Sewing Difficulty: Improving

Before

After

My broken arm is healing as well as can be expected.  And I am so, so very happy/thankful to be sewing again.  I can't do everything, but I can do enough to keep me from going bonkers!

Hand sewing is a little harder than machine sewing, from having to hold my left hand under the sewing item.  It helps if I wear my splint. 

Crocheting goes fairly well, unless I try to go too fast! 

My hand and fingers are getting stronger and stronger, which is gratifying.  However, my arm is not strong enough to hold down a ruler and use a rotary cutter with my right hand.  It is, though, strong enough to hold down the ruler so that I can draw a line on the fabric with my right hand.  Then I can use a scissors to cut the fabric along the line.  Not as nice as using a rotary cutter, but it works.  I feel  like I'm doing things the "old fashioned" way!  I have discovered something not very surprising:  cutting fabric this way is not nearly as accurate as using a rotary cutter.

Most of my typing of emails, etc, has been done without capital letters, as my left little finger is very weak, and still some numbness/tingling with it, due to nerve damage during my fall.  For some reason, my right little finger just doesn't know how to use the shift key!

Christmas Ornaments, Already!?!

Yes, I'm making Christmas ornaments.  I'm working on some embroidered ones (like I've made in previous years, like these), and also made a couple little spool ornaments.  

I love wooden spools!

For these ornaments, I simply used a blue sparkly fabric to cover the spools.  (No real explanation or how-to needed for this, I think.  Simply turned under edges and glued to the spool.)

Then I looked at the ends, and they looked rather ugly.  There were no labels, but unattractive glue residue.  I didn't really want to bother with painting, but I wanted those ends covered.  So I grabbed a silver sharpie and that did the trick in no time.  

Then I glued plastic snowflakes (bought for use in making cards, which I've done) on the ends, before finally adding some silver ribbon for a hanger.

As you can see, I made one in the horizontal direction, and one vertical.  I'm pretty sure I'll be making some more, in other Christmas-y colors.