Progress and a lighter heart--

Having finished the second charity quilt, and no pressure to finish the third, I gave myself a day off to play with the latest Fast Friday Fabric Challenge. No deadlines looming, no pressure to do anything else,  I had pure fun. I had forgotten how much fun creating can be.  The piece is pieced and quilted, and a couple of leaves printed on it from one of my thermofax screens.( Gotta get some more of those!)  Today a friend is coming over to explore the wrapped stitch --just play, yet again.

But--working on the FFFC piece showed me how much my technical skill has deteriorated over the past few months of inactivity.  Have you every actually analyzed how much of the hand coordination of using a sewing machine is dependant on the left hand?  With a broken left shoulder, I've been forced to consider this, and I'm very surprised.  All of the gadgetry of the machine is set up for right-handed use, leaving the fabric manipulation and control almost purely a left-handed function. This means that you need a good range of motion and the ability to sustain a muscle contraction for a period of time.  FMQ'g and machine applique, when you want smooth controlled movement, becomes awkward and jerky with a left arm that can't sustain that control. I see a lot of practice FMQ'g in my future.  I also found out that a densely quilted surface is not good for screen printing.  Duh!  Today I hope to be able to do some beading and ribbon work on the piece. The picture is only of the basic background.