Work in Progress

If you have several projects in progress how do you decide which to work on at any point in time? Do you start something new and just leave your previous projects hanging or are you someone who works on projects for a specified time period and then switches to something else? Maybe the question should be why do we start a new project before finishing up the current one. I've spent quite a bit of time thinking about my projects and how I approach them over this year. When having chemotherapy I found some projects more relaxing and less tiring than others to work on. At times I couldn't work out how to put together complex blocks or follow knitting patterns, the effect of chemo brain. Then I may have felt unwell when i worked on a particular project so put it to one side. Add to that feeling generally tired which made me lose interest in working on any of my projects. In short there is a whole mountain of reasons why projects end up at the bottom of pile waiting to be worked on.

On Monday I decided I needed to get back to sewing and thought I'd just go through my various projects.  The first bag I pulled out had the blocks I'd made for the Austen family album quilt. I had forgotten about these 11 blocks and lay them out on my bed to see what they looked like. Over the day I made block 12. The blocks finish at 12 inches and generally make up quite quickly. There are 24 blocks to make and if I made one a day the top could be finished by October.  So today I decided to make a couple of blocks.

Unfortunately the colours are not showing as they do real life. Tomorrow I'm hoping to make two more blocks.

Yesterday I had my follow up appointment with my surgeon. The surgery cleared the bit of the cancer that was left with a wide margin of healthy normal tissue round it. The wound is healing nicely and I am feeling really well. I'm going to be having radiotherapy in October to help reduce the risk of re-occurrence. Yesterday evening we took a family trip to our local dosa restaurant to celebrate the success of my treatment to date and to enjoy a family evening before the next stage. My hair is also starting to regrow. I've had short baby soft hair for a while but it is now thickening up and starting to gain length. It needs to grow faster as the cooler weather leaves my head feeling really cold but I do love my fluffy head and prefer it to wearing my wig.

The other project I want to finish in the near future is my mariner's compass quilt. Here's the last photo I showed you.

Since then I have completed the flying geese blocks and attached two sides of this border. I need to make the cornerstones in order to add the other two sides. Once that is done there is just a final border to add to complete the top. There is no piecing involved in the final border but I do need to cut the strips for it. Following my surgery I am not allowed to lift anything heavy with my right arm so once the top is complete this project will be put away until after I have completed my radiotherapy at the very earliest. 

I've been watching the news about hurricane Irma and the destruction it has caused so far. My thoughts are with all of you affected and I pray you all stay safe.

Lyndsey