Sew Thankful Blog

If you’ve been a SewThankful eNews subscriber for a little while you know that I tore my left ACL (ligament in the knee) in early January this year. After several weeks of strength training and stabilization of the muscles surrounding the knee, I was scheduled for surgery to repair/replace the ACL with an allograft.  My surgery was this last Wednesday (March 3rd) and I am very pleased to tell you it was a success. I was able to have same day/out patient surgery and sleep in my own bed that night.

As was expected, the first few days were the most challenging for the body to adjusts and recover from the surgical trauma (the new graft & screws), anesthesia,  pain medications and regaining strength.

I am very thankful for Jeff (my wonderful husband), our sons and our fantastic employees.  Jeff, Jared & Jacob have taken such great care of me. They make sure I have everything I need every day and they are patient when the pain becomes difficult.  Jeff and our amazing employees, Cindy and Heather, continue to keep SewThankful running smoothly while I’ve been confined to the bed and limited to working on the laptop.

My mobility and strength increase more every day and I am looking forward to returning to full function (business wise) next week.  I have an appointment early in the week to have the incision clips removed and set up my rehab plan.

In the meantime, I am focused on recovery, recovery, recovery.  I’m having fun using my crutches dressed in Quilted Crutch Coats™ and  I have come up with a new FREE project idea to share with you (no, it’s not the quilted crutch coats–it’s something else but it is very practical and virtually everybody can use it).  If all goes well, I will have the pattern/instructions finalized by the next eNews, so be sure to stay tuned! If you’re not an eNews subscriber, be sure you sign up to receive the link to the free project.  Click here for the sign up page.

I have always loved the saying, “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.”

On January 11th I tore my left ACL (a very important ligament in the knee).  This incident forced me to spend a few days on crutches.  I immediately disliked their cold, hard nakedness and lack of character.

You could say my whole world changed.  All of a sudden, I had to really consider how to move  from point A to point B.  I learned quickly that it’s virtually impossible to carry anything very far when you’re on crutches. Even slinging a bag or  backpack was difficult and made movement awkward and uncomfortable.  Fortunately, I only had to be on the crutches for just a few days after the initial injury; although I learned I would be spending 2 – 3 weeks on crutches after my ACL repair surgery.

An idea seed was planted.

I did many web searches and found several different types of bags that could be fastened on to the crutches, but that was not what I had in mind.

I envisioned a sort of crutch cover or coat–a sort of crutch couture.  Why couldn’t crutches wear a functional coat (with pockets, pouches, etc. built in)?  Why couldn’t this coat for crutches express an attitude or character of the person?

With my impending surgery, I got to work on my own original design from scratch. I sketched and planned and altered and brainstormed. I picked out some fun flame fabric and quilted it up on Max (my longarm).

Design features a lower water bottle pocket with elasticized top edge.

Zippered pocket

So far, I have to say that I love my Quilted Crutch Coats™.

Design note:  The water bottle pocket was put on only one of the coats. But I put a zippered pocket on both.  Now it’s easy for me to carry my water bottle  and all of the essential items I normally would carry in my purse. So I don’t bother with a purse for now and that means I don’t have to worry about a bag swinging around and throwing me off balance.

Last but not least, the “attitude” of the soft, squishy quilted fabric coat cheers me up. It is also a wonderful icebreaker and conversation piece.

My surgery was on Wednesday (March 3rd).  It went very well and I am pleased to report that over the next few weeks I will put my design to a REAL test.  I’m making notes on possible additional features and/or design improvements.

When life hands me lemons I try my best to make lemonade.

Constructive comments are welcome.

©Tracy L. Chapman March 2010. All rights reserved.

These delicious cookies are our family Valentine tradition.

Chapman Family Valentine Cookies

I make the dough — Jared & Jacob help me cutout & decorate the cookies.  Once baked & decorated, these cookies never last long!!  Click here for a printable file of the recipe.  It’s a fun family project.

NOTE:  The recipe file link is a PDF which requires a recent version of Adobe Acrobat Reader, available for free from adobe.com .

Chapman Family Valentine Cookie

Click here for a printable file of the recipe.

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup (8 ounces) cream cheese
• 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 ¼ cups sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ¼ teaspoon almond extract

Also required: 1 heart shaped cookie cutter

Allow butter & cream cheese to soften at room temperature at least 30 minutes.

Combine flour and baking powder in a separate bowl until evenly distributed.

Use an electric hand mixer, cream together the butter and cream cheese. Beat in sugar until well mixed. Add vanilla and egg, beat well.

Use low to medium mixer speed and gradually add in flour/baking powder to the butter/cream cheese/sugar mixture. Mix until completely and evenly combined.

Divide mixture into two even parts.

Wrap each part in plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator approximately 2 hours or until easy to handle.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Remove chilled dough from refrigerator.

Roll out to approximately 1/8” thickness on a well-floured surface. Cut out heart shapes with cookie cutters. Place on un-greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 for approx. 8 – 10 minutes (time may vary depending upon your oven, altitude, etc.).

Remove from oven. Cool completely, spread with your favorite icing & sprinkles, as desired.

ENJOY!!

Click here for a printable file of the recipe.

For those curious about the status of my knee:

I’ve been off crutches for over a week.  I’ve had the MRI and a follow up with the surgeon.  The ACL is total blown but thankfully the meniscus still looks good.  I will have same-day surgery in March to replace the ACL.  In the meantime,  he (the surgeon) wants me to spend lots of time pedaling on a stationary bike.  And I can swim. Music to my ears.

After the surgery I will have a couple weeks of earnest down time so I’m working on a list of sewing and quilting projects I can work on either from bed or limited mobility (chair with leg elevated).  YAY…I’ll have yo-yo making time!

This all means a bit of re-juggling business ideas and plans but I am confident that it’s going to come together just fine.  I am thankful for every day and every opportunity to learn, love and grow.

Life is REALLY good…and sew on…

When is a setback an opportunity? When we decide to make it one.

This week I suffered a minor personal, physical setback. While I was working out on Monday morning I tore the ACL (one of 4 ligaments) in my left knee. I may have also damaged the MCL & meniscus – we are waiting for MRI to know the full extent. I’m now on crutches.

On one hand this is a big disappointment. It will slow down my training and I will probably need surgery. It may take 6 months or more until I am fully rehabbed.

On the other hand, I am gaining new insights from this experience that have stimulated exciting new sewing and quilting related ideas. I have a whole new perspective.  Hopefully, these are  “worthy” project ideas that I will be able to share with you this year. AND…since my wings have been clipped so to speak, I have more time each day to develop them.

In the end, I know my destination and I have confidence that I will make it eventually. I am not in a competition. Each day I  remind myself that I need to savor each step of the journey and explore the insights and richness found in the opportunities as they come.

Time is the most valuable resource we have.  How we spend it matters. Once it is gone, we can never get it back.  Not for any price.

How about you? Do you have a setback that you can turn into an opportunity? Tell me if you’d like to share.  I’d love to hear about it.