Saturday, March 5, 2011

Day 3 of 365

Finally got a good night's sleep last night.

After a couple mornings up at 5 am, it was nice to be able to sleep in a bit. I've started trying to get myself into a routine upon waking up and it seems to be helping my back get moving a little better in the mornings. I go straight from bed to the lift chair.

Yeah, I'm young for a lift chair, but when I had my first rotator cuff repair back in July, it was where I slept. And with my knees and back the way they were/are, having the chair help me out was a good thing. It's not all that comfortable, is very noisy, and appears to be on its last legs. But for me in the mornings right now it works just fine. Being able to sit, then have the chair slowly move my legs up and tip me back - wow. I can feel it working on the back. I get the chair to recline me back as far as it will go (which isn't far), and sit there for a while. It hurts - bad - for about five minutes, but then after that the pain subsides. By about 20 minutes, I'm ready to get up and get some breakfast. Unfortunately, it doesn't help my hands, or shoulders, or knees, but having some relieve on the back is greatly appreciated. Of all the things going on, the back is the hardest to deal with when it hurts so much. So any relief I can get I'll take, even if it's just for a few minutes in the morning.

I did spend quite a bit of time in the sewing room today, working on folding and refolding fabric. I could see where it could be considered physical therapy for a shoulder. Arms up, down, over, across. The shoulders got a workout.

But there's something about fabric for me. I love the colors and patterns. I can't get enough. And I love to make things with fabric. But I think I spend more time organizing and reorganizing it more than anything. And I spend so much time starting projects before my last ones are finished.

However, I have one project getting ready to go out the door. I made a flag quilt top and haven't done anything with it. Haven't quilted it, haven't even picked out a backing. But when I was visiting quiltingboard.com, I came across a lady whose daughter will be returning from Afghanistan in September with eight others. The mom was wanting patriotic quilt blocks so that she could present a quilt to each returning soldier. So instead of a quilt block, I'm sending my entire quilt top. It's heading into the mail on Monday, and I feel good about being of service to others.