Sew Many Issues...

I worked for three hours today (two hours for the block schedule and one hour at lunch), and unfortunately did not get much done.

I hate complaining and don't want that to be the focus of this post, but I do want to mention that, even with a sewing machine, working with one arm is nearly impossible and this post reflects a lot of frustration. Also, because I had surgery just a few days ago, I'm not allowed to really use my arm that much. So sewing was a blast... *sarcasm*

(Before I got frustrated.)

Alright, so the first thing the sewing machine did was spit out sewing machine clouds for me. The entire time, I was like, "seriously?!" I thought that the sewing machine and I had a greater relationship than that! But nope, clouds galore.

(A little thread cloud.)

I needed to cut off the side of my fabric because I couldn't use a seam ripper with one hand. It was just a crazy mess. The scissors were difficult to use as well because I was trying to hold the scissors and cut with the same hand. It really just didn't work at all. Nope nope nope.

But then I finally got the seam sewn, with just a tiny thread cloud at the tip. So that was fine, I guess. As I kept going, however, it got harder. Because I was trying to use my good hand to press the backstitch button, the seam was crooked. As the strip got longer, and therefore heavier, the seams got more and more skewed. So while the strip got longer...

(Crooked and unfinished seams.)

The seams got more and more crooked.The fabric would shift so much that sometimes, I'd only be sewing on one layer, which was completely and utterly pointless. Although outwardly, I was trying to laugh it all off, but to be honest, it was just SO INCREDIBLY FRUSTRATING. 

The crooked seams were just really annoying, which made me wonder if someone out there made sewing machines for lefties. (I realized later on that sewing machines technically favor lefties, though they don't really help out one-armed righties.) At this point, I just sort of wanted to give up and cry, but then I persevered on, hoping that better things would happen. Naturally, that didn't happen.

If spitting out way too much thread wasn't bad enough, my new enemy Sewing Machine decided to withhold thread. I think I sort of panicked - I didn't think I was thaaat bad at sewing to break a virtually unbreakable (Mrs. Rushing's words, not mine. :) ) machine! When I checked the machine, I realized that the sewing machine had completely unthreaded itself. The thing that sucked the most, however, was that the unthreading is something that's nearly impossible with only one working arm and hand. Fortunately, Sasha did threaded the machine for me. I'm glad that I didn't have to ask Mrs. Rushing for help on that one.

The sewing machine unthreaded itself not one, nor two, but SEVEN more times during the next two hours. Poor Sasha had to rethread the machine every single time.

(Thank the world for people like Sasha <3)

I spent three hours on the project today, and I only finished one strip. I spent the majority of the time ripping out seams, silently cursing myself out in my head, and trying to guide fabric through without losing my fingers. If you see the photo below, notice that my (right) hand has crossed over to try to keep the fabric in place. When I first began this project, Mrs. Rushing told me never to try to cross my hand over like that, as it'd be really easy for me to accidentally pass my hand under the needle... which, needless to say, would be bad. But well, here I am, being a rebel.

(Warning: Do not try this at home.)

I'm not going to finish my quilt and I think I've made my peace with that. I'm supposed to present on Thursday (but I have a doctor's appointment so I'll have to talk to Mr. Duvall about switching the day) so today was essentially my last day to work on my project.

(To add insult to injury, now I have to go over my pants and my arm sling with a lint roller. Yay.)