cutting is a start...

My cast came off on Tuesday, March 10th. I was fitted for a splint and on Friday had my first occupational therapy session. Ruthann is also a member of my quilt guild and had quizzed me on my cast at our meeting-as in, where exactly did I break my hand? Well, on Friday, she could pull up my xray on her computer and we both had a look at exactly where that break happened. A diagonal break between the knuckle of my little finger on my right hand and my wrist. Which means my little finger and the next finger over tendons are the ones that need the MOST exercising to lengthen and loosen up. Moving that little finger sideways and making a totally curled fist is major painful and beyond doing very well currently. Still, that is why you do your exercises and know that in less time than wearing the cast my fingers/hand should be working "back to normal". She made a new splint for wearing at work where I live on a keyboard/ten key machine the majority of my day. That splint rocks. I was good and left it at work. I love being able to take my splint off and enjoy the luxury of using both hands to put on body lotion. Those simple tasks are so much easier with two hands! So, she loaned me a special rotary cutter (the cleverness of choosing to work with a quilter) so I could do some cutting and make sleeves for the fast approaching quilt shows. I finally have something current, quilt related photo to share. This will become the sleeve of my rainbow rail trip around the world - a class I took with Billie Lauder a few years ago. It usually lives on my side of the bed (it's lap size) and only lacked a sleeve for entering into the first guild quilt show, due date for quilts being March 30th.
I need to take a new photo of the quilt, as I seem to only have one of just the top.

What I found using the new rotary cutter is, a huge difference in how you hold it-obviously and how much easier it is to use. It really needs a new blade, so I switched back to my old rotary cutter shown, after putting in a new blade in it. I would have done the same to Ruthann's except it looked more complicated to take apart and then, gosh, what if I could not put it back together?

So, I will put this new rotary cutter on my wish list and one day it will be part of my tool box.

The other cutting I did was for a backing, which is now pieced for the secret FAB challenge quilt project. I am taking it along today to sandwich and be ready for quilting next. Today is my charity group monthly meeting day. It was pushed back to this date for this month only, and will give me a chance to see how I do longer at the machine. After a small amount of cutting, even wearing a splint, I need to stop and rest. So, baby steps will be how it is for as long as it takes.

I am so glad to be able to do some quilting stuff. My knitting continues on my own now that classes are over. When I get to the toe bind off, I will revisit the techinque we were shown. No worries, I can always go to the shop and have a hands on help session. They will get done.

Despite the rainy weekend, it's been filled with joy and I hope yours has been too!