It Really is All About Your Health

I have been trying to sew.  Really I have.  But I have been plagued by aches and pains.  Emphasis on pain.

I don't do pain well.  Now, before you say who does?, I will let you know that my mother had an insanely high pain tolerance.  This meant she never understood normal pain tolerance, let alone low pain thresholds like mine.  She made fun of you for not being able to hack it.  I have since learned that her high pain tolerance was due to her 3 pack a day cigarette habit.  She had fried every nerve ending she had and thus the synapses didn't exactly fire right.

Anyway, I don't do pain.  Aches I can tolerate but pain, no.  And the pains were in my feet.

I have spent a lot of time (and a lot of money) on therapies to figure out how to fix this problem.  Things were massively out of alignment and then muscles were tensed up and needed serious relief.  When it all got done, it was AMAZING.  I could walk without pain.  I could walk without thinking (trust me, you hurt enough, every movement becomes a conscious thought process).  Additionally a lot of other muscle groups were helped as well.

I felt great!  So I had a Coke to celebrate.

And kept having one a day for many days.

And all the pain came back.

So we figured out that's what it was.  I removed soda from my diet.  I love soda.  I mean, I really love soda, but it has to go.  It was a very rough week.  I am through the worst of it, but man it was horrible.  Additionally, I requested a few blood tests to check for various arthritis things (all are negative).

And then on Thursday, the pain became less worse.  On Friday, even less worse.  On Saturday, she worked on all the pained areas and then I could walk again.  Everything is still inflamed, but slowly I can cope.  Very slowly.

And this is why I couldn't really sew.  Many days after work I would come home and just crash.  The withdrawal from soda had me home sick for a half day.  Sadly, the pain won too many times.

And now, finally, I feel like I can sew / craft / whatever.  I was able to get my paperwork in order.  I was able to make sense of my living room.  I could say yes to a sleepover for my child.  I was able to cook for my family.  I could knit.  I could sew.

And now I am figuring out what to do this week.  I have my knitting goal sorted out for the week and then the handwork after that.  For sewing, I think I have a plan and I hope I get it done.  I am behind schedule for DJ and some other things, but I can make it up now that I feel like I have some energy.

Truly, it is your health.

March 1 - 10

OK, here goes the first 10 days of Dear Jane. 

For March 1-10, a lovely teal color with cranberry dots was chosen.  The blocks are as follows:

A-1

B-8

G-6

I-4

I-11

RT-7

LT-7

2 solid triangles

However, I have other goals each of the 10 days, which I call homework.  I need to complete Just One Thing (JOT) for either of the 2 Bonnie quilts I am trying to finish and for either of the 2 Blue Snow quilts I am trying to finish.  I need to make 2 Xmas gifts.  I need to make 3 Just Takes Two blocks.  I need to clean the sewing area for 15 minutes.

So far, I have done the JOT for Blue Snow, made the 2 Xmas gifts and made 3 DJ blocks.  I am not sure how much more I will get done between now and when I go to bed – LOL!

Homework will roll over until all items are completed.  The 31sts of the appropriate months are just bonus days.

I think this whole week is pretty good to get stuff done, but it will overlap the first March session and the second March session. That’s fine too; I think by the end of March I will be where I want to be.

A Pair of Dice

And musings on the number 13.

I’ve gone ahead and started a Dear Jane. And I don’t want to do the whole Trip Around the World thing. And I

want to reuse fabrics. And I don’t randomize well on my own.

So I decided I would do 5 blocks and 2 triangles every 10 days. (And also cut 2 solid triangles to go between.)

That is what I hoped to get out of each cut of fabric. However, how does one pick the blocks? I decided that a

roll of the dice will do. But there are 37 blocks that the dice will never hit: All the A blocks, all the M blocks and all of the remaining 13 blocks down the right side. So every 10 days, I will do the next block in the A row, roll for 4 random blocks and 2 random triangles and off I go. (Now that I think about it, the 4 13 triangles won’t get rolled either, but whatever.) (Wait, when I get to the 13th triangle I’m making, I will just do one. Problem solved.)

My 30’s fabric selection is eclectic. I have some charm packs, some 6 inch squares from a swap and some

half yards as I like them. And a whole bunch of pink yardage because I love it. So of course how do I use it all

and randomize it all? 

I of course overthink this. Here we go:

I will alternate between yardage and coordinated charms every 10 days. Right now I am using a lovely teal

blue. The lovely color wheel tells me that orange would be the compliment, so that is what I will use from the

charms. I can’t cut solid triangles from the charms so that does concern me, but I will think of something. 

And so I will proceed this way. I will also allow myself 2 half yard cuts of fabric each month from Boline’s, which is extremely affordable. Like $10 will buy those 2 cuts. And they are in town. And the owner belongs to the guild.