2024 Week 18 To-Do's: Nature's Schedule & Let's Talk Back Pain From Sewing

Happy Tuesday!

I've been a little busy with yard, garden and other outdoor work

and playing a lot of golf so it's been a couple weeks since I last

checked in.  I have not skipped any quilting though so I'm

anxious to share what's been going on in the sewing room!

* * * Week 15 Priority * * *

Finish Star Chain blocks; come up with a name:  Done

This one is quilted up and just awaiting the binding that I have

ordered online--and not only that, it's part of a MSQC bundle so

it'll be another week before I see it.  I can't wait to finish it though

because once I quilted it, it became exponentially prettier to me.

It's another white quilt so it'll be tough to catch its beauty in a pic

but I'll see what I can do!

On the name, I'm just going with Star Chain.  Easy enough.

2) Top off any needed pics for Etsy & get all 6 (!) quilts listed.

I finally pushed myself and got every one of them done.

You wanna know something really exciting?  I sold 2 of them along

with 2 other quilts, within 24 hours of the new listings going live.

Best. Day. Ever. for my little quilt shop!

"Pepitas" made last fall

I also received a request from a customer to make another of my

Pepitas quilt as she was sad to have missed out on that one.

I don't take special orders but I'm always up for making pumpkin

quilts, especially when my stash is up for it too.

This leads us right on into the week ahead...

* * * Week 18 Priority * * *

Finish Pepita quilt blocks; possibly get entire top done?

(Pattern is "Pumpkin Fest" by Corey Yoder)

As I've mentioned, garden and yard work abounds, and then

I have to go work out all that back tension on the golf course.

However, there is rain in the forecast later this week so I may be

in the sewing room quite a bit.  I am so thankful that no matter

the weather, I will always be able to do activities that I love.

At this point, I have all 82 pumpkins done and I've gotten a

start on piecing the stars so it is reasonable to aspire to

completing this whole top.  I'll just let nature decide what

I devote my time to most this week.

In other news:

All spring crops are in:

Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, 4 squash varieties, cabbage,

broccoli, Brussels sprouts, carrots, all onion varieties,

shallots, spinach, beets, green beans, tomatillos...

Am I missing anything??

Besides the garden:

I'm painting our two decks, filling all planters with flowers,

decorating our front porch and decks, trimming shrubs and

trees (especially the fruit trees), weeding flower gardens, etc.

Always so much to tend to but I'm grateful that I enjoy it.

Learning to not let it overwhelm me seems to be the key.

Taking care of me:

I never liked how quilting puts me in a chair so much.  I get up

constantly to use the iron but with my major back problems, I'm

usually at a pain level of 5 or more after a day in the sewing room,

even with many breaks.    As the spinal pain increases, the surrounding

muscles tense up, adding more pain and knots and the whole darned

thing just spirals down very quickly.  Let's just say you don't want to be

 around me at that point.  What do I do?

If you get back pain from sewing, here are some of my personal tips:

I take hot epsom salt baths most nights and I get a deep tissue

therapeutic massage once a month.  I credit my masseuse with keeping

me off the operating table a second time.  She is AMAZING!  (She is also

currently booked 8 months out so good luck to any newbies trying to

 get in with her!  That's worse than my back surgeon!  So yep I book

my appointments about a year out to make sure I get her!)

If you struggle with the idea of getting a massage, trust me on

this one.  Bite the bullet, do your best to relax and just try it.

It's hella cheaper--and so much more enjoyable!--than surgery.

I also golf as much as I can.  It's amazing how it loosens my muscles

 back up IF I take pain meds before every round to get them started.

And I walk the course, riding only in extremely hot weather.

If you can't golf, at least get out there and walk.

I use Biofreeze constantly--and I really don't care that I

smell like "Eau de Biofreeze Parfum," as I call it.

On really bad days, it's Cool Azul by Young Living.

(Pricey stuff, but it's also really good stuff!)

Inflammatory foods are off the plate.  No sugar.  Zip.  Zilch.

(No fake stuff either)  And for me, flour.  

Do I stick to this?  Sometimes for weeks and then the little

cheats start happening and then the pain gets bad enough

for me to stop completely again.

Well my back continues to degenerate and as it lately has begun

dipping into a new level of yuck, the idea kept popping into my head

that I need to take care of me.  I never really like that phrase because

it seems so blasted passive.  I don't like to sit or lay around because

it makes me feel lazy and unproductive, and worse it actually hurts

my back!  (Yup, I can't even rest.)  But finally it occurred to me that

"taking care of me" shouldn't always be passive; it can mean taking

action....like doing this yoga for back pain that I found on YouTube

years ago.  I started it back up and haven't missed a day since.

Chloe joins me at yoga time but she chooses her own poses.

Does it help my spinal pain?  Not really because what I need

is to somehow generate new fluid between all the vertebrae.

(I constantly joke about waiting on a spine transplant.)

But does it help my hip and muscle pain?  Heck yes!  On day one,

I was so tight I couldn't sit cross-legged--but I can now.

There are definitely days where I'm tighter but overall, it's helping

and it always feels good so I wanted to share it with you quilters.

(And if you golf, you'll really love what it does to your game!)

If you try it, keep me posted!

Have a lovely week and happy quilting!

Linking up to:

Monday Musings by Songbird Designs

Tuesday To Do by Quilt Schmilt

Sew & Tell by Melva Loves Scraps