A blast from the past

What's that famous line about having a problem in Houston? Never mind Houston, we have a significant issue at my house. 

This is NOT a pulled glut muscle. It appears to be a very TIGHT muscle right under my left butt cheek, and let's say that I've never experienced pain and muscle spasms like I am. The biggest issue is that there is ZERO relief. I can't lie or sit down without experiencing excruciating pain. Even medication doesn't work. 

Yesterday was the most useless day of my life! Everything I touched would not work. The tension on the long arm—thankfully, I caught it right at the beginning. But did I get back? My brain wasn't functioning. 

Tension with sewing, issues with the digital cutters, and the computers. You see where I'm going -- it was one of those days you wish to forget. 

Now, here's the bizarre thing about my situation: The one thing I can do pain-free is walk after the muscle gets warm and loosens up. I suspect there's a pinched nerve involved as well. This is not new to me, as I've experienced some of this on and off for the last five years, but never this bad. Perhaps this is my wake-up call to get stretching! 

So, if anything in the blog sounds off -- that will be how it is. My brain doesn't seem to function as well as it should. I can't imagine how people live with debilitating pain all the time. 

Needless to say, it was a toss-and-turn night, and I finally managed to get a few hours of sleep on the sofa. So everything is late, but that's OK. 

I will teach two of my three classes tomorrow, but the third one with the fewest students? That is going to be moved. I'm not ready, and there's no way I can be prepped for that. This has never happened to me! 

However, I should be OK once I get going and warm up this muscle. The thing is to take mini breaks and try to release that muscle. I happened to have a massage booked yesterday, and the therapist worked on it but to no avail, which is scary and could be why it hurt so much last night. 

Anyway, enough about my physical limitations today, and let's see what happened yesterday. 

M wanted some particular videos from her earlier school days. I found two of the three and sent her the two I found. I couldn't find the third one in the house, so I got it from her school. I copied the movies and then looked at them. OH MY!!!!

I never looked at the video until yesterday, but at the beginning, I found these pictures!!! Do you recognize anyone in this photo? OH MY GOSH—I laughed when I saw the rip in the knees of my jeans—just like the jeans I'm currently wearing! But those jeans were real jeans with no stretch in them!

Me circa 2005 

I remember making the costumes for this play. We bought yards and yards of fabric and cut those costumes out at the school with a couple of Moms helping. 

Cutting costumes

I'm having a serious chat with Tracey, and I remember the lady in the back, but I can't remember her name for the life of me. 

Heavy discussions about making costumes

The fabric was NOT quilting cotton, and thank goodness for sergers. As usual, it was tight to get everything done, and I remember having a serger backstage for hemming or something. 

I also found a picture of M. How cute was she!!! Her outfit had a bolero vest with trim all around the edge and beaded trim along the bottom. I had forgotten about all that. How nice to see that memory once again! We didn't just make ONE of those outfits - we made MANY!

M

Shoot - I wish I had looked at the other videos before I sent them to her! 

The other aspect of this play was the backdrop. The play was held in the local theatre, so the backdrop was massive. They wanted something ragtag-looking to look like an old tent. Guess who piped up to sew it? 

Yes, that would have been me! I got a lot of shirting from a member of the Brampton Quilter's Guild, mostly blues and greens. I cut those into large squares, which became the massive checkerboard you see in the middle of this picture. 

The backdrop

Then, we acquired large items of textiles that we used for the sides. I sewed the entire thing on my serger, and it was huge and heavy. It also needed a sleeve on the top to fit on the pipe that holds the backdrops in place. 

I think this is the first blog post in which I discuss those squares. You have to scroll down quite far to see the photos of them, and you can see how huge the backdrop was. 

Here is one story about what happened to that backdrop. 


I may have one or two more of those quilts to quilt, but I think they are all gone. 

What a tremendous job that was! We got a lot of quilts from it. I think the larger pieces were donated to the animal shelters. 

Oh my—that's it for me. I've already had to stand and walk around multiple times, and I need to get out and walk to loosen this ratted muscle up. 

Yes -- the Virtual Retreats are still scheduled. I might spend the entire time stretching. 

Saturday, November 23 - starts at 6 PM EST

oin Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89816483795?pwd=Mjc3M3pvVmZPdjdsQzlHS3Zhck52dz09

Meeting ID: 898 1648 3795
Passcode: 248667

Sunday, November 24 - starts at NOON EST

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82983517671?pwd=ODdsa1FJenQwdFNaQWFTNGd4bEhPZz09

Meeting ID: 829 8351 7671
Passcode: 117636

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!