon interposition

49 days post surgery

Looking much better than last time! Massaging with oil 4 -5 times a day. Exercises are painful, but giving me more movement slowly. I cannot bend backwards/upwards at the wrist. the thumb is moving a bit. The photo below shows how flat I can have my hand thus far. I cannot lay my hand flat on a surface.

Extreme wrist pain during the night -- I am back to wearing my full length splint for sleeping and the smaller splint during the day. Still pain in the wrist during the day as well. Physio is having me work on not wearing a splint at all during the day - one hour of no splinting added each day.

Since the pin has come out, I am not having those "zapping" pains. The surgeon said it was from the nerve hitting the pin when I moved my thumb a certain way.

Typing is painful with the left hand. I hunt and peck with my dominant hand, which is exhausting. Reading is fine as long as I don't have to hold the book with my left hand. Thus internet with right hand clicking is easy.

Physio has said I need to start using the left hand. It's limited though to very light things [like a sheet of paper, or my eyeglasses]. I cannot hold utensils or grip a glass. There is no way I can pull the bed sheet over me without squealing! Chef is still helping me pull my pants up. I cannot pinch my thumb to all of my fingers. I can only reach [with much shaking] to the middle finger. I am VERY excited about that as I couldn't even do that last week!

I can almost make a fist! Mind you, I don't think I would ever be able to follow through with a punch! My fingers are extremely stiff.

I took a shower BY MYSELF today! Very exciting! Though I still have trouble with shaving my right armpit with my left hand. I'll pretend I did a great job! Who says you have to be totally dry before you get dressed? Chef has not said anything about me being wet when he helps pull my pants up! LOL I think he doesn't want to crush my enthusiasm about any of my independent efforts! Chef still needs to help me with my antiperspirant on the right side and taking off the cap first as I can't grip it. It's these simple things that are so frustrating. I still rely on him to brush my hair into a pony tail. I can't grip anything in my left hand, and that includes my hair! He's become an expert now! I am so grateful to him. He has been a trooper through all of this Like I said...simple...I can cut the nails on my left hand, but Chef has to do my right. Forget tying shoes! Every top I own is slipped over my head, so that's pretty easy.

Going out... anywhere, is limited to an hour and half. After that I have to come home and elevate my hand and ice. Hopefully that will get better in time!

I am back to physio tomorrow. Hopefully Vanessa will be pleased with my progress.

That's it for the update! It has taken me well over an hour to do this, so I am off once again to do my exercises and then ice!

Happy Quilting Everyone! Thanks for all your email well wishes! The Youngest should be posting shortly!

Margo

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update Sept 3/15
Had physio today. extreme swelling and lots of pain.
Switched into short compression type splint with solid molded area to keep thumb in position.
Still to wear long night splint.
Concerns over the persistent wrist pain I have. I cannot rotate my wrist or bend at the wrist upwards. Back to see surgeon next week. Possibly to have an injection to the wrist. I came home and had a cry.
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update Sept 1/15
only using a compression glove - Tommie Copper - comfortable
still have swelling and pain - now upped the T3's to 3 times a day as per surgeon's recommendations
Surgeon is concerned I may have developed Complex Regional Pain Syndrome - 5 more weeks of physio and then he will be sending me for an MRI if there is no improvement
Working hard on physio - my therapist Vanessa is pleased with my progress
Not one hour without pain, so it's very discouraging!
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update Sept 27/15
worst night since surgery. Was up in excruciating pain until 4 a.m. Two T3's didn't touch the pain. Sat sitting up with hand elevated and ice on my thumb - helped a bit.
Swelling to the thumb area only - don't know what is going on.
Still doing my physio, but cut down to 3x a day. Have been working with therapy putty. Did I overdo it?
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Oct 22/15
I am at 15 weeks with the anchovy procedure. I am now having wrist pain and had a cortisone shot in the wrist yesterday and am in a wrist brace. I also ended up with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome - so I am doing physio exercises for 45 minutes 2-3 times a day. I still have the grip issues and cannot do basic things like opening jars, door knobs, even pulling up my pants on putting on deodorant are painful. I also have had major swelling so ice and elevation have resulted in shoulder issues. So tired of this. Yesterday I told the surgeon to chop my hand off. So discouraging, but yet again, everyone on here sounds happy at the end of it all. There are times where my hand doesn't feel like my hand, if that makes sense.