Helen Kelley | loose threads

    Tennis
    Elbow

Years ago, I drove a car that had a really difficult stick shift. It required the muscles of Atlas and the determination of a saint every time I wanted to change gears.

Sometimes manipulating it reduced me to tears, and then one morning I woke to find my right arm swollen and sore. "Tennis elbow" was the diagnosis. I had an abused arm. Such an injury is not a good thing for a quilter, but I found that alternate applications of ice and heat quickly eased the pain and put me back in working order.

This morning I woke with what seems to be "tennis thumb." I have been working hard to finish a small quilt. I have quilted all day, every day for awhile now. My fingers are sore–I had expected them to get that way–but I hadn't expected the pain across my thumb joint. Then I remembered the treatment for my elbow incident, and I began ice and heat applications on my thumb.

Helen Kelley is a quiltmaker, lecturer, author, and teacher from Minneapolis, Minnesota. You can visit Helen on the Internet at her website www.helenkelley- patchworks.com or email Helen at this address: helen@helenkelley- patchworks.com.

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differently to avoid this distress? The quilt that I am working on is an intricate reproduction of a Gothic building, a structure that looks like a stone wedding cake. The great windows and doors are surrounded with carved swirls and apostrophes. The balustrade across the eaves is crenellated and adorned with elaborately chiseled indentations. The roof ridge looks like a piece of stone lace. Across the face of the building are more than a dozen statues. The triple towers reach high, piercing the blue sky. Because this is such a large building on such a small quilt, I outline quilted around the edges of the building with only a narrow allowance, one that seems in proportion. It gave me the space to quilt more detail around the ancient elegance. Given another chance to plan my quilting, would I have quilted with a wider allowance? It would have required fewer stitches, but I think not. I like seeing the fine detail blossom and swell on the quilt. We make our choices.

When I originally planned the building, I had fewer scrolls and twists and turns–that would have simplified my work. If I had made it easier though, it would not have been a depiction of that architectural wonder that inspired me. No, I would not have planned my quilt any differently. We make our choices.

Could I have been more patient to save myself from tennis thumb? Could I have allotted my quilting time so that I worked every other day instead and finished the quilt over a longer period of time? No, no, never! I love this quilt. I love what is happening to it. It's exciting to see the depth and the detail emerging under my needle. I need to work on it now, every day, constantly. I love what I am doing. I have a need to see it finished.

The magic of this quilt is worth every pinprick. It is worth an aching thumb. I would not have done anything differently, and if I were to do it again, I would do it exactly the same way. Today I am wrapping my hand in ice and then warming it with heat, and it feels better moment by moment. I am sitting in my chair looking at my quilt, studying it, and savoring it. Tomorrow, I am going to quilt again.

©HK 2006