Sneak Peek

First of all, thanks to everyone who has been leaving me comments lately. I appreciate them more than you can know right now. I wish I could be better at responding and visiting your blogs, but it's been tough to be consistent, and I'm sure I've missed getting back to some of you. Much of my day is still taken up with therapy, and when I have free time, my first priority is to try to sew. And today my persistence paid off. I'm really pleased to say I finished what I hoped to on the secret project I've been working on. I never thought I'd be able to say that, but as I said in my last post, where there's a will there's a way.

The adventures with one-handed sewing continue. With success! I discovered that I could rough cut fabric into small pieces with my right hand. I cut paper patterns to trim around and adhered them to the fabric with masking tape. It was easier to cut small pieces than to cut a long strip and subdivide it. 

After a couple of sessions, I had all the patches I needed.

It took me parts of three days to piece a strip of geese, but then I got faster and was able to do a strip in an afternoon or evening for the rest of the strips. I'm not going to show you the finished strips here because that would give away a little more than I'd like. But I have to say, paper piecing flying geese was a good choice for this project in my situation. I could cut regular shapes of fabric, the placement of the pieces was in a consistent pattern, and there was no need to join multiple sections.

After I finished the strips, I realized that I would need to cut some longer strips of fabric to finish the quilt top. I would also have to trim the strips of geese. There was no avoiding using the rotary cutter. But I needed to do it safely. (Well, of course! I still have a scar from a slip-up awhile ago. But I mean extra safely.) I remembered that I had some four-pound weights that I had once thought I'd use to build up my upper arm strength. (Ha!) They seemed like they'd be a good stand-in for my left hand. I also had a piece of thin rubber (a jar opener giveaway that my husband got years ago). That would ensure that the ruler would stay in place on the mat. I also used my smaller rotary cutter. I'm not sure why, but it seemed like a good idea. 

Here's how the set-up looked:

I cut very slowly, and it worked great. In fact, I might continue to use this method from now on. Everything stayed in place, and the blade wasn't anywhere near my fingers. 

So now everything is sewn together. I used a bread board on my lap to lay out and pin fabric together before sewing, and I guided my work with my right hand at the machine, sometimes placing it to the left of the needle. It was slow, but accurate. 

So here's a sneak peek at part of the project. The strip on the left hadn't been sewn yet when I took the picture. 

I can't wait to show you the whole thing. You'll have to wait until next week during the Autumn Abundance Blog Hop hosted by Bernie at Needle and Foot and sponsored by Paintbrush Studios. I'm so excited! Especially since I thought a few weeks ago that I wouldn't be able to participate. Five of us will be presenting our projects. Oh, and I heard there might be some giveaways!

See you then! 

I'm linking up this week with Sew Fresh Quilts for Let's Be Social. And after therapy today, I plan to take a break from sewing so that I can be a little more attentive to the blogs. Click on the link here or on the side bar to join the fun.