A little progress, a little sad news

F10 is now underway, and it is still somewhat slow going.

[snorting at "somewhat"]

The finger is still tender, but healing.  Amazingly better than it has been, and for that I am grateful to the medical peeps at the Wayne State University Physician Group in Rochester, MI.  Handwork is infinitely frustrating due to the nature and location of the injury and the s-l-o-w healing process, but I am overjoyed to be able to hold and manipulate a needle and Perle cotton again - albeit clumsily.  In time I will be back 100%, but until then, I am happy to at least be slowly working at my loves.  For now, my crazy quilting is on the back burner.

Nothing much to say or show on the PSQ front, but I can admit to trying my best at identifying and cutting bits and pieces for F10 and F11.3.  I tell you, you have no idea how much [we] take for granted the simple tasks of holding our quilting tools is.  Gripping the rotary cutter is a real chore, as is pinning.

With a gimpy digit, it's even taking a lot longer to machine piece the blocks together.  The normal 2.5 hours for one hundred 1" pieces is up to well over three hours!  Allowances have to made for how I hold and push the glass heads into the seams for meticulous matching of every joint.

So when I tell you how happy I am for each completed block in RowF, I am not blowing it out of proportion.  Also, this row represents a huge familial loss for us.

The second of my beloved quilt testers and sewing buddies has passed. On the 19th of September, we had to help Flop move on to a better place.  This wound will take longer to heal than my finger, and the pain of it will linger far longer.

Rest in peace, Flop.  I miss you and Cleo more than words can say.